Washington Avenue was the path of route 9 before 1963, when the state constructed the road bypassing the center of the city, passing by the historic railroad station (constructed by the Warren and Wetmore, architects who designed Grand Central Station in New York City (See Note 1). The broader street passing between Kem Playing Cards on the right and the Steel Fabrication plant owned by Martin Kurkhill is Beck Place (it ought to have been called Bech Place [ and is called Bech on many early maps, because it was named after Edwin Bech who owned the estate which became the location of Marist College).

Warren and Wetmore was a firm with strong society connections. Whitney Warren (1864 - 1943) was a cousin of the Vanderbilts. He studied for ten years at the Ecole des Beaux Artes in Paris, as did McKim, Mead and White and Carrere and Hastings. Charles Wetmore (1866 - 1941) was trained as a lawyer, but had strong society connections which gained many projects for the firm. The firm was the preferred architectural firm for the New York Central Railroad, building not only stations but also many of the buildings near to the stations. Much of the work was designed in the first three decades of the 20th century, but the architecture resembled that of the earlier Gilded Age.

Photos located in the Marist Library Archives, photographer unknown. Photos prepared for use by Gregory P Wiedeman, a student worker in the archives division.

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