This scene may look at least somewhat familiar to longtime Nashuans, but if so it's because of the configuration of the roadways around the little, oval-shaped park, not from a first-hand memory, unless you're upwards of 120 years old. What we see here is a circa 1880s version of Railroad Square, featuring Deschenes Oval before it was called Deschenes Oval. The photo is exceptionally sharp, an indication it was printed from a glass negative about the same size as the photo itself. The sign on the two-story building at left reads "Frank T. Lewis, Livery, Boarding & Sale Stable, Particular Attention Given to Boarding and Transient Horses." A larger building at right has the sign "Flour" and "Grain" on it, and just to the left is a bill, or poster, for the Barnum and Bailey circus, which may have been coming to Nashua.

This scene may look at least somewhat familiar to longtime Nashuans, but if so it’s because of the configuration of the roadways around the little, oval-shaped park, not from a first-hand memory, unless you’re upwards of 120 years old. What we see here is a circa 1880s version of Railroad Square, featuring Deschenes Oval before it was called Deschenes Oval. The photo is exceptionally sharp, an indication it was printed from a glass negative about the same size as the photo itself. The sign on the two-story building at left reads ‘Frank T. Lewis, Livery, Boarding & Sale Stable, Particular Attention Given to Boarding and Transient Horses.’ A larger building at right has the sign ‘Flour’ and ‘Grain’ on it, and just to the left is a bill, or poster, for the Barnum and Bailey circus, which may have been coming to Nashua.

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