Doug Lester is pictured here looking at a copy of Edward Beyer’s 1855 View of Christiansburg. Lester opened his photography shop and photographic studio in 1948. The collection bearing his family’s name was donated to the museum by his children in 2003 and contains thousands of local images. (This photo is from the News Messenger Collection. This image and many more are available from the Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Regional Art Center. Also, learn more about the art of Edward Beyer in the current exhibit now at the museum.)The Montgomery Female College, constructed in 1860 on College Street in Christiansburg, is shown in this circa 1906 glass plate negative image. The school closed in 1908 amid financial woes for the owners Caroline Martin and Virginia Wardlaw. The sisters were later charged with murdering Caroline’s daughter, Ocey Martin Snead in New Jersey in 1909. Charges against the third sister, Mary Snead, were dropped. (This photo is from the News Messenger Collection. This image and many more are available from the Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Regional Art Center.)The Baptizing Pond is shown circa 1900. It was located on Crab Creek between Roanoke Street and the Christiansburg Depot in Cambria. The pond was for many years used as a baptizing place for area churches, but was filled in by the railroad in the late 1930s. (This photo is from the D. D. Lester Collection. This image and many more are available from the Montgomery Museum & Lewis Miller Regional Art Center.)
