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(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The Shelburne Falls Marble Company had been purchased in 1888 by David Temple, a marble salesman in Rutland, Vermont. He then brought his brother into the business to operate the new Shelburne Falls operation. The Temples came from nearby Heath, Massachusetts. Their company was, at the time of this receipt, the largest marble dealer in Western New England. The small engraving shows their company's offices, which faced Water Street in Shelburne and to their back is the Deerfield River. In the foreground the Shelburne Falls-Colrain Trolley is shown, and that is not an accident: David Temple was President of the company, incorporated the year of this receipt, 1896. Its line ran to the North River and on to Colrain. In 1908 a bridge was completed to carry the trolley line across the Deerfield River; today, that is Shelburne's "Bridge of Flowers." The trolleys were initially horse-drawn, like most of the day, but following a national trend it would soon be converted to electricity.

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