Browse Items (83 total)

The Washington County sheriff’s office at 10 Elm Street was ordered by mail from the Pauly Jail Company of St. Louis, Missouri, for $23,000 in 1900. A local crew constructed the building that featured a Queen Anne style home for the jailer in the…

When Montpelier’s Heaton Hospital was founded in 1896, it was only the third hospital in Vermont. The original quaint structure has been altered numerous times. The last large renovation was in 1952, when a large, blocky wing was added to the south…

For much of Montpelier’s history this home has had a commanding view of Montpelier from a ridge on “Seminary Hill” accessed by East State Street. Successful farmer and land owner Morton Marvin purchased it from carriage maker and horse breeder F. C.…

The hotel we know as the Capitol Plaza was built as the Montpelier Tavern in 1932, a three-story hotel replacing an 1826 wood-frame hotel on the same site. A fourth story was added above the cornice line in the 1940s as seen in the top photograph.…

Yes, Montpelier used to have a YMCA! It was located on State Street where the Northfield Savings Bank portion of the Capitol Plaza Hotel is now located. The building had a large gymnasium in the back that featured a popular basketball court and the…

In the 1960s there were two motels on Northfield Street on either side of the Brown Derby Supper Club: Sowma’s Motel and the Brown Derby Motel. All three establishments were owned by Montpelier entrepreneur Abe Sowma. The postcard above shows Sowma’s…

The building at 107 State Street, formerly known as the Thrush Tavern and now housing Pho Capital, is the youngest of four Federal style residential buildings in a short section of the north side of State Street. Silas C. French, a boot and shoe…

In 1868 the Bethany Congregational Society built an impressive Gothic-revival church on the site of the first church building in the city. Designed by Boston architect Charles Edward Parker, the new edifice was unusually ornate for a New England…

The property at 12 Main Street has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past 90 years. A Texaco Station was built there in 1932. At first it was called Sequin’s Service Station; later and longer it was known as Nun’s Service Station. In the…

Filling stations in the 1920s were small, attractive buildings with a few pumps out front and offering other services to the motoring public. One such early facility was Andrew Berganti’s Socony station built in 1926 at 15 Berlin Street near the…

The Twin City Motel on the Barre-Montpelier Road, soon to be acquired by the Good Samaritan Haven, is a well-maintained example of Vermont’s early tourist infrastructure. Located on a busy country road between two cities, this stop provided gas,…

The brick building at the southwest corner of State and Main (2 State Street), one of the oldest buildings in the downtown, has withstood fires, floods, and changing styles. It was built in circa 1826 by Chester Hubbard and inherited by his son,…