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Photos 2
The new building of the Matamoras First Baptist Church was built and opened
in 1895-1896 at the corner of Broadway and Fourth Street. This picture was
taken soon after it was completed. The original Baptist Church stood at
the corner of Main and Third streets, facing Third. It was the first
church in Matamoras built specifically for that purpose. A picture of it
may be seen in the Museum, as well as the communion set used there.
This picture shows Main Street in Matamoras, and it was unpaved before
1912. On the left was the First National Bank, now the Historical Society
Museum. Across Second Street was McMunn's home; they owned a harness shop.
Farther toward the river was the telephone office, Reinherr's Drug Store
and, on the corner the Gautschi Building where Dr. Ed Gautschi practiced
dentistry and Bill Gautschi was a barber. The last building seen, fairly
dim, was the Nelly House Hotel, with a sign facing the river to attract
passengers from the riverboats.
This Matamoras postcard view shows the southwest corner of the Second and
Main street intersection, with Jack Young's grocery and confectionary on
the corner. This is a rare photograph; although there are many pictures of
this corner, none show the houses below Young's.
Every weekday morning, a crowd would gather on the sidewalk in front of
Reinherr's Bakery, waiting for baked goods to be removed from the ovens.
Reinherr's Bakery, in the early years of the twentieth century, had the
reputation of making the BEST cakes, pies, cookies and, above all bread and
rolls. In the summer, they also made ice cream in fancy molds. The
Reinherr House Hotel (later the Central Hotel) was located on the southwest
corner of Merchant and Front. Next door was Reinherr's Bakery where, in
the back yard, were huge brick ovens. The Reinherr family came from
Germany in the mid 1800's.