This is the center of the three Colonnade buildings. On the left is the door to today’s 221 Washington St. leading upstairs. On the right is 219 Washington St. The three cast-iron pillars remain today.

After fighting in the Civil War and marrying in 1872, Edward W. Packard joined, circa 1875, Solomon Burt to open a grocery store, Solomon & Burt, in the Village Square. Edward’s brother, Eugene, soon joined the business. By 1879, the Packard brothers had opened this, their own store, in the nearby Colonnade Building. By 1881, they had four employees listed in the Brookline directory, possibly those seen in the photo – the two Packard brothers, Emerson C. Ball, and Frank A. Morse. The business closed in early 1886.

[Courtesy of the Digital Commonwealth (CC BY-NC-ND). From the Brookline Photograph Collection published by the Public Library of Brookline]