Culture

It was 116 years ago this week that Booker T. Washington came to Brattleboro…

You will want to get down to Emerson & Son on Main Street this 1887 holiday season to take advantage of the great deals they are offering.

Bargains include rocking chairs priced $1 to $6, an easy chair for $5, a sled for fifty cents, easels, ottomans, work boxes, music racks, and more. Get an entire parlor set for $30 if you have the money.

$1.50 buys you a foot rest and a portable desk can be had for a dollar.

With such good prices, I wonder if this store will be able to last?

Another in our series of old December ads from the Phoenix.

This is for that popular downtown store in the Crosby Block, Van Doorn & Son. Have you been there recently?

This holiday season they are offering special bargains on silverware, as well as decorated tea, breakfast, and dinner sets. They also have fancy wares and novelty items, and both hanging and table lamps.

In December 1881 we see an ad for Cheney & Clapp announcing their store as a “Holiday Bazaar and Christmas Museum,” which is quite a boast.

They can make the announcement, though, because of the wide range of items available for you to buy from them, including Teaching Bibles for the teachers out there that you know, a “bewildering variety” of cards from the best makers, diaries, books, statuary (who doesn’t need a statue?) and work baskets. They also have dolls and toys.

It is the Christmas fad this year, after all, so why not stop downtown and pick up a Mexican Feather Card for someone you love? They are very affordable, and everyone wants one.

While there, you might consider a celluloid booklet or two as well.

At Geo. A Briggs & Co.’s, for the 1889 holiday shopping season.

Here is an ad that tells us much about its time and place. It’s December 1869, and Clark & Willard have opened up at a new location. They have holiday goods, confectionery and fruit, and unsettled accounts to announce.

The new location is a result of a fire at the previous location, and the ad uses quite a bit of valuable space to mention a reward for returning a “valuable cat.”

Continuing our look at December advertising in Brattleboro, we now check in with an ad from a newspaper in 1874.

Mr. J. T. Hildreth on Elm Street in Brattleboro is offering deals on sleighs and carriages. You can stop in to get a new one, or bring in your current model for a tune up and some repairs. Buggies also available.