Hinesburg Then & Now – Photo Challenge #1

Several of you guessed where this building was located; now we tell you the building's story.

Editor’s note: This is a new regular feature in The Record. We’ll share a historical photo and ask you to guess what it is, where it is or, if it’s a person, who it is. You’ll have a week to guess (or tell us what you know) in the comments below. The following week, we’ll give you the facts. You need to subscribe and log into this platform, Substack, to comment. To subscribe, click the subscribe button in the upper right and enter your email. That’s it. No charge. No fuss.

By Mary Jo Brace
The Record Staff Writer

Where was this building located in Hinesburg? And when might this photo have been taken? Put your answers in the comment section below. *

Hints: The building is no longer standing. Look closely and you should figure out the location. We’ll give you the answer next week.

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The answer to last week’s photo

This building stood on the northeast corner of Route 116 and Mechanicsville Road in the village. The photo was taken prior to 1911, when it was destroyed by fire.

It was built along the canal in 1820 by Jedediah Boynton and operated as a general store, then run by his son Guy Boynton. At the time, Hinesburg had 1,332 residents, according to the U.S. Census.

Boynton then sold the building to William Viele and then Charles C. Post converted it to a stove and tin shop in 1858. Post invented the Eureka Sap Spout and Bucket Holder.

About 1869, he moved to Burlington to devote his whole attention to the manufacturing of sap spouts, which he sold until the 1880s.

Perry Read, who had worked for Post, and John S. Patrick became partners in 1881 and purchased the business from Post. Read & Patrick were dealers in “stoves and stove furniture, castings, hydraulic rams, lead and iron pipe, Studebaker wagons and farming tools, hides, skins, pelts, and furs. They “manufactured tin, sheet iron and copperware.”

Read and Patrick continued to run the business until Patrick left in 1892 to take ownership of G. S. Blodgett in Burlington. Read continued on with several partners.

The building was destroyed by fire in 1911. Here’s the news article from the Vermont Journal:

While the article says the building would be rebuilt, we’re not sure what or when a new building was erected. The aerial photo below, dated 1938, shows the current building at that location. It operated as an automotive repair shop before housing the town’s first fire department in 1943. The building is now used for storage by both the police and fire departments

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