Friday Fotos (September 13, 2013) -- Main Street, Concord, New Hampshire

Aerial view of Main Street, Concord, NH

I lived in New Hampshire for about six years when I was growing up.  My father was in Sears Roebuck store management and, somewhat like being in the military, we moved every two to three years until he was transferred to the territorial office in Philadelphia and eventually retired from Sears.

In the early 1960s, the original Sears store in Concord was located at 19 S. Main Street.  Main Street in Concord was created in 1726 and developed into one of the economic centers of the state over time.  In the photograph above (which is thought to be from the 1960s), I believe it is the three-story building on the right at what would be the corner of S. Main and Hills Avenue (I think).  You can see the garage doors down the sloping street and the loading dock entrance immediately down gradient from the garage entrances.  When Sears first located in Concord it claimed that it was the largest retail department store in the state.

At the upper left of the photo one can see the cupola of the New Hampshire State House.  The State House was built after Concord was chosen as the state capital in 1808.  The construction was completed in 1819 and native NH granite mined by prisoners at the state prison was used in the construction.  Originally the building was two stories, but in 1866 it was expanded and the dome was added.  In 1906 the State House was enlarged again with the addition of a third story and a West wing.

It can be seen in the photo above that Main Street, even back in the 1960s, had four lanes as well as on-street parking.  I can recall times during my winters in Concord when we had so much snow that the center of Main Street was used to pile up the snow from the street.  It was so high that, standing on one side of Main Street, I could not see the businesses at street level on the other side!

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Aerial photograph of Concord, NH believed to be from the 1960s.  Source unknown, but digital copy in the collection of the author.

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Copyright 2013, John D. Tew

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