A View from Railroad Wharf. The schooner to the west of the wharf, seen here ca. 1900, is the M. L. Wetherell of Boston.

Clearly visible at the head of the wharf is the sign of the New York Store, purveyors of dry goods and clothing until the 1970s. Just to the right of the ship’s mast, on the east side of the wharf, is the mansard roof of the public library, erected in 1873 by Nathaniel Freeman and donated to the town. The library occupied the first floor, with the local G.A.R. Post, Women’s Relief Corps and other beneficent organizations using the second-floor rooms for their meetings. From 1800 to 1883 the third floor was the studio of photographers Nickerson & Smith (George H. Nickerson and William H. Smith), who advertised “Portraits in all styles” and “Always on hand a large assortment of stereoscopic views of Provincetown.”

This was from the book Old Provincetown in Early Photographs by Irma Ruckstuhl, 1987.