In 1929, the Montpelier riverfront on the Winooski River stood at a peak of industrial and railroad activity. The river was high, suggesting that the Main Street dam was providing power to nearby mills and factories. Extensive trackage served passenger and freight trains for the Montpelier and Wells River and the Central Vermont railroads. About midway along the north bank of the Winooski stood the M. and W.R. engine house and repair shops, and near the river’s curve in the background, the ninety-foot-tall coal tower and the long horizontal rooflines of the granite sheds marked riverfront development that had expanded by the turn of the twentieth century.