File:Provincetown, Massachusetts Railroad Depot - late 1800s.jpg

English: An early morning view of the former Provincetown railroad depot. The photographer is unknown.

The portrait catches the depot from the east, with the tracks crossing Bradford Street (left) en route up Standish Street, across Commercial Street, and on out onto Railroad/Steamboat Wharf – which was ultimately replaced by today’s MacMillan Wharf.

This two-room station was built in 1873 when the Old Colony Railroad finally pushed the tracks through to the Cape tip from Wellfleet. Although undated, it's what's missing from the photo that give us our best clues: The hill in the background (then called called Town Hill, now known as High Pole Hill) was home of the original Town Hall from 1853 until it burned down in 1877. Then, 1907 saw the beginning of construction of the Pilgrim Monument atop the hill. Size and quality of the photo places it at around the turn of the century.