The Vedder Research Library

Main Street (today’s Rt. 81) Greenville dozes peacefully on a mid-winter day, in February, 1924. The intersection lies just beyond the two cars and the Corner Restaurant (demolished in the 1960s) on the left, and just past the white picket fence that bracketed the corner that is marked by the empty gas station today. In the distance, West Street winds its way toward Norton Hill, with the Greenville Theater jutting out on the left, while the houses of the Roe, Cunningham, Botsford families, etc., snuggle on the road’s right-hand side.

Dr. Bott’s house – near intersection of Rt 81 and Hill Street, Greenville

The “Knights of the Round Table” gather around the wood stove at Gus Baker’s, possibly in 1936, to listen to a World Series Game. Gus Baker’s Store, starting about 1927, sat on East Main Street, the site known as Sanford’s or Hynes Bar and Restaurant or Tavern on Main. The building was razed to make way for Country True Value Hardware and today is Kelly’s Pharmacy. Back row: Oscar Bogardus, John Lowe, John Craw Nip Burgess, Crow Griffin, Robert Gelchion, Cy Story, Bill Byrnes, Speed Denton, and Gus Baker. Sitting next to the stove: Ford Rundell, Lee Cunningham; setting up scoreboard: Marshal Baker; foreground, Joe Krauss, Kenneth Baker.

This superbly detailed photo documents one of Greenville’s widely remembered restaurants. Although the donor of this photo identified it as Gus Baker’s (Main Street, Greenville, site of current Kelly’s Pharmacy), Gus’s grandchildren Ken Baker and Barbara Van Auken cautioned that it could be of the previous owner, Joe Ennis. All the calendars are open to May 1937, as is the A. J. Cunningham calendar directly above the napkin holder on the center table.

Main Street, Greenville of 1940 is a familiar scene. Main Street bisects the bottom of photo, highlighting, left to right, the sun-soaked façades of the Baumann building, Stevens Hardware, and Gus Baker’s in a clump. A short break follows before arriving at the Simpson house and a building that is the Doerner Law Office today. Just out of view on the right side would have been Simpson’s Garage, today’s Stewarts. At the bottom sit the larger buildings of the south side: the Pharmacy and IGA store. The photo’s center shows the elongated Stevens store pointing to the Stevens Farm building, today the fire house. Topmost on the left are the trunks of the elm trees that used to ring the pond and park area. Center top is the Perkowski house, today the Pioneer/Rescue Squad office. The inset shows the road level façades of the clump of buildings, in the middle the new Tasting Lab and then Kelly’s Pharmacy.

Main Street, 1903: car of Helen Gould, daughter of Jay Gould; oxen & cart of Ad Hickok

A jolt of activity erupted on Main Street, Greenville in Autumn 2019 with the opening of The Tasting Lab, “a restaurant dedicated to serving local products and New York craft beverages.” Tom Vance, also owner of the Hop Barn on Maple Avenue, strives “to be part of the revitalization of Greenville and giving people a place to relax and enjoy themselves.” The Tasting Lab occupied the long established Stevens Store site, a mainstay of Greenville life and business. Although COVID-19 suspended operations in Spring 2020, The Tasting Lab, at full capacity, can serve 85 customers with a menu of appetizers, burgers, and wings along with two dozen or more beers. The GLHG continues to commend community members who restore, renovate, or upgrade historic structures, improving not only the ambiance of our community but also restore a vibrancy to our Main Street. One inset displays the interior view out the front plate glass windows. Another inset shows business partners Tom Vance and daughter Madyson Vance with restaurant t-shirt and mascot Alex; absent is partner Robert Snyder Jr.