[Illustration:  E.M.  DICKINSON & CO.’S SHOE MANUFACTORY]

Whitney’s Opera House block contains the only theatre in town.  The stage is of good size and well-appointed and the auditorium neat and attractive.  Good companies appear here throughout the season, and are well patronized by citizens of Fitchburg and neighboring towns.  Other blocks worthy of mention are Belding & Dickinson’s, Coggshall & Carpenter’s, Hatch’s, Wixon’s (not yet completed), and Stiles’—­all on Main street, and Union and Goodrich on Day street.

There are eight hotels in the city, the Fitchburg Hotel and the American House being the two largest.

The City Hall, on Main street, nearly opposite the Savings Bank block, is a large brick building.  The entire upper story is devoted to a large hall, called the City Hall.  It is the largest in the city.  There are about a dozen other halls of various sizes in different parts of the city.  On the first floor of the City Hall are the various city offices, rooms of the Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council.  The entire rear portion is occupied by the Public Library, containing over sixteen thousand volumes, which will soon be removed to the new and elegant “Wallace Library and Art Building,” now in process of completion.  Mr. Wallace’s generous gift to the city is fully described in another article.

[Illustration:  THE L.J.  BROWN BLOCK, MAIN STREET.]

[Illustration:  FITCHBURG SAVINGS BANK BUILDING.]

The Post-Office occupies the lower floor of a neat and substantial brick edifice opposite the Baptist Church.  The letter-carrier system was begun here November 1, 1884.  In the upper portion of this building are rooms occupied by the Fitchburg Board of Trade and the Park Club (social).  Just below the Post-Office is Monument Square, in the centre of which is a handsome soldiers’ monument, designed by Martin Milmore, and costing about $25,000.  It was dedicated June 26, 1874.  Four brass cannon, procured through Alvah Crocker while a Member of Congress, stand in the enclosure.  In the rear of the square is the Court House, a stone building of noble proportions, built in 1871.

Fitchburg is located on the Hoosac Tunnel route, and hence has extensive railroad facilities.  The Fitchburg Railroad runs eleven passenger trains to Boston every week, day and five to Greenfield and North Adams.  The Northern Division of the Old Colony Railroad terminates here and furnishes four trains daily to Boston, and also to the principal cities of southern Massachusetts.  The Fitchburg and Worcester Division affords ample means of communication with our sister city.  The Cheshire Railroad furnishes four trains daily to points in New Hampshire and Vermont.  A route for the proposed Fitchburg and Manchester Railroad was surveyed last summer.  The Union Passenger Depot, used by all these roads in common, is a commodious building and an ornament to the city.  Not far from the depot is the “L.J.  Brown” store, a large and handsome building with a brown stone front, which is certainly worthy of mention, both as a sample of the business blocks in town, and as a memorial of the late L.J.  Brown.