Goodspeed Livery Stable // c.1870

This somewhat unassuming brick building at 316-320 Washington Street in Brookline Village, which now houses offices and a Chinese barbecue restaurant, was for many years the home of a livery stable. Livery stables were facilities where horse owners would pay a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses and sometimes carriages, with 24/7 staff who take care of and feed the horses. Liveries were essentially the 19th century equivalent of parking garages today, just with more hay and manure. This building was long-owned by Monroe Goodspeed (1842-1921) who originally found work with an express company, delivering packages by horse-drawn wagon. By 1874 Goodspeed was operating this stable, first in partnership with Grafton Stone, and later as sole proprietor. The building was originally a two-story wooden structure but was expanded by the 1880s and built of brick, to fireproof the building. Munroe Goodspeed was succeeded in the business by his son Carl, and remained in operation until the early 1930s. After this, the vehicular door was cut into the first floor for garage use and the upper floor was boxed off from the original gabled design. Two of the original wagon entrances remain on the facade and are now the entrances to the restaurant and to offices in the upper floors. 

Sherman’s Livery & Garage – Maine Trading Post // 1908

This vernacular, shingled structure was built in 1908 to house two very different modes of transportation, horses and automobiles. The structure here is located in the charming village of Boothbay Harbor, Maine. Sherman’s Livery and Garage held stalls for horses on the ground floor with an elevator that moved hay, carriages and sleighs to the upper floor. Owners of horses could board them here and many would rent their horses to visitors who arrived to town by steamer, from this location. The building was set up for automobiles as well, but that began in earnest by 1915 when two Ford touring cars were added to the inventory here. Today, the building is known as the Maine Trading Post and houses Kaler’s Restaurant.