31. The Union Block Is Built After the Fire

This image of the east end of Concord’s Mill Dam (north side) shows the Union Block, which Myrick Hatch, William H. Devens, and perhaps another partner constructed to replace the buildings burned in the fire of 1881. Hatch kept his plumbing, heating, hardware, and stove shop in the west end of the building (not shown in the photograph), and in 1903 sold it to Albert Vanderhoof, whose descendants still run a hardware business there today. The central portion initially housed Louis Surette’s dry goods store, and was later occupied by George Hunt, who had lost his grocery store in the fire. Charles W. Prescott kept store in the east end. The abandoned Middlesex Hotel, with shutters closed, is visible in this photograph dating from about 1890.

The image comes from a collection of more than a hundred lantern slides assembled by Concord historian and author Allen French to accompany lectures about the town. French was a prolific writer of juvenile stories for serial and book publication and of historical fiction, books based on Icelandic history, works on gardening, and historical studies. His historical titles include Old Concord (1915), The Day of Lexington and Concord (1925), and The First Year of the American Revolution (1934). French’s guidebook Historic Concord—first issued as a thin pamphlet in 1924—is still available as revised and enlarged by David Little and published by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library. The William Munroe Special Collections holds a significant collection of Allen French papers.