City - Lee MA - The Village Street 1911 is a photograph by Mike Savad which was uploaded on November 22nd, 2019.
Title
City - Lee MA - The Village Street 1911
Artist
Mike Savad
Medium
Photograph - Colorized Photo
Description
Colorized photo from 1911
Original Title: The Village Street
Photographer: Detroit Publishing
Location: 33 Main St, Lee, MA
This is Main street in Lee, Massachusetts, though in its day it must have been called Village St. There are many historic buildings, even when this was taken these buildings were quite old.
On the right corner, they call that one Memorial Hall, it was built in 1873. It had a number of uses over the years. It was once a barber shop, movie theater, a district court and a police station. In 1965, the singer Arlo Guthrie faced a littering charge in this very building! A bit later, it happen to inspire a song called "Alice's restaurant". Today its still there and its the town's police station and courthouse.
Next door tot hat one is the Baird and Benton block, a three story commercial building built in 1875. It used to have a mansard roof like the courthouse had, but it was destroyed in a fire in the late 1800's.
The oldest building on this block is the Morgan House, its across the street from the two (with the double porch). It was built in 1817 by William Porter, as a house. It was later purchased in 1867 by Edward Morgan, who enlarged it, and turned it into an Inn. Over the years they had many famous guests such as: Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, John F. Kennedy and George Bernard Shaw. Today its still operated as an inn and restaurant.
What we don't see is the Park Building, it is currently sitting where the bank is now, and was built in 1914. There is no record what happened to the bank, but it had a very short life, being built in 1904, and destroyed 10 years later. You can also see tracks in the street for their street car.
Uploaded
November 22nd, 2019
