DATE: Monday, October 13, 1997              TAG: 9710130121

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   25 lines

THAT WAS THEN: 1902: CHURCH STREET

This is how the first block of Church Street, looking north from

Main Street and now a part of St. Paul's Boulevard, appeared in

1902. Notably absent is motor traffic of any kind, but the

horse-drawn vehicles in the foreground indicate that this age-old

means of transportation was still very much in vogue. The streetcar

to the right in the picture shows that Norfolk had tentatively

entered the 20th century. Of particular interest are the

iron-supported sidewalk awnings and L. Snyder's recently opened

department store, the tallest building in the right portion of the

picture, built on the site of the former Church Street Opera House,

and the trees in historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church cemetery. But

the prize discovery in the lower right-hand side of the picture is

the Bon Ton restaurant, a designation that would smack of elitism in

today's more politically correct society.

- George Tucker

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