Myer & Brulle Office, 317 Commerce Street, Fredericksburg... Then and Now

The post-war business of John Henry Myer and Frederick Brulle, one block up William Street (aka Commerce Street) from the Myer residence and bakery at 212. The Germania Flour Mill was one of the highly successful businesses that helped Fredericksburg pull itself out of the financial wreckage wrought by the Civil War.
Myer himself is standing to the left of the center doorway, wearing a light colored suit and a derby hat. The viewer will note how the center doorway was later converted to a double width window. At one point, William Street was also lowered, which required the addition of two steps leading up into the doorway at right, whereas it used to be at street level.
The older image used for this slide show was taken in the late 1880s or early 1890s, after the mill converted from traditional stone grinding to a more productive roller system.
The actual mill structure stood on upper Caroline Street, across from what is today, Old Mill Park. It had stood in ruins since a fire gutted it in October of 1980, but it was totally leveled in late 2009, after many years of proposed adaptive reuse failed to take hold.
Please click on the image, it will take you to a larger screen for greater detail viewing.
When the "Picasa" window opens, click the "Full Screen" button at upper left to easily see a rolling slide show of the five images that make up the "then and now" transition.