East New Market

Property Reports

24/26 Main Street

Willoughby Carriage Shop (1874)

Willoughby Carriage Manufacturing

By 1876, William Willoughby had a house, carriage shop, and furniture store at this location. According to tax records, William Willoughby built the new carriage shop in 1874.  This structure at 24/26 Main Street is likely the carriage shop he built in 1874. 

The 1922 Sanborn Fire Map shows the structures as they stand today.  The 1877 map shows three structures with 22 Main Street and 24/26 Main Street being approximately the same size and in the same position. 

A record has not surfaced that reveals which of the three structures was a house, a carriage shop, or a furniture store.  Based on size and shape, the structure at 22 Main Street appears to have been built as a house.  The structure at 24/26 Main Street is larger, looks more commercial, and could have been used to manufacture carriages and furniture.  The footprint of the structure at 28 Main Street on the 1877 map appears to be small and thus may have been a smaller shop.

Some have speculated whether this house is the the structure pictured in a turn-of-the-century photo that features a structure with "Willoughby & Sons Funeral Home" on the front and "Furniture" on the side.  Comparing the photo above to the old photo displayed at the bottom of  the Zeller Funeral Home page.  The 2nd floor windows on the front of this house in this photo extend to or slightly above the roof line.  The 2nd floor windows on the front of the house in the old photo are below the roofline of the structure pictured and match the window positioning of the Zeller Funeral Home.  Therefore the old photo features the current Zeller Funeral Home and does not feature this house.

James Cheesman (b. 1895) stated in 1990 that this old double house used to be a machine shop in his younger days.  He stated it was the first place they built automobiles.  They built on buggy wheels and put a motor in it. 

Willoughby Double 2005