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Melancholy of a Street: 1900
Submitted by Dave on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 4:08pm.
Tags:
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1900. "D.M. Ferry & Co. seed warehouse." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Nothing is left standing
Submitted by Larc on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 12:02pm.
except the two-story building at far right that is now 349 Monroe Street. Currently home to an Irish pub called The Old Shillelagh.
Uprooted
Submitted by Mudhooks on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 4:25pm.
Monroe (Croghan) on the left and Brush on the right.
[Street signs in the Shorpy photo say Champlain (now East Lafayette) and Brush. - Dave]
I see that, now. I wasn't able to get a better image of the street signs. According to an entry in Google Books, the location was the east side of the block bordered by Croghan (now Monroe), Lafayette, Brush and Randolph.
The building on Monroe (the middle of the three) near Beaubien greatly resembles the D.M. Ferry & Co. building, minus the basement windows.
Good Grief
Submitted by Phaedrus on Sun, 05/29/2011 - 1:18pm.
Google "D.M. Ferry & Co" and you will get page after page of entries on/for reproductions of this company's art/advertising.
As to the pictured building: on January 1, 1886 the company's original 4 story building, containing about 5 acres of storage, burnt to the ground. A new 6 story building was erected in 1887, on the site of the one destroyed.
"At least three people"
Submitted by Ice gang on Sat, 05/28/2011 - 7:26pm.
C'mon, I've been here for three hours and I found only two, give us a hint.
Black Thumb
Submitted by Mr Mel on Sat, 05/28/2011 - 8:36am.
There appears to be a sizable rectangular grass patch on the sidewalk to the left of the building. It is a sad looking stretch that runs the length of the property. Seeing the open windows, it is a warmer time of the year. My point here is why are there no blooms. With a building full of flower seeds they really could have made a statement. We need someone on their payroll, with a watering can and some imagination, down there a few times a day.
Seedy Reading
Submitted by Bill T. on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 11:44pm.
Here's how you got through the winter back before TV.
Depth of Field
Submitted by rhhardin on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 9:59pm.
The out-of-focus at the edges is strange. It might be a small depth of field from a huge lens opening in the camera, which is what it seems to be.
Or it might be a lens flaw at the edges in either camera or enlarger.
[There is no enlarger -- we're looking at the negative. These 8x10 cameras seemed to have had relatively shallow depth of field. Anything closer than about 50 feet is generally a blur if the background is in focus. - Dave]
After the apocalypse
Submitted by RoccoB on Fri, 05/27/2011 - 9:29pm.
Nary a human in sight.
[There are at least three people in this picture! - Dave]
THE 100-YEAR-OLD PHOTO BLOG
Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo blog featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1950s. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.
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Today's Top 5