A Pictorial Glimpse of the 1880s: Underclyffe

Theses images, from the archives held by the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium (one of the collaborators with the Athenaeum in the St. Johnsbury Archives), show the family of Franklin Fairbanks at the family home, Underclyffe -- and a wider view of the mansion itself, with its "hothouses" (greenhouses). Franklin was the younger brother of Horace; Horace, as pictured in the right-hand column, was the Fairbanks who gave the Athenaeum and its original collections to the town.

Visualizing Underclyffe (now gone) helps in picturing the arrival of distinguished guest coming to speak in St. Johnsbury. Not only can we see the family's appearance and the large scale on which they experienced and built cultural assets, but we know that one pattern for welcoming guests would have been to meet them at the railroad depot at the foot of the town (near the river), take them in a carriage along the loveliest and most prosperous roads, and end up at Underclyffe for a meal, before heading to the Athenaeum or one of the adjacent halls (Y.M.C.A., music hall) to give a public lecture.

Underclyffe was designed by architect Lambert Packard; elements of its design are also found in the Athenaem, as shown in the right-hand column.