“Vermont: the Beckoning Country” was a marketing slogan established by state government officials in the 1960s. The goal was to use Vermont’s natural beauty and rural landscape to attract businesses and people to the area. Sixty years ago, there were approximately 4,500 roadside billboards in Vermont. Many in the state saw them as an eyesore and distraction. A representative from South Burlington proposed a law that would ban the construction of new billboards and cause existing billboards to be removed from roadsides within the next five years.
In 1968 this law narrowly passed the Vermont Legislature and roadside billboards began to disappear from the state’s landscape. Even though the law stated that all billboards would be removed within five years, court cases challenging the law meant that a few billboards remained for the next eight years. The Reformer reported that one of the last remaining billboards in Windham County advertised West Brattleboro’s Country Kitchen Restaurant. It came down late in 1976.
The Brattleboro Historical Society has an extensive photograph collection. In the last century, Lewis R. Brown was a prominent local photographer and we have many of his photos. During World War II, Brown photographed local billboards. Many of them incorporated military themes and promoted the war effort.
One of the billboard advertisements encouraged government war bond purchases. The sign explained that Windham County had a monthly goal to raise almost $200,000 in voluntary payroll deductions that would go towards funding the war through government bonds. The sign was sponsored by the Holden and Martin Lumber Company. This local business operated in Brattleboro from 1891 to 1960.
In the early 1900s, during Brattleboro’s building boom in the southeastern end of town, Holden and Martin constructed over 100 houses in the area. They also operated a sawmill at the end of Birge Street. On Flat Street they had a woodworking shop that processed lumber into doors, sashes, window frames and other building supplies. The woodworking shop became a retail outlet and, eventually, another retail store opened on Putney Road. The company was very involved with the local building trades for more than 70 years.
Another World War II billboard featured Uncle Sam staring from the advertisement, pointing at the reader, saying “Use Oil Wisely!” This local sign was sponsored by the Allen Oil Company.
Louis I Allen was a local entrepreneur who went into the petroleum-based fuel distribution business in the 1920s. He became regional distributor for Amoco fuel, owned a few gas stations, and operated an oil burner business for home heating systems.
Allen was a hustler. His first business was running a newsstand in the Union Train Station soon after it opened in 1916. From there he added taxi and bus services that could be easily accessed at the station. Allen also won the contract to transport mail to and from the station and the post office, and offered an express delivery service for packages arriving by train. In 1922 he formed the Allen Oil Company and road the wave of expanding gasoline and home heating oil demands.
Another Word War II era billboard was located next to the old firehouse on South Main Street. The fire station was just up the road from the Holstein-Friesian building in the area that is now part of the Holstein parking lot. The billboard advertised Coca Cola and featured servicemen enjoying a soda while traveling on a train. Next to the billboard was another advertisement, promoting the 1942 movie, “My Sister Eileen,” playing at the local Paramount Theater on Main Street.
Here are two stories connected with the firehouse. In its later years, the belltower was a challenge for teenage boys. Who dared to climb up the outside of the building, to the tower, and ring the bell? Newspaper reports indicate that this was a favorite teenage pastime. In its earlier years, the station was home to the famous Fountain Pump Engine. From 1865 to 1880 the hand-operated Fountain Engine and its crew won more regional musters than any other in the area. The company took first place in regional musters held in Rutland and Brattleboro, as well as in Keene, N.H. and the Massachusetts towns of Greenfield, Athol and North Adams.
In the last century photographers like Lewis R. Brown saved local images for posterity. We are fortunate to have them in our collection. Brown graduated from Brattleboro High School in 1919 and took a job with the Dunham Brothers Company. For many years his hobby was photography. As time went on, he purchased more advanced photography equipment and developed film in his apartment bathtub. What began as a hobby ultimately became his profession. In 1927 he opened a photography shop on Main Street and three years later moved the business to the Wilder Building. Lewis R. Brown died in 1959 but his shop was sold to others who also believed in photographing local events and people. “Lewis R. Brown Incorporated” existed in the Wilder Building until 1990, when it became Downtown Photo.
