It's always interesting to see "then and now" photos of street scenes, but particularly fascinating to see places where the buildings on the streets haven't changed much at all. I'm not talking "monumental" structures here but rather the ordinary mundane buildings. There have been changes, some for the better - stripping the paint off the hardware and the building at the end of the street - and some for the worse - the loss of the curlicue details above the Bey building, and a little too liberal use of the paint brush on a couple of buildings, not to mention the loss of the "crane" logo at the top of what use to be the spaghetti place and is now the "Old Town Tavern." I'd like to see more of this kind of thing.
Submitted by Seattlekid on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 7:34pm.
Thanks to Dave and R Fane. I had looked at the 1941 picture and asked the wife what she thought of driving to Vincennes and see how much the city had changed. Then to have a 2008 picture to look at was really nice. Thanks again.
My paternal grandfather was born and raised in Vincennes, and he couldn't get out of there soon enough. He landed in Florida where he stayed his whole life. He left right after he was done with school (1918)
I never thought to ask him what was so terrible about Vincennes, but in reality his father didn't stay where he was born either (Bavaria) and neither did my father (born in Florida...left in 1956)
Family tradition I suppose. Vincennes looks charming to me, but I wasn't born there either.
Submitted by Tom in Denver on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 11:39pm.
My late father grew up with Red Skelton, and told us about his own father's leather goods store in Vincennes. I would bet that the harness shop in this photo was my granddad's. Not a huge demand for harnesses after everyone started driving automobiles. This would be the only photo I have ever seen of this shop. Thanks for posting it.
Submitted by Treefrog on Tue, 04/15/2008 - 9:27pm.
Vincennes was Red Skelton's hometown. After he'd left television I had the good fortune to see him perform live at a local theatre. He did the same old routines that he'd done for years and they were still as funny as ever!
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 10:40pm.
Both of my parents worked in Vincennes when I was a kid, and as soon as I saw this picture, I recognized it as Main Street. All the buildings in the picture are still there, including the the grain elevator just to the northwest.
Submitted by Anonymous Tipster on Mon, 04/14/2008 - 8:55pm.
I tried to blow up the images of the shops--clearly you have your hardware right next door to your grocery to your diner (spaghetti?) and a butchers and another mart of some kind and a harness maker--couldn't read them all but think of the distances you go now to hit these places.
