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Mount Clemens, Michigan, circa 1899. "Sherman House." And its Sample Room. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
Two types of obsolete communication in this picture struck me. The paperboy and Western Union bike messengers.
What the heck would they be sampling?
[Booze. - Dave]
From the Encyclopedia of Chicago:
A second type of drinking place evolved from grocers and provisioners who began to sell hard liquor in wholesale quantities. At first, their sample rooms were places where customers could taste-test the stock; long afterward, "sample room" became simply another name for saloon.
The stone tablets standing on edge in the gutters were to prevent the utility poles from being struck by wagon wheel hubs. Often you will also see many spirally wound wraps of steel wire around pole bases, or steel sheet, to similarly protect poles from damage. It must have been a real problem.
dirt roads, I didn't know they coexisted.
With the Round Globe and appears it would be colorful. Is It a fancy Barber Pole?
Northwest corner of Cass and Gratiot where the Sherman House used to stand. Now a Macomb County office building housing, among other things, the offices of the Friend of the Court.
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