St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-11-01
THE PLAIN ABOUT 1850
Things as Described by the Late
E. F. Brown and Col. Frank
Walker Over so Years Ago.

Walker Over so Years Ago.
+ Looking over an old note book
the other day I found notes of an
interview which I had with the late
E.. F. Brown, usually called
"Gramp'' by his friends. / was inter-
ested in his story of the plain" as
he remembered it when he first
came to town. / took my notes
and then called on Col. Frank Walk
er, who is another one of the old
boys" While these two have not
entirely agreed upon the facts ]
think the following notes will be
found fairly accurate.
Rambling in from a days ride on
the, old tri-weekly stage, from Hav-
erhill, as one approached ST. Johns
bury Plain, up South Main street
hill, for the regular stage route was
this way, probably the first building
to be seen would be the little old
Academy building. This small story
and a half building was erected in
1S43 and the first principal of the
school was James K. Colby, man
of sterling worth. This was a col
onial style of building with a broad
porch in front with four large. pill
lars supporting the upper part.
Three long narrow windows were on
each side while the rear was favored
with three. A flight of several
steps led to the porch from the
lawn which was used as a play
ground. Perhaps the little old
building that set on Main street next
! to Park street might first catch ones
eyes. This was a typical type of
this time and stood near BrantVieW
driveway with a field behind which
is now the lawn in front of Brant-
view. This building was later
moved and is now in use on Pine
street.
A Curious Tailor.
On the site of the Charlotte Fair
banks cottage lot stood a building
owned and occupied by Hull Curtis.
Many are the amusing stories that
are told of this farmer tailor. 1t
is said that he used to cut all orders
for trousers by the same pattern.
His chief saying to customers when
they found fault with the fit of his
cutting was, Your pants are all
them and they will shrink, if too
short, let out your suspenders." No
wonder his character is cherished
by those who remember the cut Of
his CLOTH Next on the left was an
old tumble-doWn residence occupied
by two maiden ladies and the nick
name for the house in those days
was the "Old Polly Ferguson
House." Nearly opposite was the
Doctor Luther .Jewett house,
small one story house which is
now the ell of the livery stable
house next to the South church. The
doctor was man who always had
plenty of time, for the people in
for every feeling of indisposition.
Doctor Juniper, as he was familarly
called by his neighbors was a genial
and sympathetic man.
Cemetery on the Corner.
On the corner of the avenue and
Main street was the cemetery over
grown with shrubs and wildfowers,
but here were deposited the bodies
of departed friends until the new
cemetery site was selected about
1857. Little did the people then
know that the growth of the town
would neceSsitate the removal of
this wayside resting place. Oppo-
site On Main street were two little
old houses of caboose style owned
by Levi Fuller, but nothing of i'm
portance can be said of these. The
Moses Kittredge house on the Ath-
enaeum site was next in order and
these were regular farm buildings
though the farm was where the
Playground now is There was usu-
ally large wood pile in the yard in
front of these buildings and often
did the boys from Fairbanks Village
come up and give this yard gener-
al cleaning up by throwing every
thing down the steep clay bank
which is now the top of the Avenue.
This bank was very steep, with a
pudding of clay at the bottom and
everything thrown over stuck fast
and required considerable exertion
to extract it.
Post Office in Basement.
The Doctor Stevens house stood
on the post Office site and had the
typical surroundings of that day
DR.. Stevens was a good substantial
citizen with his one hobby of three
extremely large bells on his sleigh
was coming. r. G. M. Howe had a
grocery store in this building and
the post Office was in the basement.
This was called the democratic post
office because the postmaster was
the first democrat to hold Office in
town. The towns inhabitants we're
quite bitter against Victor M. Dem
lex, the postmaster, though it was
all on account of his political faith
rather than against the man. Many
had their mail come to Passumpsic
so it would not pass through dem
acrats hands. Demick also ran a.
small marble shed in rear of the
Great White Tavern and occasional
ly found time to cut a few letters
on stone. Finally he lost the post
Office and some of the younger gen
Grafton, to celebrate the event, stole
one of his gravestones and set it up
in front of the Tavern where all
could see it as they went to church
Sunday morning. The post Office