Then and Now: Turn of the century at Robertson’s Corner

At least from the late 1840s, the perpendicular crossroads by Crystal Lake in Eaton Center was known as Robertson’s Corner. For that matter, until New Hampshire started renaming its water bodies as a ploy to lure summering strangers, Crystal Lake was called Robertson’s Pond. The name was derived from Robert Robertson, his son Henry, and his grandson Jesse, who for half a century occupied the two big houses in the northeast quadrant of that intersection. One of them is visible at the right side of both photos here, blocking a view of the other.

The stagecoach line operated by the Abbott family, of Conway, made daily stops at Robertson’s Corner after 1850, bringing passengers from the railhead at Dover, Union, and later Sanbornville. Eli Glines opened a store at the corner that Edwin Snow soon took over and operated through the Civil War. After the railroad reached Conway, in the early 1870s, the stage route through Eaton quickly disappeared and Robertson’s Corner saw a lot less traffic. Snow moved his operation to Snowville, selling his old place to Clement Drew, whose grocery store survived on the southwest corner well into the 20th century. At least in a magnified version of the 1890s-vintage postcard view here, Drew’s store is visible just above the off ox of that yoke standing in the road. (For city dudes, the “off” ox is the one on the left as you see them here.)