Vintage Postcard: Depot Street

Every Monday we share a vintage image on the Essex on Lake Champlain Facebook page and invite our viewers to play some Vintage Essex Trivia. The postcard above we shared with the public last week.

The front of the image reads: “Depot Street, Essex, NY on Lake Champlain.” Do you recognize the location on this old postcard? What do you see? What has changed? When do you think this photo was taken?

Members of the community immediately identified the location and surroundings:

Dianne Lansing: Corner of the town hall on the left.

Sylvia Margo: I agree, the Community Church should be on the right (but is not in the photo of course). It’s Route 22 looking West.

Lorraine Townsend Faherty: Looking up rt 22, toward RR depot, back to old firehouse. Tart service station on left. You can just see the top corner of old schoolhouse, and the blinking light at top of photo.

This photo is depicting a scene on Route 22, sometimes called Station Street and apparently at one point called Depot Street — probably when the railroad station was in operation up this road. It looks as if the photographer took the photo while standing in Main Street or possibly on the edge of it with the old Firehouse to their back as is noted above. Protruding from the top is what appears to be the crossing’s stoplight.

To the right the corner of Wright’s Inn (now the Town Hall) is visible, and up the road, next to it is a gas station that was identified as the Tart service station. I could tell it was a gas station, but I have no memory of seeing it in my lifetime. Today the space behind the Town Hall is an empty lawn and that building is gone. Do you know what happened to it? When was it removed? Was it one of the buildings Essex lost through fire? Knowing the service station’s destruction date would help narrow the possible date of the photo was taken as well…

Share what you know in the comment section below! Can you answer some of our questions? Did you notice anything of interest that we failed to point out?

Share Your Essex Artifacts

If you want to share your old photos of Essex (or brochures; postcards; menus; tickets; any artifact) on the blog please email us at editor [AT] essexonlakechamplain [DOT] com.

Vintage Photo: South Main Street (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Postcard: Sherwood Inn Waterfront (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Postcard: Essex Main Street Looking North (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Photo: Residence of H.H. Noble (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
Vintage Photo: American Legion Hall (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)

About Katie Shepard

Passionate about reading and writing stories, Katie Shepard enjoys discovering more about her home while writing and editing for Essex on Lake Champlain. Katie graduated from SUNY Plattsburgh in 2011 where she studied English literature, philosophy, and Asian studies. Her first book Essex, New York Architecture: A Doodler's Field Guide was published in 2015. Connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, or at Linked.in. Or email her at katie [@] essexeditions [dot] com.