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A History Lesson

Since we opened in 2016 I have heard a few stories about businesses that have called 218 E. Main Street home. I decided to poke around on the internet and discover what the truth was!

At first the search was slow going. Of course I found recent history of A Little Knitty, Liberty Jane and Love Travel...but I knew these already! Finally I remembered that the White River Valley Museum had online archives of pictures...so I headed over there to see what I could find.



This is the first photo I stumbled across, which is a photo that was taken in front of where the lighting store currently resides, and looks down main street towards the shop. This was the closest I could find when searching our address.

Next, I remembered a story that someone told me this was once a Ford dealership...and THAT is when I found it...the photo that showed the front of the building that was NO DOUBT our shop! And the museum noted that this lighter colored building was what we now know as 222 E. Main Street. The archway that is on the left is the Allstate business now, the building was at some point split and the arcade at 222 E. Main Street was created. The archway on the right is our shop!



Yup, in the 1920's this building was INDEED a Ford Dealership! Through this search I found "Fairchild Motor Company" so I searched for that term and found this photo...which was dated the early 1920s!


And then this photo was uncovered...the ONLY interior photo I could find

I climb those stairs every day!!!!!!

Unfortunately this is where my search ended. I couldn't figure out what came after the ford dealership (I believe it was there through the 20's but after that I have no clue). I found some pics of Main Street in the 60's and 70's but none of them included our storefront. I have heard it was a child's clothing boutique and a quilt shop, so I searched for both of those. Nothing came up on the children's clothing boutique...but I did discover the quilt shop....



....was next door! I always thought this space had great crafting vibes passed down from the quilt shop, but indeed I was wrong! ;)

In the 1990's our space was Love Travel and stayed that way until 2014 when Liberty Jane took over the space.

It was so fun to look at old photos of Auburn, learn more about the history of the city and see the many evolutions of Downtown...I'm excited to be part of the next evolution!

Thank you, White River Valley Museum for your amazing archive!!! http://www.wrvmuseum.org/

Jen

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