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(Photograph by Curtis B. Johnson, C. B. Johnson Photography)
This building is a rare survivor, a two-story, wood-frame commercial building at the main intersection in one of Vermont's small villages that are mostly populated with brick commercial blocks built after fires swept away earlier wooden buildings. Indeed, in 1869 a fire destroyed a row of buildings on the northern side of what became Portland Street, and this building arose here at the corner of Portland and Main. The simple Italianate block with tall, narrow double-hung sash windows stands on an old raised foundation to serve as the third home of the Morrisville post office. It has a deep cavetto cornice that was evidently popular in Morrisville, since six other wood-frame commercial buildings in the village have the same uncommon feature. Originally the building's entrance faced Main Street, but when the post office moved in 1901, Amasa O. Gates purchased the building, established a drugstore on the main floor, and installed the present corner-entrance storefront, a simple period piece in its own right.