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A Banner Day: 1911

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1911. "Public Square -- Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument." With flags and bunting much in evidence. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1911. "Public Square -- Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument." With flags and bunting much in evidence. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

 

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

CEICº

The Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. had his offices in one of the buildings in the middle, at 75 Public Square.
Here's a square related to them:

A Small Bit Of Trivia...

Down in the lower left hand corner of the picture would be where Ralphie and his family watch the Christmas Parade in the film, 'A Christmas Story". And also, the four squares that make up Public Square in this picture have been remodeled into two large ones; Ontario Avenue no longer goes all the way through the square.

Wayward Implements

"I am so tired of carrying this ladder. That's it, I quit."

Hey 19

is my streetcar count. With that many, it would be no problem to get around! I lived in San Francisco for a while, and could get within three blocks of anywhere in the city by bus or streetcar. Then moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where you were extremely lucky if you could get within two miles of where you wanted to go. If Grand Rapids was anything like this scene, I'd have never needed a driver's license!

15 Streetcars

And not a single one named Desire I'd bet.

Hometown Pride

Yep, the 1911 date is right there. Time of day via shadow length seemed like late afternoon but squared up by a view of the clock on the May Co. building in the upper right: 3:10 p.m. The bunting is for a D.A.R. reunion that summer.

Large stone building in the center was completed 1910 and is extant. The Soldiers' & Sailors' Monument (center right) was completed in 1894 and is also still standing, even after a recently finished redo of the whole of Public Square.

Here's a Shorpy photo from the opposite direction 11 years earlier: https://www.shorpy.com/node/17589

Keep up the good work ... yer feeding my habit !

A newspaper feeding frenzy?

I interpret the gathering around the wagon with half its load on the ground as a delivery of newspapers. The small crowd has gathered to buy the latest edition "hot off the press."

Those were the days of newsboys selling right on the streets!

The Shorpy Sleuths can tell us if it's a morning, afternoon, or evening edition by studying the shadow patterns.

[Whatever it is, it's not newspapers. - Dave]

Accident?

What's going on in front of the streetcar on the left side middle? It looks like a crowd of people gathering, and the wagon next to it seems to have dumped its load all over the street. Maybe someone got hit?

Streetcars

There are quite a few streetcars in this scene. I love the May Company building on the far right.

A Newfangled Auto? Who Needs One!

I count at least 15 streetcars in one photo. Maybe I missed a couple.

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