Former E. Baker coal pocket, looking north, 1932. Author's collection.
E. Baker & Co
Merchant, Retail Coal Dealer
Former E. Baker coal pocket, looking north, 1932. Author's collection.
Eleazer Baker, dba E. Baker & Co, was a grocery merchant who also did business as a retail coal dealer. The B&M constructed a 370' side track for him across from the Suncook depot in July 1900. The covered coal pocket was built into the side of the bank along the west edge of the yard. B&M records, however, indicate that his company entered into a sidetrack agreement (Contract #2036 1/2,) with the railroad on July 16, 1909. The "1/2" designation and date mismatch suggest a revision to the original contract at the later date. The coal shed is shown in the 1906, 1912, 1923, and 1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, but explicitly identified as "E. Baker" only in '12 and '23. A June 28, 1924, map to accompany a B&M sidetrack agreement with the Suncook Mills (Contract 21507, superceding Contract 2036 1/2,) shows 375' of track now in service. This suggests that E. Baker had sold or otherwise transferred the facility to the cotton mill. The 1939/48 map no longer depicts the building; postwar photos also suggest that it was gone by that time. The overall structure scales to approximately 45' wide by 85' long, consisting of two portions with a common wall and the track entering along the east edge. The eastern half has a metal roof, denoted by the o, while the western side has a wood shingle roof, marked with an x. Images consistently show a long narrow building, as shown above, with the width and height to the eaves approximately 18'. One possible explanation that would conform to the configuration observed could be that the western portion shown on the map is a covered area below the level of the track where delivery wagons and trucks could have been housed, but without a photo from the west, this cannot be proven.
B&M sidetrack map, 6/28/1924. B&MRRHS collection.
Sanborn Fire Insurance map, 1929. Library of Congress collection.
Posted 5/21/25. Updated 6/15/25. Maintained by Earl Tuson.