(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved. Contact us for information about using this image.
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Fisher's Garage, located on Mt. Sugarloaf Road at the center of South Deerfield, Massachusetts, was built in 1912. Owned by George Fisher, it sold Ford automobiles. The picture was probably taken before 1924, when the Connecticut Valley Street Railway (a rural trolley) was forced by a bankruptcy court to end its operations. It ran cars from Northampton to Greenfield on the line that is visible on the street in front of the garage. In front of the house to the left of the garage is a horse carriage. This nicely captures a turning point in time: as the automobile grew in popularity after World War I, alternative forms of transportation began to fade. The horse-drawn carriage was already in steep decline, and as rural roads were rebuilt and cars became more reliable the rural trolleys lost out. This building burned in 1935, but was rebuilt and as of 2006 is still in operation.