Two Men at J.C. Ralph's Studio & Post Office

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Two Men at J.C. Ralph's Studio & Post Office

There are several street lamps visible in the photograph - the one on the right is different from the others. The lamp post on the left is at the corner of Clark Point Road. The building with the overhang beyond it is the Odd Fellows building.

The building on the right is J.C. Ralph's Studio - Optician and Jeweler - and the Post Office. A man is standing in the door of the Post Office and a man standing in front of Ralph's Studio. The photograph was taken soon after John Ralph moved his store and expanded it.

“In 1897, the different societies in the village combined to raise funds for street lights. The lamps were bought and placed near those houses whose owners were willing to furnish the kerosene and keep the lamps trimmed and lighted. These lamps did duty until the installation of electricity in the summer of 1917.” - “Traditions and Records of Southwest Harbor and Somesville, Mount Desert Island, Maine” by Mrs. Seth S. Thornton, 1938, p. 124.

Southwest Harbor

ME

USA

1898 c.