F. Ripley & Company was operated by Frederick Ripley, Jr. He was a cigar maker and carpenter, and he packed tobacco for the market. The building was the former Farmington Canal Warehouse. The Farmington Canal had once run from the left to the right in the photograph, parallel to the store on the lower level, and under the road to the right. The building burned down in 1932. East of the Ripley warehouse, on the south side of today’s Route 44, and near the road, was a yeast stand. This is where the women left pails to be filled by a Mr. Humphrey, who came once a week with yeast from the gin distillery in Simsbury. Frank Hadsell wrote that in 1889 he had taken “a fine photo of this old Building before any alterations had been made, and very glad I am now that I did so.” Our presumption is that this is Clinton Hadsell’s photograph, however, as it was in Clinton’s collection of glass plates. Original title in CBH’s list for photograph #112: “F.R. Co. Build.” Original title on his paper sleeve: “F.R. Co. Tobacco Shop, April 1901.” Source: Howard, p. 14. Mackie, p. 122. Ripley’s tobacco work in Frank Hadsell Diary, excerpted in “Old Timers,” report on “East Main Street - Frank Hadsell House file.” Frederick Ripley, Jr. (died May 23, 1915) owned F. Ripley & Company, which sorted and packed tobacco in the Canal Warehouse. He was a cigar maker and carpenter, and he packed tobacco for the market. Ripley was founding director of the Avon Water Company and of the Avon Manufacturing Company. Frank Hadsell wrote that he “was a very honest man and a good neighbor.” After the canal closed in 1847, the warehouse became a general store and burned down in 1932. The Farmington Canal once ran in front of the building, parallel to the store at the lower level, and under the road to the right. The building burned down in 1932. Frank Hadsell wrote that in 1889 he had taken “a fine photo of this old Building before any alterations had been made, and very glad I am now that I did so.” The white sign to the right is the railroad crossing sign. The Avon Congregational Church was to the right of this sign. See also photo Frank Hadsell photograph #169. Source: Nora Howard, Avon, p. 53. Captioned by Nora Howard, Avon Town Historian, Summer 2020. Sources: as noted and from online sources such as ancestry.com; the US Census, wikipedia, and pertinent websites. Also see Nora Howard’s essay on the Hadsell Family (also posted on Ct. Digital Archive). If you are interested in conducting more research, be sure to see the collections of the Avon Free Public Library Marian Hunter History Room. These captions were completed the summer of 2020 (except as noted) and the library was closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.