MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME
 
JUMP TO PAGE   100  >  200  >  300  >  400  >  500  >  600
VINTAGRAPH • WPA • WWII • YOU MEAN A WOMAN CAN OPEN IT?

Old-Timer: 1937

April 1937. "Old man on the street in Shawneetown, Illinois." Cornering the market. Medium-format nitrate negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

April 1937. "Old man on the street in Shawneetown, Illinois." Cornering the market. Medium-format nitrate negative by Russell Lee. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Old Shawneetown

This is the Posey building, which stood on the SW corner of Main and Washington, now an empty lot, like much of old Shawneetown. It housed a Kroger store, and I think the Gallatin Democrat newspaper on the second floor.

On the NW corner of Main and Washington is the old court house, built circa 1840 and one of the few old downtown buildings still standing. It's an Illinois state historic site, but is shuttered and rotting on the inside.

There's quite a few other shots of Shawneetown by Lee, who was there to document the effects of the great Ohio River flood of 1937.

Shell station

And it appears there's a Shell gas station across the street, thanks to the reflection, bringing this somewhat undated image squarely into the middle of the 20th Century.

I wonder which is older

The man, or his hat?

Those were the days

When I was a kid, we could get canned goods for a nickel. A nickel!

Splish Splash

I hope you're not walkin' too close to those downspouts in a heavy rain. Just the right height.

That sill was designed for comfort!

Or else it's seen a lot of sill sitting, it conforms nicely to the human posterior.

More change on the way

He was about to witness a lot of local change: Shawneetown was flooded (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River_flood_of_1937) a few months before the photo was taken, and the entire town was moved to "New Shawneetown" a couple of miles up the hill.

Lots of change

He looks like he is in his 70s. That would put his birth at the end of the Civil War. The transcontinental railroad, the development of paved roads, the invention of internal combustion engines and air travel happened during his lifetime. His horizon went far beyond that of his father.

Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.