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The Pontch Again: 1912
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1912. "Hotel Pontchartrain." Yet another view of this ... Square and the Cadillac Chair. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. "Misfit" I ... rope headed for a nearby ship chandlery. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/08/2023 - 5:20pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1912. "Hotel Pontchartrain." Yet another view of this relatively short-lived hostelry on Woodward Avenue, whose downfall was a paucity of private bathrooms. Familiar landmarks include the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square and the Cadillac Chair. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. "Misfit"I wonder what went down at "MISFIT"? Or did they just sell irregular clothing? And what could those fellas on the corner be taking a gander at? [Misfit was the haberdashery owned by Sol Berman at 120 Woodward Avenue. The headline below is like something out of the Onion. - Dave] Anywhere you wantThere do not seem to be much in the way of parking regulations yet. Check out the street in front of the hotel. Nice Cleanup DaveI downloaded the original image from the LOC a while back. You've done a very nice cleanup job for the Shorpy site! Thank you. [Thanks, but I didn't do any "cleaning up." - Dave] My mistake. I'm confusing this image with a sister image you've previously posted that was pretty distressed. Cheep lodgingsHenry Ford had a purple martin bird house at his home Fairlane that he called the Hotel Pontchartrain. Don't know if Albert Kahn was the architect. You'd Almost ThinkApparently, the plethora of windows was no offset for the paucity of bathrooms. Street sightingOdd load waiting to cross the street. Coil of rope? Life preserver? Spare tire? Aha! Much clearer in closeup. The fellow is obviously hefting a coil of rope headed for a nearby ship chandlery. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Great-Grandpa was a PA coal miner
... in the mines until he was in his early 30's, then moved to Detroit, where he worked for Packard Motor Cars. My mother has this photo too. ... Also Mikula. GF left mines to work in auto plant in Detroit. Greenwood Colliery & drifts behind Birney Plaza, Pa. ... 
 
Posted by gmr2048 - 02/01/2008 - 1:18pm -

Miners from near Hazleton, PA. Exact year unknown (probably early 1900s). My great-grandfather is the bottom-left miner. View full size. Great photo! Where isGreat photo! Where is Hazleton?? My Gr. Granpa and Granpa were from "Six Mile Run". Also miners. don't think they are in your photo, but really looked. Gayle [The caption says Hazleton is in Pennsylvania (as opposed to Hazelton, in West Virginia). Google Maps shows it near Scranton. - Dave] PA CoalminersMy great-grandfather (a Lithuanian immigrant) was also a coal miner in the Hazleton area right around dthis same time frame. I'd love to know more about the people in the picture, or at least your great-grandfather. PA CoalminersI just happened to stumble onto this site and boy, the memories are flooding! My grandfather and greatgrandfather were both minors from Hazleton. Both are long gone but I still travel from Connecticut to Hazleton on a regular basis to visit family there. We have 5 generations going there. PA CoalminersI too had a grandfather and greatgrandfather from Hazleton who were coalminers. They came from Czechoslovakia around 1910. I still make trips from CT to PA to visit family there. PA Coal MinersMy grandfather came from Poland and also worked in the mines in Hazleton, PA. I seem to remember the family saying it was the highest point in Pennsylvania. I had relatives who lived both in Freeland and Highland not far from Hazleton. - Chris PA coal minersHazleton, PA is in the "hard coal" or anthracite region of PA mining country. I grew up in Windber, in southwestern PA, in the "soft coal", or bituminous region. My uncle worked in the mine. I remember the "strike breakers" going to work, and more than that, I remember the BIG men with BIG guns who prevented anyone from interfering. I was about 5 or 6 yrs old. I still have a dear friend who lives there. (We are octogenarians). Has anyone else noticed the 3 or 4 very young men, boys really, in the picture? My great grandfathers tooMy great-grandfathers both worked as coal miners in northeast PA, not sure if it was Hazleton or another town though. One was from Poland and the other was from Romania. Pa. CoalminersMy great grandfather. grandfather, and great uncles were all coalminers in western Pa. One great uncle was killed in a cave in in 1927. Back then mining was done with picks and shovels and work was sporadic at best. Mines in BelgiumI had too a grandfather and others in my great grandfamily who were miners here in Frameries - Borinage - Belgium. Some of them and many other coworkers and friends died in the many coal mines installed in Borinage in the 19th and half part of the 20th century. They worked hard and live wasn't very pleasant everyday. A link to the last mine in Borinage closed in 1961, now a museum. http://www.pass.be/index.jsp Other links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frameries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borinage http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borinage http://www.google.be/search?hl=fr&q=borinage+mines&btnG=Rechercher&meta= PA CoalminersMy grandfather and great grandfather were coal miners in NE Pa (Plymouth, near Wilkes-Barre, which is of course near Hazleton). They were of Irish descent, and lived very hard lives. My great-grandfather lived in a home owned by the coal company, as did most of his time, and died in a mine collapse in 1895. His son lived into his late forties, and succumbed to 'black lung'. Fortunately, the family line continued and are all living much healthier and longer lives, some of them still in the NE Pa region. coal dust in our veinsAlthough no one in my family was a miner, I am from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvcania and grew up with the consciousness of coal. I recall vivdly being a very small girl in the early 50s and hearing every morning on the radio the announcements of which mines wouild be working, and which, idle. Presumably, if the mine didn't work, you didn't get paid. Mining was the only economy of the area, and when the mines finally closed, the Wyoming Valley -- probably never ever a real boomtown, certainly never for the miners--sank into depression from which it has never recovered. Our house was heated with coal; the truck would come periodically and empty its load into the chute. I would take the dark, hard crystals that had spilled in the driveway and try to draw on the sidewalk with them. As the 60s and 70s wore on, obituaries in the paper were filled with notices of old, and not so old, men who had succombed to anthracosis--black lung--the miner's scourge. The men in the mines were taken ruthless adventage of by mine owners, who exploited them and offered them shacks to live in which, even into the 60s, had no indoor plumbing. I would like to recognize all of the souls who worked so hard for so little, many of whom met their deaths deep underground. Benetah those smudged faces were proud and hardy men. Plymouth PA CoalminersMy Mother was born and raised in Plymouth, moving away in 1936-37. Her Father, and other relatives were miners. I'd like to hear from others with similiar backgrounds from the area. I still drive thru Plymouth a couple times a year. bb1300@aol.com coal miner's granddaughterGreetings from another NE PA native. My great-grandfather, great-uncles and grandfather all worked in the coal mines of northern Schuylkill County. Other relatives worked in the factories, foundries and mills in the area. This part of the country was also the birthplace of the American labor movement and I am proud to say I'm a union member. Does Anyone Have?My mother told me that we had an ancestor who was killed at one of the Southwestern PA coal mines in the early 20th century. Where might I find a list of those who lost their lives in the PA coal mines long ago? Please contact me at pje6431@hotmail.com. Thanks. PA CoalminersMy step-grandfather was also a miner in Western PA in the period 1910-1920?? I don't know if it was Hazelton. His name was Dominick Demark or Demarco. He and my grandmother and my father came from Canada, but my father and grandmother were originally from Chaleroi, Belgium. Hazleton, PA CoalminersMy great-grandfather and great-uncle worked as coal miners in Hazleton, PA. Both were born in Kohanovce, Slovakia. Great-grandfather, George Remeta, immigrated around 1892. How would I find which mine he might have worked in? I keep thinking I might be looking at a picture of him and never know it! Also, does anyone know if payroll records or employee records exist? Mine near HazeltonThe Eckley Mining Village is located near Hazelton and Freeland PA. It is an interesting village and informative as well. Some of the homes are still lived in but when the occupants die the homes belong to the village. Well worth a visit. There are some names available and the museum and churches are very good. Dot Great-grandpa was a PA coal minerGreat photo...my grandfather was too a Lithuanian immigrant and worked in the mines in Scranton Pa. I cherish the stories my mom told me of her father during that time. I once took a tour of the Lackawanna Mines..it was an experience I will never forget. My hats off to our forefathers! grandpa worked in the mines.My grandfather worked in the mines in the Hazleton area also, he kept journals, the year 1946 he speaks about working in tunnel 26 and such....hard life. HazletonHazleton is in east central PA, near Jim Thorpe, Lehighton, Wilkes Barre and Scranton. Upstate, as my grandparents called it. They were from Welsh coal miner stock and were born near/in Hazleton. These are hard, anthracite coal mines that had been worked heavily since the first railroads went through in the 1840s. mining accidentMy great grandfather was killed in a mining accident at Highland #2 colliery in Luzerne Co. PA on 2/13/1888. Would anyone know how I could get a newspaper article/obit/any info available on this accident???? Anthracite mining recordsI don't think they are available online, but the Pennsylvania Archives has microfilm of old PA mine accident records http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/Coal%20Resources.htm I'm pretty sure the coal region county historical society libraries have them too. Re: Mining accidentTry newspaperarchive.com. What was your great-grandfather's name? anthracite mining recordsFound some online. They even have 1888. Try here: http://www.rootsweb.com/~paluzern/mines.htm Throop Coal Mine Disaster of 1911I see you are from Scranton. I am from Pittston. I put together a booklet on the Throop (Pancoast) mine disaster. I included a few Scranton Mine accidents. If interested the booklet sells for $12. I will pay postage. Jim Bussacco 1124 Main St. Pittston Pa email bing1124.1@netzero.com Anthracite coal miningI always like logging onto your site. My father and three brothers were coal miners in the Pittston region. I worked as an outside laborer in the tipple of a mine. In 1943, I left the mine to go into the US Navy. When I returned after the war. I worked in strippings. Pittston was the greatest town in anthracite mining and had plenty of accidents. The last being the Knox mine disaster in 1959. I wrote a book about coal mining in Pittston, including most of the major disasters. I also have a great collection of coal mine pictures, including the Knox Mine Disaster. I hope more people with coal mine connections log in your site, Thank you Jim Bussacco bing1124.1@netzero.com PrepselsLooking for info on Prepsels, late 1800s early 1900's. My grandfather Raymond Prepsel (spelled Prepsal on some papers) came from Austria/Hungary to work the mines in the Hazelton area. On his certificate of competency issued by the Miners' Examining Board of the Fifth District of Luz. Co., Pa. dated July 16, 1898, his name is spelled Bribsel. He resided in Deringer in Luzerine [Luzerne?] County. My great-grandfather Paul was also living in the area and in Lost Creek, Pennsylvania. I'm doing my family tree and hope someone who reads this can help me. I only know that Elizabeth Prepsel (Raymond's sister ) married a Leo Witkowski and lived in Lost Creek. I'll keep checking back on this site. This is the names of the people who signed his competency certificate are Anthony Reilly, Isaac Williams and William Dinko. My Great Grandfather is in the photo too!John Yuhasz, the tall gent in the back row, fifth from the right (including the boy) is my great grandfather. He migrated from Hungary to work in the mines. He built a home on Goodman Street in Throop by the ball field just before he was killed in the accident. His wife never remarried, but his son, my grandfather Louis, worked in the mines until he was in his early 30's, then moved to Detroit, where he worked for Packard Motor Cars. My mother has this photo too. Louis passed away in 1994 at the age of 87, but he still had his carbide lamp. My Great-Grandfather was a Coal Miner too!He lived near the Hazleton area and actually died in a mine collapse in 1928. I have tried to find records of this mine explosion, but all I can find is a list of mine explosions, and there was one where 10 men died in Parsons, Pa. There was no article attached. I'm thinking that might have been the one where he died. According to family stories, he died during a rescue attempt. Anyway, on the upper right hand corner of this picture is a young man standing in the background who has a strong resemblance to some of the pictures I have of my Great-Grandfather. I would love to be able to find out if that was him. Looking for CoalAnyone know where I can order/buy a sample of anthracite? Mine AccidentGo to www.nytimes.com, and do an archive search for the 1851 to 1980 archives. Put WILKES BARRE MINE in the search box, and confine your search to May 25, 1928 to May 31, 1928. You will come up with three articles about the Parsons mine disaster. However, you will only be able to see the headlines. If you can find a public or college library that has ProQuest, which gives you free online access to the NY Times, you can read and print these articles. Good luck! Joe Manning, Lewis Hine Project. Johnny DeVeraMy dear father passed away one week ago. he and my mother are both from Pittston. PA. while going through his things, we came upon a story about a coal miner who never wanted his 11 year old son to follow in his footsteps, but rather wanted him to find a new life. Unfortunately, as the story goes, he found a new life, only to return to the old and meet his death. it is a two page story. beautifully written. my grandfather was a great writer. the story has no author. we are trying to locate the author. could be my father too. we wonder if this is a true story, regarding the outlaw, Johnny DeVera, the son of a coal miner in PA Hazleton, PennsylvaniaHazleton is near where the Luzerne, Carbon, and Schuylkill County lines meet. It is about 28 miles South or Southeast of Wilkes-Barre. PA Lithuanian Coal MinersMy grandfather was a Lithuanian miner sometime before 1960. He lived in Pittston. I'd like to find out more about the Lithuanian miners and their families. Pancoast mine disasterMy grandfather (Joseph Urbanowich) and perhaps his father worked the Pancoast mine .. I was wondering if your information includes the names of the 72 people who perished in the disaster. My grandfather was only 12 at the time, and I cannot find any information about his father. My grandfather was Lithuanian, lived on Bellman Street in Throop (Dickson City) in 1917 .. and then a couple of other places in Dickson City. I vaguely remember him saying something about being born around Wyoming Pa as well .. In any case, I'm interested in your booklet .. do you take paypal ?? Belgian minersDoes anyone have information on Max Romaine or Alex Small from Primrose Pa.? Alex was my grandfather and Max my great uncle. We are trying to build a family tree and don't have much information on the Romaine part of the family. I know for sure Alex worked in the mine for 50 years and helped get benefits for black lung. I believe Max was also a miner. Throop PAI was just reading your reply regarding your greatgrandfather being in the photo. i was born and raised in Throop and both of my grandfathers worked at the pancoast mine and also my wifes grandfather. Do you have any other names of people in the photo? I hae a lot of info regading Throop and can be contacted at sandsroad1@hotmail.com. thanks Anthracite coalYou're asking about a chunk of anthracite coal. I can sell you a 5 or 6 pound piece for $5 plus postage. I live in Pittston. Jim Bussacco bing1124.1@netzero.com River ferries & PA coal minesMy grandfather ran a river ferry at Frank, Pennsylvania, also called Scott Haven (name of the post office). The name of the coal mine was different and I have forgotten what it is. I would like to know if anyone knows where this place is today. I have pictures of the ferry and the school. Granddad moved the family in about 1920 to Crooksville, Ohio to a dairy farm. The mine either closed or was a strike and he had a family to keep. Any help is appreciated. Judy Langsford PAI am also interested in confirming a Lithuanian miner of No. 9 mine in Langsford, PA. Any help would be appreciated. Michael Lucas or Lukas or Lukasewicz. Thanks! Lance Lucas Amherst, MA Scott HavenScott Haven is on the Youghigheny River south of McKeesport.Coal mines in this area were Shaner,Guffy and Banning.Many other small independent mines.There is not much left in Scott Haven now.I'm not sure there is even a post office left. Knox mine disasterMy grandfather was the last one pulled out. Next Jan 22 is there any talk of a get together? Hazleton MinesMy great grandparents Stephen and Mary Dusick came to this country in 1888 from Spisska Nova Ves in Slovakia. They knew the place as Iglo Spisska Austria. They had a one year old son also named Stephen. My great grandfather and my grandfather worked in the mines. On the 1900 census I learned that my father, a 13 year old boy, was working as a slate picker. Perhaps George Remeta or his children knew my family. :)My grandfathers 1917 draft registration gives the name of the mine but I find it hard to read. Looks like Pzeda Bros. & Co Lattisonee Mines PA. I know I'm not close but maybe someone will recognize a few letters. correction: Lattimer Mines is place where my grandfather workedAfter doing more research I now know the place was Lattimer Mines but I still cannot read _____ Bros. & Co ____ Lattimer Mines and Mine RecordsPardee Brothers and Co. Ario (Ariovistus) Pardee was patriach of one of the three prominent families (Markle and Coxe Families are the others)who first developed the mines in the Hazleton Area also known as The Eastern Middle Anthracite Field. Pardee operated the Lattimer Mines where my great grandfather worked and where my grandmother was born. For those looking for mining records, look for the Annual Report of the Inspector of Mines. These reports cover PA's anthracite and bituminous mining districts from 1870 to present. The reports from 1870 to 1920 or so are particularly detailed. If you had an ancestor who was killed or injured in an accident, his name, age, and a description of the incident will be included. You can find some years for some districts online at rootsweb. Otherwise if you know the area where they worked, the local library may have copies. If not the State Library and PA Geologic Survey Library in Harrisburg have the complete set. Lansford PAIt's Lansford, not Langsford. The No. 9 mine is now a tourist attraction. It also has a museum which has lots of history and photos. WOW!Wow! I haven't been back to Shorpy for a while now, and it's cool to see that this photo has sparked such a discussion! I'll take a look at my original scan when I get home tonight and see if there is any other info on the back of the image. I scanned both front and back. (The original photois in the possession of my Uncle). As I remember it, tho, the only person identified is my great-great grandfather. I'll post back if I find anything else interesting. Your grandfather John YuhaszDo you know the names of the other miners in the photo? I'm still looking for information on my great grandfather, George Remetta and his son, also George, who were coal miners in Hazleton or Freeland during that time. Also, what was the name of the mine? Stephen and Mary DusickIf you could let us know the exact name of the mine it would help! Not sure if my great grandfather, George Remetta, knew your relatives. If there were Slovak Lutherans, there is a great chance they knew each other. My great grandparents attended Sts. Peter and Paul Slovak Lutheran church in Freeland. Church records are available through LDS Family centers and are complete although they are written in Slovak! Let me know...I'll be checking back with this site from time to time! Deb Remetta DusickThe 1900 census just says that my great grandfather worked in a local mine. Doesn't help. They were Roman Catholic as far as I know. My grandfather's 1917 draft registration form gives more clues. He worked in the Lattimer mines and lived on 992 Peace Street Hazleton. When my great grandfather was 60 in the 1920 census he said he worked with a timber gang. Does anyone know what that was? My grandfather worked as a slate picker when he was 13. Those poor young boys. John McGarveyMy grandfather died in a cave-in in 1887, before my father was born in late November 1887. Name John McGarvey. wmcgarvey@tampabay.rr.com Great-GranddadMy great-grandfather John Davies was a coal miner from Milnesville. I believe he's in this photo, bottom right hand corner, second from the right. He came to the U.S. from Wales between 1880 & 1895. Hello from WindberHello from Windber, Pa. I am writing stories at the present for our new quarterly historical newsletter for the Windber Area Musuem, it is being mailed out to museum members as a thank you for their support, membership is only $5 per yr, if interested in receiving it. Your story of remembering the guns, etc. is one of the few I have heard from someone who actually still remembers that period of time in Windber's coal strikes., etc. If you have any photos, or a story of interest, small or big, memories, etc. that I could put in our newsletter I would be happy to receive it. Also if you happen to have served in the military service we are planning to honor the men and woman from this area by having their photos and service records displayed during the month of July in the museum. thank you for your interest in our endeavor. Patricia M. Shaffer, dstubbles5@aol.com No. 9 MineMike Lukas was my grandfather from Lansford, Pa., and worked in the No. 9 mine until it closed in 1972. - Mike Futchko badkarmahunter@yahoo.com No 6 mine LansfordI am looking for any info on # 6 mine in Lansford. My grandfather was a miner there and suffered a massive stroke in the mine. PLEASE if you have any info or pictures of this mine, PLEASE contact me papasgirl@verizon.net. Thank you very much. Lithuanian Miner George NeceskasMy grandfather George Neceskas was a miner in Scranton PA at the Marvin Mine. (His Army discharge papers list his name as George Netetsky). Some of his relatives still live in Scranton, although I am not personally acquainted with any of them. None of us ever went down in the mines after he did. He had 4 children. 3 of those 4 had a total of 6 children (including my brother and I) and those 6 children had a total of 8 children. 2 of those 8 children have 2 children each. None of those 4 bear his last name anymore, although there are still some Neceskases living in New England now. Only his children spoke Lithuanian. None of his other descendants were taught the language. Pa. MinersHi! My family (from Plymouth) were all coal miners. They were McCues, Burnses and Keefes, from Carver Street and Vine Street and Shawnee Avenue. My Uncle Fritz (Francis Keefe) was blown up in a mining accident in the 1950's, and nearly killed, but left with a green freckled face on the left side. The early relatives were Hugh McCue and Peter Burns from Ireland. County Cork and County Downs. Do you know anything of that? My mother's father, Patrick McCue, born in the 1870's, worked as a breaker boy starting when he was 9. He was orphaned that year. Please respond to Turkeyfether@aol.com Thanks, Kathy My great great grandfather My great great grandfather worked in the PA coal mines. He died in 1906 in Scranton when he failed to heed his helper's warnings to not go back and relight the fuse. He was 46. I have his obituary and death certificate. He suffered a crushed hand, fractured skull and a fractured radius and died from shock. There were reports that his eyeball fell out but I'm not sure. His wife had a ride to the hospital but did not have a ride back so she had to walk 15 miles back home to tell my great grandfather and his siblings that their dad had died. So, my great grandfather and his younger brother started working in the mines when they were 11 and 10, respectively. He was born in Switzerland and only spoke German at home. He's buried in Forest Home Cemetery in Taylor. I think my great grandfather started working Pyne Breaker in Taylor and my aunts at the Economy Silk mill in Taylor. Coal miners in the 1920 CensusI'm researching family in VA and WV. I found in a 1920 census in column 13 (normally for year of immigration) the letters BWF and sometimes MH and these men were coal miners. Can anyone tell me what the initials stand for? I'm aware of the UMWA, a union. Could they be the initials of the company name of the mine? Also the birth state has USW above the state name. Am I on the right track? Thanks for any help. Carol Caf1b2h@cox.net [Googling those initials gives this answer: The census abbreviation BwF means boy living with father; MH means a miner is the head of the household. - Dave] Two Lithuanian GGF's were Coal MinersOne was naturalized in 1892. He lived in Scranton, Nanticoke or Sheatown at various times. I suspect he was brought over as "Contract Labor". That was the story from Grandfather, supposedly it was a German firm. Anyone know the names of the companies that did this sort of thing, in those days? Does anyone understand what the immigration process was at that time? I'm trying to work backwards from the Naturalization to establish the year he came over. His last name was Lastauskas (which morphed into Lastowski). Underwood CollieryI am looking for pictures, information, families that have relatives that lived in Underwood Village near Scranton that are interested in sharing photos, etc. My grandfather was a mine superintendent there until they tore the village down. Thanks. [How are people supposed to get in touch with you? - Dave] Underwood Connection?I recently found a photo of breaker boys on a site called "100 Photographs that Changed the World" by LIFE. My grandfather and G. Grandfather worked in the mines in PA and W.V. The 4th boy from the left, in the front row I believe is my grandfather. If you took my nephew, put him in those clothes, and smeared coal dust on his face, you would not be able to tell them apart. Even the way he stands to the look on his face (we call that the Underwood scowl, my dad had it, my son has it, and my granddaughter has it. In researching the picture, it was breaker boys from South Pittson, PA. If any one has any information on Clyde or Fred Underwood, I would be excited to hear from you at: kenginlaz@comcast.net. Thanks! Mining disaster 1911I live in the uk and have two family members with a date of death/ burial 13/5/1911. Can you tell me where I could find a list of miners killed in Throop disaster in 1911. My email is caroleh1@hotmail.com Mining disaster infoI would recommend contacting the following for starters: http://www.pioneertunnel.com/home.shtml After that, try the Pennsylvania Archives at: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=2887&&leve... One other area is the Luzerne County website. http://www.luzernecounty.org/living/history_of_luzerne_county These people are an excellent resource at the Osterhout Library: http://www.osterhout.lib.pa.us/ Last but not least. Go here first: http://www.luzernecounty.com/links2.htm I do not think you will be too successful in your quest. I hope I have been somewhat helpful to you and not caused too much confusion. Good luck. Williams Coal MinerMy great-grandfather and great-uncle both died in a coal mining explosion near Scranton. I am not sure where though. My dad says it was before he was born, prior to 1928. He thinks it was in Taylor, PA. Anyone have any info on Williams? rcanfield4@yahoo.com Davis miners of Schuylkill Co. PAMy David ancestors were all coal miners from Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. John Davis, my great-great-great grandfather, came from Wales as a small child. He married Ann Hanna and died in 1902. One of their sons, David David Davis [??] (my great-great grandfather), and Charles Garfield Davis (great grandfather) were miners. I don't know if at any point they spelled or changed their name from Davies to Davis. But there were so many Davis and Davies miners during that time. This was such a huge family with so many children from each generation and I know there were other John Davis'/Davies in the family. Do you have any further info about the family I could research and maybe help? Please email me, froggy3538@msn.com Lithuanians in the PA minesMy great grandfather and great-grandmother worked in the Scranton mines during the early 1990s [1890s? - Dave]. My grandmother was born in Scranton in 1915.I am interested in finding more info especially documentation of their existence. Their names were August and Anna Palukis. Have you found any similar info? My email address in barthra@utrc.utc.com Thanks Bob Barth from CT. Taylor Borough Mine Disaster 1907I now have more information regarding when and where my Great GF and Great Uncle were killed. It was the Holden Mine in Taylor Borough, PA. Any information would be great! rcanfield4@yahoo.com dot2lee@yahoo.com Hazelton MinesMy mother's father, Conrad Sandrock, worked the mines around Hazelton most of his life. They lived in a small town just out side of Hazelton called Hollywood. There were strip mines across the road when I was young (1950s and '60s). I always love looking at the pictures on this site and wondering if my grandfather worked with any of these men. I know I have never worked a day in my life that would compare to one day in these mines. I take my hat off to all the men who fed their families do this kind of work. Would love to see the average kid nowadays try that. G-Grandfather Lithuanian coal miner in Hazleton.Apparently my Lithuanian G-Grandfather was a coal miner in Hazleton, PA around 1900-1915. Haven't been able to find out much more information than that. Anyone know where I can find census records, by chance? Information pleaseMy great-grandfather immigrated from Hungary to work the coal mines at Derringer and Tomhicken circa 1887. I welcome any information you may have about how they were recruited, how they were transported from the port of entry to Tomhicken. The Pennsylvania Historical society record of Lucerne County said miners paid for a plot of land to bury their loved ones. My great-grandparents lost three of their children and I would like to locate where they are buried. Also I am interested in knowing if their deaths were recorded by the State of Pennsylvania or some other agency (Town, County) that existed at the time. Finally, I want to know of any stories that were written about the life that they and their families endured during this time. Please contact me at mtkotsay@gmail.com Thank you very much. [Your great-grandparents -- what were their names? - Dave] Taylor, PA, Coal Miner RelativesMy mother's family is from Taylor where her father, George Zigmont was a coal miner. They lived in a neighborhood called "The Patch." The houses were built on top of the mineshafts while they were digging the coal out underneath. Years later the abandoned shafts started caving in and the houses became unstable. The entire community was condemned and the homeowners forced to move. My grandfather, his daughter, my great-aunt (who owned Rudy's Bar at the top of 4th Street) and her daughter were among those who had to give up their homes and got virtually nothing for their property or houses. I believe this was in the 1960s or possibly early '70s. George's father, Anthony Zigmont, immigrated from Austria/Poland in 1893 and settled in Taylor. How did these immigrants wind up in Taylor from Ellis Island? Did someone direct them there? Did they already have relatives in the area? Was there a group who immigrated from the motherland and settled together in Taylor? If so, does anyone know where in Austria/Poland they came from? Slovakia, miners fromOne looks like my grandfather. Second row down on left in white shirt and tie. Mikula is last name. He came to PA mines after death of his father in mine accident. Also Mikula. GF left mines to work in auto plant in Detroit. Greenwood Colliery & drifts behind Birney Plaza, Pa.Information received. Immigrant coal minersMy grandfather immigrated from Slovakia and worked the coal mines in Coaldale, Pennsylvania. Does anyone know what year this might have been? My great-grandfatherMy great-grandfather was also a coal miner for Moffat Mines. His place of employment was near Taylor in Lackawanna County. I recently retraced his steps and wrote about it here. What a challenging life they led. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Mining)
First Baptist: 1904
... and Hogan Streets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Whence Fourth? I had ... the first as “Second.” First Baptist Church of Detroit Second Baptist Church of Detroit Third Baptist Church of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/11/2022 - 3:53pm -

Jacksonville, Florida, circa 1904. "First Baptist Church, Church and Hogan Streets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Whence Fourth?I had to look it up. From here: The reasons for a “Second” church forming in a community with a “First” church can vary. Sometimes, it’s the result of a difference in theology or practice. When serious divisions or disagreements within a particular denomination or congregation exist, and they cannot be equitably resolved, the result is often the formation of a new church and sometimes a new denomination. An easy, practical way to differentiate one church from the other was to refer to the dissenting church that came out of the first as “Second.” First Baptist Church of Detroit Second Baptist Church of Detroit Third Baptist Church of Detroit Faith restoredThe Almighty didn't allow his (or her) house to be taken away, which is always a possibility when the property is in the heart of downtown (it's on the block behind Cohen Bros. -- "The Big Store"). Thank you, Lindsay, for all your skywalksWhen I saw the First Baptist Church of Jacksonville on Google Street view, I thought it must have fallen on hard times, with the boarded up stained-glass window next to the elevated Metro track. But times are good. In the attached photo the Romanesque style church is still at the NE corner of Church and Hogan. But the Lindsay Building now joins the back of the church. A skywalk across Ashley Street connects the Lindsay Building to the Lindsay Memorial Auditorium (labeled Longs Medical Supply), from where services are broadcast. The auditorium is attached to a building sometimes labeled First Baptist Church Dining Room and a skywalk across Laura Street connects the dining room to the First Baptist Academy of Jacksonville. A skywalk across Beaver Street connects the Academy to the huge First Baptist Church Parking Garage No. 2 (No. 1 is at the corner of Laura and Ashley and connects to the dining room via skywalk). Click to embiggen. SecondOh so many years ago when visiting the US (I was probably 8 or 9), I always wondered why there were no Second Baptist or Second Methodist churches in any of the towns we were driving thru. One day I asked my grandmother. She couldn't stop laughing. Never did get a satisfactory answer. Archfan: Thank you for that information. Very interesting. Answers the question that my grandmother had no clue of. Tarps over stained glass?Do I see damaged leaded glass windows? Was this under repair or the aftermath of a storm? [This is new construction waiting on windows. - Dave] Fire of 1901First Baptist Church was completely destroyed on May 3. 1901 during the Great Fire of 1901. In 8 hours, the fire destroyed 146 blocks making it the third largest urban fire ranking only behind San Francisco (1906) and Chicago (1871). Looking north down Hogan Street, at Hemming Park, from the top of the post office building. First Baptist Church was located on the second street corner on the right. [The building started out as Bethel Baptist Church, which was rebuilt after the fire as First Baptist, incorporating sections of masonry that survived the blaze. - Dave] (The Gallery, DPC, Florida, Jacksonville)
The Heart of Detroit: 1907
Detroit circa 1907. "The Campus Martius." Landmarks include the Detroit Opera House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square, Wayne ... source. [A Shorpy favorite, seen in many of our Detroit photos, for example, here , here and here .] re: Seedy ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/29/2012 - 10:13am -

Detroit circa 1907. "The Campus Martius." Landmarks include the Detroit Opera House, Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument, Cadillac Square, Wayne County Building, Hotel Pontchartrain. Panorama of three 8x10 glass negatives. View full size. A calamity?Something big must be going on behind the Pontchartrain! A fire engine speeding left to right and dozens of men appear to be running toward the same destination. Or is it happy hour at the establishment proclaiming Kentucky Whiskey available here? Even the group of folks standing at the corner of the Hotel have their attention turned in that direction! So much going on here! High speed photographyNo Shorpy spirits, except the sprinters already mentioned. Concerning those lights, how much illumination did they actually cast? Is a radio towerin the center of the picture? It appears to be a large tower. [It's a street light. -Dave] Horse SenseThe Motor City with more horses than motors! In back, the classic sign of economic progress -- smokin' chimneys. Rajah CoffeeCan Starbucks be far behind? SeedyJust sayin' Moonlight TowerI believe that the structure in the center foreground of the photo is a moonlight tower. It was an early form of street lighting where there would be one tall tower with bright, probably carbon-arc, lights instead of multiple smaller lights closer to the ground. Austin, Texas is the only city that still has these in operation, although they have been updated to use a modern light source. [A Shorpy favorite, seen in many of our Detroit photos, for example, here, here and here.] re: SeedyThe Ferry Seed Warehouse seen in the background is at the western end of what is now Greektown. It's now an office building. Women downtownI have noticed over and over on Shorpy that almost every city street scene in the northern states features women bustling about, presumably doing their shopping, having lunch with their friends, walking with their daughters, etc. In the photos of southern cities, you almost never see women on the streets. Nearly every southern city street scene comprises pretty much entirely men. Why is this? Heat? No place for "a lady" to be seen? Has anyone else noticed this? "Man of the Hour," againAlso playing on Shorpy at https://www.shorpy.com/node/11486 The NYT called it a "Virile Melodrama," and said: "A youthful Mayor who cannot be bribed or intimidated, a financier who wants to get control of a street railway franchise in perpetuity, and a pair of political bosses, who are at odds with each other and who are fighting to gain supremacy in their organization -- these are the chief characters in George Broadhurst's play "The Man of the Hour."" D.M. Ferry and U of Michigan sportsDexter M. Ferry, the man behind the seed company in this picture, donated the land in south Ann Arbor on which today's U of M athletic venues stand. One of which, the outdoor track and field venue, is named Ferry Field. Before today's Michigan Stadium, Ferry Field was the home of the football Wolverines, and the iron gate with the "FERRY FIELD" name remains in place on south State Street. True CrimeAnother fantastic pic of the Campus Martius area, giving the rare view up Monroe Street where Gies's European Hotel operated (the attached building to the left of the Hotel Fowler, center of pic). In 1894, the infamous H. H. Holmes lodged Mrs. Pitezel there for a few days, the poor woman never knowing her daughters Alice and Nellie were but five blocks away. (Panoramas, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Detroit Creamery: 1915
Detroit circa 1915. "Detroit Creamery Co." At right, the Hotel Tuller; at left, a dealer in Studebaker wagons. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I see ... what looks to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/30/2022 - 1:38am -

Detroit circa 1915. "Detroit Creamery Co." At right, the Hotel Tuller; at left, a dealer in Studebaker wagons. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. I see... what looks to me like a little person peeking out of the window above and between the words DETROIT and CREAMERY to the right of the main doors. Then there is the pair discussing something -- or at least, a young man is gazing out of the window while someone (I can't tell if it is another gent or a lady but I suspect it is the former) is speaking earnestly to him. The horse second from right is either sneezing or neighing, or both ... and the black wagon to the far right is decorated with swastikas, which, according to Wikipedia, were a symbol of auspiciousness and good luck in the West prior to 1930. Thanks, Dave. I was going to say, either a little person peeking out, or a flower pot. "Circa" covers a lot of territoryRumour has it this photo is somewhat older: 1908 ... which seems more consistent w/ the lack of motor vehicles (OTOH in 1915 they proudly announced the opening of their new garage and stables for "253 horses...and 132 milk wagons", so who knows?) And don't even think about checking: nothing remains at Cass and Grand River but the sky (Tho an utterly charming Romanesque building remains from to the left of where the camera was). [The photo shows the Hotel Tuller annex addition completed in 1910. Horse-drawn ice and milk wagons were used well into the 1950s. - Dave] The Tuller could settle it, but, unfortunately the side we're seeing - in this print anyway - is the Adams Street side, which was built c. 1906. (I'll concede however it must be after the 1910 addition of 5 floors to the top). [The "New and Greater" Detroit Creamery and Ice Plant shown here had its grand opening in February 1911. This is not a print -- it's an inverted scan of the camera negative. - Dave] Good Luck and ProsperityThat's what the swastika on the back of the wagon, far right, symbolizes in Asian cultures. It became infamous about twenty years after this photo, when adopted as the symbol of the Aryan "race" by the Nazis. One wonders what the lettering on the wagon says. [STANDARD LAUNDRY. Which advertised in the city's German newspapers. - Dave] Don't Cry over Spilled MilkIt appears that the Creamery was located at the three-way intersection of Cass Avenue (to the left), Middle Street (to the right), and Grand River Avenue in the foreground. Middle ends at Clifford Street, the dark building beyond the laundry wagon. An aerial photo from 1949 shows the building to the left still there, but this corner was already a parking lot. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Horses)
Traffic Ahead: 1901
Detroit circa 1901. "Woodward Avenue and Farnsworth Street." The future Motor ... what the world looked like from the top of a pole. Detroit Institute of Arts and the main library, across the street. The only ... the far right of the picture. Similarly, the site of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the northeast of this corner, is out of view to ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/29/2023 - 3:35pm -

Detroit circa 1901. "Woodward Avenue and Farnsworth Street." The future Motor City on the cusp of the Motor Century. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Re: Pole ClimbingThe town here in Texas where I grew up still had the metal climbing steps on poles in the late 70s, but by then the bottom steps had been raised about 7 or 8 feet off the sidewalk, probably to keep adventurous kids from climbing the poles. I always wondered what the world looked like from the top of a pole. Detroit Institute of Artsand the main library, across the street. The only two things on Woodward Avenue that don't make me think I was born 75 years too late. bjzielinski's Street View is in front of the Maccabees Building, original (radio) home of The Lone Ranger. Actually, Cater-Corner From the LibraryThis view is looking southeast at the corner of Woodward and Farnsworth. Farnsworth does not extend west of Woodward (the street to the west of Woodward is named Putnam). The future (and current) site of Main Library is thus out of view to the far right of the picture. Similarly, the site of the Detroit Institute of Arts, to the northeast of this corner, is out of view to the far left. The location shown is now the site of the Horace Rackham Education Memorial Building (opened in 1941), which was originally built for the Engineering Society of Detroit, but is now owned by the University of Michigan and largely leased to Wayne State University. Previously on ShorpyLooking up Farnsworth in this Kodachrome from 1942. One of the photos that helped get me addicted to Shorpy way back when. Interesting poles for sureThree quick Shorpy questions: 1. The street lamp almost in the middle of the photo appears to have a pulley and rope, extending down the pole to the street. Is this light now electrified, where its predecessor perhaps was oil-fired, requiring raising and lowering the lamp twice daily for lighting and extinguishing, plus re-filling the oil? 2. The other poles which seem to be handling electricity, also basically in the center of the photo, appear to be metal. since they're honey-combed in the middle. I would have thought wood was the preferred pole material. Were these man-made (and fairly stylish) back in 1901? 3. Finally, I hope someone shows us that intersection today. Bet it looks incredibly different now. About those polesPower poles could be and WERE made from a number of different materials, although wood was the preferred medium. In western New York, many power poles and street lamp poles from this time period were made from reinforced concrete, which wasn't surprising because the County Engineer "happened" to own a batching plant. But like them or not, they were still usable until the late 1950s and early 60s. The metal poles that replaced them only lasted and twenty to twenty-five years. Pole ClimbingSome telephone poles still had the climbing steps in them when I grew up on the 50s. Since then they've discovered climbing spurs. LibraryIt looks like this photo is looking north along Woodward. If so, then the main branch of the Detroit Public Library was built in the open area to the right of the second house. Designed by Cass Gilbert, the library was started with a $750,000 gift by Andrew Carnegie. He offered the money in 1901, but the city didn't get around to accepting until 1910. Some things don't change. Eventually, the houses were replaced by the front lawn of the library, probably when it expanded in the '60s. Current viewView Larger Map PolesMark, those are arc lights, which were high maintenance compared to later incandescent and todays bulbs. Note the transformer on the pole just below the attachment of the bracket arm, the wires dropping down to it from the crossarm, and the low voltage wires hanging in a catenary shaped arc to the lamp fixture. Arc lights were much brighter and lower maintenance than oil lights. The carbon rods had to be replaced regularly, but nowhere near the daily schedule required of oil or gas lamps. Two methods were common for the way to lower the lamps. Often, the metal arm which reached out over the center of the street or intersection would be pivoted to the pole, and the winch would lower the whole arm through an arc to a level where the worker could perform his duties. In this picture, lowering the metal cantilever could interfere with the trolley wires, so the arm was mounted rigidly and the lamp was lowered straight down to service it. The metal poles in the background were for the trolley line. Wooden poles were used in the early days, round metal pipe poles with a bell shaped cap were very common, and metal lattice as seen in this picture were used to a lesser extent. Those poles and the pulleyThe metal poles are for the trolley car company's wires. More prosperous lines used metal because it lasted almost forever. Philadelphia still uses some that were erected at the start of electric service in the mid 1890s, although they have received new paint, and some have rusted to death from the inside. The light on a rope might be an arc light, whose carbons need periodic adjustment. The trolley workers can climb on top of one of their cars to get to their wires in the middle of the street, while the electric company's men climb poles, in this case to disconnect wires so the light can be brought within reach of an adjuster on the ground. That locationThat location would be Woodward Avenue and Farnsworth Street. [Incorrect. - Dave] (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Product Launch: 1905
Circa 1905. "Launching of the Detroit (Detroit Yacht Club)." 8x10 inch glass negative by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. A Champion In August of 1905 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/05/2014 - 12:12pm -

Circa 1905. "Launching of the Detroit (Detroit Yacht Club)." 8x10 inch glass negative by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. A ChampionIn August of 1905 the yacht Detroit won the Lipton Cup in San Diego. [Steeped in history! - Dave] This Detroit boat looks so modernJust I wanted to write. Very modern boat as almost 110 years old. Very streamlined. Happy DaysQ: What are the two happiest days of a sailing man's life? A: The day he buys his own boat and the day he sells it. The precise date of this photograph isJune 4, 1901, and shows the launching of the Detroit at the yard of the Michigan Yacht & Power Company, situated just south of Jefferson Avenue on the Detroit River just east of downtown. The boat had been commissioned by a Detroit syndicate headed by Alex McLeod, shipowner, former newspaper editor, founder of the Detroit Telephone Company, and Commodore of the Detroit Yacht Club. The vessel was intended to compete for the Canada's Cup races at Chicago, but failed to qualify, losing to another Detroit boat, the Cadillac. It was sold in Spring 1904 to a San Diego syndicate, sent west by rail, underwent some modifications, and, as already indicated here, quickly became one of the premier racing yachts on the Pacific coast, but for only a brief time, as her design and ownership raised questions among Southern California's racing elite and she was banished from racing by 1906. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Bustling Detroit: 1912
The Motor City circa 1912. "Campus Martius. Detroit City Hall, Bagley Fountain and Majestic Building." Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Testamentary ? ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2017 - 2:57pm -

The Motor City circa 1912. "Campus Martius. Detroit City Hall, Bagley Fountain and Majestic Building." Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. Testamentary ?/-'men-/ a. of or given in a person's will. Yes, I had to look it up in the Oxford dictionary. Zip!I'm always a little impressed with how quickly modern America happened: stone-built cities rivalling Europe's, built up from bare ground in little more than a lifetime and packed with cars recognisably like our own only eight years after Oldsmobile introduced mass-produced cars. And some of the people in this scene may have flown around the World on jet airliners. Always a surprise... to see how much the automobile changed both our lives, and the views of the city streets that these photos provide. When is the last time that Detroit saw horse-drawn deliveries? There are still enough horse-drawn carts for deliveries and vendors to make their appearance in 1933's "Duck Soup" seem plausible. Did Detroit, the city built on the automobile, get rid of their old-fashioned alternative sooner? Car-mounted catcherI just came across this picture last night, of this cow catcher touted for autos. https://www.shorpy.com/node/4468 This picture, on the rightThis picture, on the right hand side, looks the opposite direction down Woodward Ave than the Eureka 1910 picture does. I'm surprised mostly by how many streetcars are running up and down Woodward. Not just one every hour or half hour, but dozens in a one block area. Watch your step!Look at the drop from the front of that streetcar step to the pavement, yikes! Don't know how women managed with those long cumbersome dresses. It's good the miniskirt came along - strictly for the comfort of the ladies of course, naturally. Bagley FountainThe water fountain in the foreground was given to the citizens of Detroit by John Bagley; one of the founders of the Republican Party, staunch Abolitionist, City Councilman, Governor of Michigan and tobacconist. Long before Detroit was the center of Automobile manufacturing, tobacco was a huge business with over 100 cigar and snuff factories in different parts of the city. The Bagley Fountain was built for both humans and horses as I believe there is a horse trough on the side we can't see. It was moved to Cadillac Square in the 1920s (I believe). It is still there and was outfitted with new piping a couple years ago. I can't say I've ever drunk from the fountain as it is mainly used by our wandering class of citizens for their morning ablutions. Personally I care to honor their territorial markings. For more complete information, may I suggest: http://historicdetroit.org/building/bagley-memorial-fountain/ HorsedrawnWhen I was a child, in the early '50's, they were still delivering milk with horses, at least in Flint, "The Auto City". Hanging OnYes, you, the guy standing in the window in the Majestic Building. Watch Out For The Cows!tterrace's comment had me going to Google to see what these contraptions were called when fitted to streetcars. Apparently the proper terminology was "streetcar fender". There were an abundance of patents issued for designs to enhance the safety of pedestrians who were reckless enough to walk in front of moving streetcars. Some required the conductor to pull a cord to lower the fender when a collision was eminent, while others were designed to be deployed full time on the forward facing end of the streetcar. Streetcar catcher contraption?Looks like the the thing on the front of the streetcar was designed to provide a humane landing zone rather than just plowing cows/horses out of the way. [That's a cowcatcher. - tterrace] Gone, gone, goneCan you imagine that when the Old City Hall was demolished in the 1960s, they considered it progress? (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Welcome to Detroit: 1900
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1900. "City Hall and Campus Martius." To the left, the ... note. 8x10 inch glass negative by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. American Idyll I think any ... In 1894 Austin TX bought a bunch of the towers from Detroit and moved them southwards. Through a fluke of history, half of them ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2013 - 3:50pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1900. "City Hall and Campus Martius." To the left, the Soldiers and Sailors Monument; rising to the right is one of the city's "moonlight tower" carbon-arc lamps. Palm trees and bananas strike a tropical note. 8x10 inch glass negative by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. American IdyllI think any city would be glad to have such a civic building. Interesting French (Second Empire?) style architecture. I love the two men languidly conversing on their bicycles, oblivious of the surrounding traffic. Try that today! In toto the pedestrians look like a idealized Hollywood scene representing city life at the turn of the 20th century; people running, promenading, talking, pricing fruit perhaps on a fine summer's Sunday. Moonlight Towers: now Austin residentsThose carbon-arc lamps were once very common ways to light a city, much more economical than a lower-wattage streetlight every 100 feet. The light they gave off was by all accounts glaring and harsh, though. In 1894 Austin TX bought a bunch of the towers from Detroit and moved them southwards. Through a fluke of history, half of them survive to the present day, making them the only remaining functional towers in the world. One played an important cameo in "Dazed and Confused." All the remaining towers (17 of the original 31) are protected historic monuments, though two were recently removed. Austinites, myself included, are strangely fond of them. The rest of the story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonlight_tower Idyll Over"I think any city would be glad to have such a civic building. Interesting French (Second Empire?) style architecture." You might think that, but Detroit tore this building down in 1961. It was seen locally as embarrassingly old-fashioned soon after the turn of the 20th century. The editor of the Detroit News described it thus: "It is an architectural monstrosity. It belongs back in the twilight zone of American development. … It belongs to the era of the whatnot and the putty vase and the ship carved in a bottle. It is not Colonial, it is not Gothic, it is not Byzantine. It just ain’t nuthin’. It’s been standing there these 70 years or more, a lumpy, gloomy, ugly pile of curlicued stone. No artist has ever painted a picture of it. No artist would. No lover of beauty has ever found a single line of grace or dignity in it." And not a car in sight. I think this photograph shows the destruction wrought on the American landscape, and social fabric, especially in urban settings, by the advent of the automobile a short time later. The Motor City!Where are the cars? (Always interesting to me how long it took for automobiles to take hold.) Moonlight Bat BuffetLiving in Austin in the 80's I used to frequent a cafe in the Clarksville section of town where I would often see some of Austin's famous Mexican free-tailed bats feasting on the insects drawn to glow of moonlight towers. Austin, whose unofficial motto is "Keep Austin Weird," is a Mecca for bats, batty moonlight tower protectors, and all things odd and different. I'm glad to hear from Kevin M. that the towers are still there. All those people are deadbut yet, when I put this on full screen, I still get the feeling I could just step into the scene and walk or ride my bike amongst them. I love these pedestrian/scenic pictures. Sure glad somebody invented the camera when they did. CinematicThis does look like a Hollywood scene! Now we have our cars, our phones, our iPods, etc., and you would never see people out strolling about and chatting like this! We (myself included) are always in our cars and in a hurry! Wayne County BuildingOne of the previous commentators mentioned that this building was torn down. It is actually still standing. [You're confusing City Hall with the Wayne County Building. City hall is long gone. - Dave] (The Gallery, Bicycles, Detroit Photos, DPC, Streetcars)
Moesta's Tavern: 1910
Detroit circa 1910. "Automobile on Jefferson Avenue at East Grand Boulevard." ... east side saloon." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Car ID Packard Model 30 ... tavern survived Prohibition but not Mad Men. Per the Detroit Free Press of May 25, 1936, demolition of the Old Moesta Tavern was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/11/2023 - 3:05pm -

Detroit circa 1910. "Automobile on Jefferson Avenue at East Grand Boulevard." Backdropped by Moesta's Tavern, the city's "most famous east side saloon." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Car IDPackard Model 30 Now they race to beat the lightToday the intersection of East Jefferson Avenue and East Grand Boulevard is unrecognizable compared to the 1910 photo. But this once beautiful French Norman/Queen Anne house on E Grand in this photograph is the same house as in street view, below. To the right is the intersection where Moesta's Tavern once resided, now the site of a Tim Hortons drive thru; or a Starbucks if you pull into the parking lot. Victimized by Advertising The tavern survived Prohibition but not Mad Men. Per the Detroit Free Press of May 25, 1936, demolition of the Old Moesta Tavern was about to begin. The plan was to erect an advertising sign on the site, which was and is on the corner of the entry to Belle Isle. The building had earlier been physically moved back so it wouldn’t be in the middle of Jefferson Blvd when it was widened. After the demolition, the business was to reopen in an existing building behind the new sign. Our longtime family business sat about a block away (and has been a grassy field since the ‘70’s). The Freep bemoaned the pending loss of the bar in the legacy building. It was originally built and used by by Strohs Brewery and was installed in the tavern about 1889. Wonder what happened to it. Today it would be transplanted to a cherished new location. For years, places like Senate Resale/Detroit Antique Mall would recycle the endless stream of elaborate Detroit Detritus, intricate building material mined from locals demolishing what was left behind from decades of an incredible building and business boom that wasn’t sustained. Aye carumbaI used to make prank calls there all the time. Those upstairs porchesMy grandmother in Detroit had a big double brick house with the upstairs porch. I loved their great view and giant elm trees lining the street. Earlier PackardThe car looks like an earlier Packard Model L from about 1904, perhaps with non factory fenders with a step in between. The Packard 30 wasn't introduced until 1907. Car and DriverI've been a Shorpy aficionado for years now... and one thing (among many) I've noticed is that even back 100 years, the "hot cars" were more likely than not, driven by older men who had the means to afford the toys, and who were looking to a machine to give them one last "giddy-up". Nowadays, I see the older men in my town taking their mid-engine Corvettes or their 911s out for a leisurely spin through the center of town. The equation between age, earning power, and automotive consumption has not changed in over 100 years. Same Dude - Same Day?Could this image have been taken on the same day as this image? https://www.shorpy.com/node/11496?size=_original#caption Driver has the same bowler hat and same black velvet collar on his jacket. Location is within a half-mile -- one image is on Belle Isle and the other is on Jefferson Avenue and East Grand Blvd. entrance road to Belle Isle. The car appears to be the same. Back in 2011 I thought the car was a Packard Model 24 or "S" from 1906 somewhat based on the circa year of 2008. Now as I compare the two images the car is still a Packard but maybe a Runabout Model 30 or Model 18 from either 1907 to 1909. Finally, in Doug Floor Plan's image of the French Norman/Queen Anne home there is a building two doors down (to the south) with a curved archway. That building at 112 East Grand Blvd was one of Detroit's first ever charging stations for Baker and Detroit Electric cars. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, DPC, Eateries & Bars)
Vacation Wagon: 1964
... In 1951 our family, my wife, son and daughter, living in Detroit, started taking trips to Cheney, Washington, to visit my WW2 buddy. All ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/31/2022 - 1:09am -

        Our annual salute to the start of vacation road-trip season, first posted here 15 years ago. Everyone buckled in? Let's go! "Great Falls, Montana. Return after 3 weeks Vacation. June 27, 1964." This Kodachrome of a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood station wagon is from a box of slides found on eBay. View full size. family trips in those carsI also spent some hot days in a car like that on the way to the grandparents. My mother flattened the second seat, put a mattress on the floor and loaded three of us and the stuff in on top of it, us and the stuff equally loose and not tied down. We whined and fought and slept our way to Cape Cod from southern NJ. My father always "had to work" (they were her parents), so she did the drive alone, I think maybe 12 or 16 hours? Seemed like forever. NostalgicThese people still had a bright future ahead of them, full of great hopes for the days to come. They hadn't gone to the Moon yet, and to them, by 2007 we'd have personal helicopters and robots would run everything. The possibility of the President being indicted for a crime was unthinkable. My job as a web designer hadn't even been invented yet. The lawn looks like it's literally astroturf. Were the colors really like that, or is it an effect of the kodachrome? Holy cow! We had a 59 chevyHoly cow! We had a 59 chevy stationwagon back in the day. Does this bring back memories. We would drive to Florida from Virginia a two day trip usually in the heat of the summer to visit grandparents. Five children two parents no ac. Damn! [This is a 1960 Chevrolet. - Dave] DeflectorsDoes anybody know/remember what the deflectors left and right of the rear window were for? These may have been an aftermarket item. It is amazing how well the colors in this slide are preserved after almost 50 years. It looks like Kodachrome all right, including the telltale blue cast in the shadows The Astroturf look......to my eye, seems to come from the little flowers (or toadstools?) that are in the lawn. At the smaller image size, they look like specular reflections, making it seem like the grass is shiny. [The white flowers are clover. - Dave] 1964As I remember it, this was less than a year after the assassination of JFK, there were race riots in the south and we (I was 14) were all starting to question attitudes towards women, blacks, hispanics, homosexuals and the culture we had grown up with. One of the more minor cultural things was the importance of your front lawn. 50 years?I was born in 1964, and trust me, it hasn't been 50 years since then, yet.... ;) Re:DeflectorsThe deflectors on either side of the rear window were intended to blow air across the rear window to prevent snow from accumulating. A similar deflector is often fitted along the roof on station wagons from the 60s on. I think they were usually a factory or dealer option in later years, but I really don't know specifically about this model or when they might have first been used. OK, 40 years.Sorry, I was too vexed on the year of manufacture of the car. I remember that someone in our street had the sedan version of this Chevy. Like any 8 year old, I was fascinated by the winged tail and the panorama windshield. You didn't see many of these in Europe around 1960; everbody, including my father, was driving Volkswagen Beetles. (He later had a new Ford Mustang 1964 1/2 , with a 289 ci V8 and a four speed box, rally pack and (optional) front discs, which I found very impressive at the time. A real gas guzzler by European standards. Family TrucksterThis is probably what Clark Griswold's dad took the family on vacation in. It's a 1960 Chevy, and I'm guessing it's a Kingswood model. The Brookwood was the more stripped down model and I think the "full dresser" was called a Nomad. This one isn't completely chromed-out and it has the small, dog-dish hubcaps so I'm thinking it's the middle of the line model. I think the rear air deflectors also helped keep exhaust gas from entering the rear passenger compartment when the vehicle was moving with the tailgate window was lowered. Though it doesn't look like there's room for anybody in the third row of seats for this trip. With the window up they also helped keep the rear glass clear of snow and dust. These are Parents of the Year......in my book. Can you imagine going across country now without all of the luxuries and Wendy's and portable DVD players and Nintendo and cell phones and credit cards? These parents did it all the HARD way...and I'll bet they made a lot of memories that summer! My jaw droppedOnce again the red stationwagon family blows me away. The color composition here is perfect. Chevy ParkwoodThis is a 1960 Chevrolet Parkwood. Parkwoods and Kingswoods both use Bel Air trim (mid-level). The Kingswood, a nine-passenger wagon, has the third-row rear-facing seat, and two steps on the rear bumper (one on each end just outside of where the tailgate would come down). Less obvious is that all Kingswoods have power tailgate windows, an option on the other Chevrolet wagons. I still drive a '59 ChevyI recommend owning one. In 2000 We took the ultimate road trip with mine from near the Canadian border in Washington State through the desert to Las Vegas and back up through California and Oregon. There really is nothing like seeing the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet. Cruising the Strip in Vegas was a blast. We might as well have been driving a space ship with the reactions we got. Sadly, these Chevrolets were mostly scrapped and very few survive. 60 ChevySadly, the third row seat had not been invented as of yet and the deflectors were used to deflect air into the rear of the stationwagon at slower speeds. I may not be an expert but I'm old enough to have ridden and slept in the back section of a folded down stationwagon. We didn't know about SUV's yet. Chevy WagonChevy's Parkwood and Kingswood wagons could both be had with a third-row seat. And back then, for the record - wagons WERE the "SUVs" of the day! [According to the 1960 Chevrolet sales brochure, only the Kingswood was available with third-row seating. The International Travelall and Chevy Suburban Carryall were two of the SUVs of the day. - Dave] The luggage rackis something you don't see anymore. It hung on the wall of the garage when not in use. Once my dad, who was in a big hurry, didn't secure the tarp on top properly... We played car games, like Alphabet, Road Bingo, and License Plates, read books, colored,sang songs and squabbled. You took your chances with local restaurants. We hadn't got used to entertainment on demand, so we didn't miss it. And to Dave Faris: It's the film. I once assured my daughter that colors when I was a kid were the same as today. "The Fifties," she said, in her narrator's voice, "were an oddly-hued decade." Slide ConversionHow does one convert slides to digital photos? Any website links or advice? [You'd use a film scanner. I used a Nikon 4000 ED for this one. - Dave] Family TrucksterWe had a green Ford station wagon, not nearly as nice as this, and with our family of six, it was a masochistic experience to take family vacations. Every summer we said that's it, we will never do this again, until the following summer when we did it again. The best part was arriving home again, but I will say that NOT having DVD's and high tech electronic gadgets forced the kids to look out the window and they gained incredible geographic knowledge from seeing the U.S. I could truthfully call these annual trips "purgatory on wheels." Road TripMost all of my long-distance car trips were connected with moving as my father was in the USAF. In August 1954, after being in the UK 2½ years, we got in our in our '53 Chevy coupe and went from New York City to the SF Bay Area, mostly along US 40. Entertainment consisted of looking at the scenery and checking off the towns on the free roadmaps that the service stations provided in each state. Iy being the pre-Interstate era, one did go thru many towns back then! (Excepting on the PA Turnpike) Burma-Shave signs relieved the boredom in the rural areas. We had a car radio (AM only, of course), but for some reason I can only recall it being used while crossing the salt flats west of Salt Lake City. Westward HoIn 1951 our family, my wife, son and daughter, living in Detroit, started taking trips to Cheney, Washington, to visit my WW2 buddy. All on old state highways, no air conditioner, 4½ hours to get through Chicago and the kids loved it. Took these trips out west to the 1970s. We still go west to see my buddy and my daughter in Seattle and we enjoy crossing Nebraska on old U.S. 30. It is a treat to be off of I-80. Nostalgia Ain't What it Used to BeDon't look at this picture and pine for the old days. Change the car to a green Olds Vista Cruiser and that's us in 1969. Back then, dads bought a new station wagon to kick off the summer vacation. Dads don't buy an SUV today for that reason. Without repeating some of the horrors already mentioned below, there was the additional joy of Mom sending back a Coca Cola bottle for one of her sons to use in lieu of a loo. If the girls had to go, we had to pull over. Not so with the boys. Watching mom backhand-fling a Coke bottle out her window, filled with fluid far different that what was originally intended, and seeing it bounce and spill along the shoulder as we whizzed along at 75 mph (pun intended), that's about the fondest vacation memory at least from the car perspective. Today with the daughter hooked up to a video iPod and the sons enjoying their PSP, it's a pleasure to drive for distances. Back then, we didn't play License Plates. We played Punch Buggy and Slug Bug, etc. Fistfight games. Let's go!I loved car trips, and I never had DVD players and Nintendo. I watched the scenery and kept a travel diary. those were some of the greatest times of my life. Road TrripWe had to make do with pillows & blankets. A mattress would have made it actually comfortable. I don't know if Dad didn't have the imagination for that, or just not the money. I suspect the latter. We'd sing sometimes. It was 12 hours from north Georgia near the North Carolina line to south Georgia, near the Florida line, where my grandmother lived. I see the moon; the moon sees me. The moon sees the one that I want to see ... Thanks for the memoriesMy folks had the four-door sedan version of this car, in sky blue & white. My mom used to have a station wagon, don't remember what kind, but it was memorable for its pushbutton transmission on the dash instead of a gearshift! However my favorite "finned" car was our family's Buick Invicta. Now that was a car! Third Row SeatsFords had third-row seats in 1955. I'm pretty sure Chevy had them by 1958 at least. Chevy didn't offer woodgrain sides until '65. Sunday ridesWe had that same car, only in light blue. No seat belts or infant seats for us! We'd put my baby sister in one of those deathtrap baby seats that hooked over the front seat and off we went! What a picture!This picture takes me back almost 40 years to the road trips our family did during summer holidays when I was a little boy. It feels like I myself am stretching my legs after coming home. The colours, the moment -- one of my favorite pictures in Shorpy. My Favorite Car was a 1960 Chevrolet Impala 2-dr hardtop. Bluish gray with white segment on the side, red and white interior. The first car my wife and I bought. Paid $1750 for it used in 1962. We made some wonderful trips in that car. Re: Family TrucksterJust saw this item on TV yesterday about a real family named Griswold that had their station wagon modded to look like the Family Truckster from National Lampoon's Vacation movie for their trip to Disney World. http://tinyurl.com/plo5kub See the USA in Your ChevroletFor our family, it was a 1962 Buick Invicta wagon. Huge car designed for doing massive mileage on the interstates and that's what we did -- six or seven hundred miles a day from Indiana to the Rockies for our annual vacation. Procedure for Accessing the Cargo AreaWe had one of these when I was a kid as well. Ours was a silver gray color. See the chrome disk on the trunk door? Upon arriving at destination, here's what you had to do: 1) Put trunk key in center slot (separate keys for ignition and trunk back then) 2) Open flap (as seen in photo) 3) Rotate flap several times till rear window is fully down 4) Reach in and grab handle to drop tailgate Simple, huh? Looking at old red carsmakes my elbows hurt! Seemed like some of those old single stage paints, reds in particular, had to be waxed every two weeks to keep them looking decent. The widespread adoption of clearcoat finishes in the late 80's to mid 90's freed modern kids from the dreaded frequent waxing chore, thereby giving them the leisure time to start the video gaming revolution... As Long AsThis isn't really the "End of the Road"! That's a scary title for all the Shorpy Faithful. 3 Adults + 7 Children =1000 mile round trip to see grandma. We kids didn't mind a bit. Seat belts?I don't think you heard "Everybody all buckled up?" all that much in '64. I'm not sure of the exact dates, but if you had seatbelts back then, you bought them at a discount store or an auto parts store like Western Auto or J. C. Whitney, and they were lap belts only. Three point seat belts didn't come along for several more years, if I recall correctly, and it wasn't until the government mandated new cars with ignition interlocks in the 1970's that "real men" started to actually use them. Back then, we used to spend our vacations camping, so the car was packed to the gills, including the center of the back seat. My sister and I each got little cubbyholes next to the doors, with just room enough to sit for the trip to northern Wisconsin. My dad drove a two tone green '55 Oldsmobile Delta 88. I saw a picture of that car a few months ago, and as soon as I did, I started remembering a surprising amount of detail about the car's details. It was handed down to me when I went off to college in '64. Seat beltsbobdog19006 is correct in that seat belts were not standard equipment in 1960. However, they had been available as a dealer-installed option since the 50s. By 1966, they were standard in all Chevys, and by 1968, they were federally mandated. I spent many a happy hour on family roadtrips in our '68 Ford wagon, nestled in the narrow gap between the second row and the rear-facing third-row seat, no seat belt, of course. Neither did my siblings in the third row. Service StickersI remember those stickers that service stations or car dealers put on the inside edge of the driver's door when you got your car serviced. This Chevrolet has two. Our road trip rigWe had a '76 Chevy Beauville van, a ho-hum light brown rather than red, which made up for the lack of chrome spears with its cavernous interior: two bucket seats in front for Mom and Dad, two bench seats, and a homemade plywood bed. Strangely, all that space wasn't enough to prevent sibling quarrels. The best story of this van was the return trip of its maiden voyage, when my uncle, who owned a small niche-market manufacturing firm, talked my dad into towing a piece of equipment from South Texas to a parking lot near Chicago, where we would deliver it to his customer from Wisconsin. We quickly got used to being asked at every single hotel, gas station, and rest stop, exactly what was the three-wheeled contraption with the hydraulically-actuated vertical roller-chain conveyor with teeth. The looks on everyone's faces when my dad told them it was a grave-digging machine: Priceless! Curtains?Every August for years we travelled from Birmingham to Cincinnati for a week of visiting my parents' relatives. Before our last such trip in '69, we went through a black-and-white '57 Plymouth Savoy, a metallic-beige '63 Ford Country Sedan wagon (the one without wood on the sides) and a '67 Olds VistaCruiser. I'd love to have that VistaCruiser back today. Ours was burgundy red and my dad put red stripe Tiger Paw tires on it. Imagine a 442 station wagon. As for Shorpy's '60 Chevy wagon, I only just noticed the homemade or aftermarket side curtains, with vertical stripes of brown, gold and red to compliment the bright red car. Thanks, Dave, for showing us this photo again... and including all the original comments, too. Great to relive all the great summer vacation stories with everyone! Re: deflectorsIn the days before the rear window wiper on a station wagon, some folks put these on and the deflected air current would help to clean off that window to a degree. Not having either, within a mile that rear hatch would be almost impossible to see through. Been there, done that and got the tee-shirt. This does bring back memoriesWe had a similar station wagon, but it was salmon (or was it mauve, or ecru?) colored with a white top (I think). It had a 460 a/c (four windows down while traveling sixty miles per hour, some times 560 with the rear tailgate window down). I remember taking a trip from Mississippi to Six Flags over Texas on U.S. Highway 82 (two lane most of the way) in Summer, 1964. The back seats were folded down, and the four of us kids had pillows, blankets, books, and board games to pass the time. It was replaced soon after with a 1965 Ford Country Squire Wagon with a/c, and fake wood paneling on the side. Instead of a rear facing bench seat, it had two small seats on either side that faced each each other. Memories of summer tripsWe also lived in Montana back then, and our family truckster in the 1960s was a 1963 Rambler Classic station wagon. (Yes, I suffered greatly for it among my friends.) That's what I learned to drive, and we ranged all over the western US and Canada in it. Before that, however, we traveled in a 1949 Studebaker Land Cruiser 4-door sedan, which my dad (both inventive and frugal) had outfitted with a set of three back seats that, when covered with the mattress from our roll-away bed, filled the back seat and trunk area with a very passable sleeping unit. That's where I spent most of my time on our travels. At other times, I would climb over the front seatback into the front bench seat between my parents. That's where I was on August 5, 1962, when we were preparing to leave Crescent City, CA, and heard on the radio that Marilyn Monroe had died. Deflector's actual purposeWas to break the "vacuum" the "wall" that was the rear of that wagon created which would suck exhaust into the car if that rear window was open even a little bit. The fresh air, the snowless/cleaner rear window were merely bonuses... Buckle up?A 1960 Chevy wagon probably didn't have seat belts unless the owner installed them. The kids in the back were pretty much free range as long as they didn't make too much noise. Lots of people piled the stuff on the roof and put a mattress in the back for the kids. It was a great way to go and most of us survived. [Seat belts were optional on all 1960 Chevrolets. - Dave] Car playgroundMy folks had a Ford wagon of that era. No seatbelts. Folks put a mattress in the back. Became our playground on long trips. We had no desire to "sit" in a seat. Miss station wagonsI miss station wagons. I prefer them to the SUVs that replaced them. I also miss the bold bright colors that cars use to come in. No SquattingLooking at all the stuff already loaded, I'm surprised the back of this wagon isn't dragging on the ground. In fact it's sitting pretty level. I wonder if dad had overload springs installed? We've had one built for you.To BillyB: Station wagon suspensions were designed with the idea that they would have to haul some combination of eight people and their luggage, so they did OK when loaded down. They *were* softer than contemporary pickup trucks, so the back end of the station wagon wouldn't bounce all over if there were only one or two people in it. Especially at the time of this photo, gas was 25 cents a gallon and would be that price forever, so the factory didn't mind spending a little extra weight on a beefier suspension. Also, most of the really heavy luggage went on the roof rack, which was fairly close to being in the middle of the wheelbase. The back-back, behind the rear seat, tended to contain lighter things, like blankets, pillows, the picnic basket, and - as the trip progressed - bags of souvenirs. If Dad wanted to use the inside rear-view mirror, you couldn't stack stuff much higher than the seats, anyway. Source: I rode in the back of a '79 Oldsmobile wagon every summer from '79 to '87. I think the longest trip we took in it was from Kansas City to Washington, DC and back. WagonsWe had a 1956 Ford wagon, then '61 Mercury wagon, finally a (I think) 1964 Ford wagon. I remember one year with the Mercury, my mom ran low on gas. We were up in the mountains in a resort town. To get to the gas station, she had to reverse up hills, turn around for the downhills, turn around again for going up the next hill. What a ride. Another time, 1965, we were in a typhoon in the current wagon. There were eleven of us in it. Another wild ride driving on a road along the bay. Waves washing over us, my mom hugging the middle of the road (there was an island we could not get across). Wagons were great. The 283 V-8with its 170 gross horsepower is not going to have much highway passing reserve with all that weight. Cross-flags over the V on the tailgate would have indicated one of several 348's which would have given more than enough reserve. That car is 58 years old but properly equipped could have kept pace with most cars on the road today in equal comfort. A 58 year old car in 1960 by comparison was barely even recognizable as such it was so rudimentary by comparison to the 1960 version in its looks and capabilities. The same comparisons held true in all other realms of life comparing 1960 to 1902--homes, conveniences, dress, you name it. Virtually any of those later areas are not that significantly different from their 1960 versions. Those deflectors... were supposed to keep dust off the back window Nikon CoolscanI am having a problem with mine. Can you recommend a place that can repair them. [There aren't any. Try buying them used on eBay. - Dave] 283 V8Although I agree that a 348 engine would have been a better choice for this station wagon. The 170hp 283 was the base V8 engine with just a single two barrel carburetor. The next option up was also a 283 but with a four barrel which the above wagon may have had, which would have given it a little more passing power. Koolscan softwareDave. What software program do you use with your 4000? As it seems the program that came with it is only works for Microsoft VISTA. [I use the NikonScan software that came with the scanner, on a Windows 10 workstation. To install the software on a modern operating system, you have to disable Driver Signature Enforcement. And it's Coolscan, with a C. - Dave] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Kodachromes 1, Travel & Vacation)
TRX: 1910
... Express reefers at the ready. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Open Air Ship's Wheel ... photo? The source of this great photo is described as Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress, but I am unable to find this photo ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/19/2023 - 3:58pm -

Mobile, Alabama, circa 1910. "Unloading bananas." Tropical Refrigerator Express reefers at the ready. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Open Air Ship's WheelThis is likely an emergency wheel located close to the steering mechanism. The regular-use wheel is forward, in the bridge of this steamship. BananasThis was about a decade into the long march of the United Fruit Company through Latin America, leaving in its wake "banana republics", untold injustices, and the lasting model for multinational corporations. Open door policyI'm guessing that the reefers are in "ventilated car" mode, since bananas, while temperature sensitive, don't require the level of cooling some products do (namely frozen ones). The hatches are in the up position to facilitate air flow, rather than for icing. Where's Harry?I don't see the tally man. Norway?I can’t make out the name of the boat, and regardless it doesn’t appear that there’s a country listed, but the flag looks Norwegian to me. Does that even make sense? Mr TallymanThe tallyman and his buddy are on post, they even arranged a bench to check the unloading in comfort. The banana boat is NorwegianAs evidenced by the flag. It's from Bergen and its name ends in "DØ" The beginning is obscured by the flag Ship's WheelI don't remember seeing a ship's wheel quite so exposed to the elements outside of a pirate movie. Sidewheeler IDJas. A. Carney 1894 according to page 219 of the 1910 Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United Stares WHAT Bananas?I see coal and not bananas! "Yes, we have no bananas?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QqkrIDeTeA or if you prefer originals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDd8shcLvHI Where's the Day-O? Yes, we have no ...I'm banana blind -- not one in sight. Yes -- bananas!Look carefully at the conveyor just above the righthand white ventilator. The conveyor consists of a series of slings, each one lifting a bunch of bananas. Hellø BodøHere we see the diminutive 181-foot Norwegian steamer Bodø, launched as the Xenia in 1894 at Bergen by Bergens Mekaniske Versteder for Bergh & Helland of that city. At 666 gross and 398 net tons, it was powered by a triple expansion steam engine supplied by a Scotch boiler. It became the Bodø in 1899 and was chartered to the United Fruit Company to haul fruit, primarily bananas, between Jamaica and the the East Coast. United Fruit chartered many Norwegian vessels around the turn-of-the-last century beginning in 1899. Later named Plentingen, Polar, Samos and Ikaria, it was dismantled in Greece in late 1928. It has appeared before on Shorpy (as has a similar comment of mine!) Gaillard-Johnson Coal CompanyFrom the 1909 Mobile city directory. When cities had more than one telephone company. Coalyard located at foot of St. Anthony. Phone Bell 248 or Home 51. [City directories go back to before people even had telephones. - Dave] Walking the GangplankAs a free-range kid in Mobile, I have personally watched bananas being unloaded from a ship, circa 1950. It was nothing like this photo. There was a slanting gangplank between the ship and the dock, and a continuous line of men descending with stalks of bananas over their shoulders. I recall the gangplank being wooden, but am not sure of this. Nor do I recall how the men got back on board, but obviously they did. “Lighter”I’m interested in the boat off to the right of the ship. It’s actually a barge called a Lighter. These were, and in some cases still are, used to service ships in port. In this case the Lighter is providing coal to fuel the steam boilers. It has never been clear to me where the term came from. Some have suggested it’s from the German “Lichter” as some barges were used to off load (lighten) small deliveries to shore from large ships. Another great photo. Source of photo?The source of this great photo is described as Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress, but I am unable to find this photo at the Library of Congress website. Could someone provide me with a link to the photo? I've tried every search term I can think of. [This was one of a group of hundreds of damaged glass negatives added to the LOC archive in February. They have yet to be captioned, so will not show up in search results. - Dave] (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Mobile, Railroads)
Detroit Rubber Works: 1908
The Detroit River circa 1908. "Morgan & Wright Rubber Works." The enterprise ... glimpsed here . 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. From Bicycles to ... from bicycle tires to auto tires, and Chicago to the Detroit, was the way to go. Thus, around the time of this photo, Morgan & ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/04/2021 - 10:41am -

The Detroit River circa 1908. "Morgan & Wright Rubber Works." The enterprise last glimpsed here. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. From Bicycles to Brownfields to "The Bus"Farsighted Fred Morgan and Rufus Wright recognized at the turn of the century that moving from bicycle tires to auto tires, and Chicago to the Detroit, was the way to go. Thus, around the time of this photo, Morgan & Wright Bicycle Tire Co. of Chicago became Morgan and Wright Rubber Works on East Jefferson Avenue and Meldrum in Detroit. Around 1912, Morgan & Wright became a division of the United States Tire Co., ultimately shortened to Uniroyal in 1961. At some point Michigan Consolidated Gas Co. moved in next door to convert coal to gas. Like most Detroit factories of its era, this building closed, and was then demolished, in the second half of the 20th Century. The City bought it to control its future. But by that point the site's contaminated soil was an environmental nightmare, scaring away many potential purchasers. A century after this photo, a new development team led by Detroit native and Pittsburgh Steeler Jerome “The Bus” Bettis obtained development rights to the site. A new commercial or industrial use is still elusive. For more: https://www.bridgedetroit.com/after-39-years-of-sitting-idle-part-of-det... Shades of UniroyalThe company moved from Chicago to Detroit in about 1905 to take advantage of the car industry needing tires. From the start, the plant employed 750 people and produced 350 tires each day. Around 1912, Morgan & Wright became a division of the United States Tire Co which later became a division of Uniroyal. The factory closed around 1980 and was demolished in 1985. The still empty property sits at 6600 Jefferson just west of the Belle Isle Bridge. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Factories)
Dept. of Life Rafts: 1912
July 10, 1912. "Detroit Ship Building Co., life rafts dept." Our second peek behind the scenes. ... make one large enough for seven stranded castaways? Detroit Drydock This was the Detroit Drydock factory at Orleans & Atwater in Detroit. Building still ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/21/2012 - 4:50pm -

July 10, 1912. "Detroit Ship Building Co., life rafts dept." Our second peek behind the scenes. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative. View full size. Rough Ride on the Great LakesThe attached picture is of a similar can style life raft used by the Great Lakes freighter Cyprus, which sank in October of 1907. The raft carried four crew members within sight of shore but began flipping, leaving Second Mate Pitt as the raft's sole survivor. The full story can be found here. Booming businessI'm guessing July 1912 life raft sales were pretty good, when photographed so soon after that April's legendary iceberg-related mishap. The Professor and Mary AnnDo they make one large enough for seven stranded castaways? Detroit DrydockThis was the Detroit Drydock factory at Orleans & Atwater in Detroit. Building still stands, albeit precariously. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Detroit: 1929
Detroit, 1929. "Skyline and boats on the Detroit River as seen from Windsor, Ontario." Gelatin silver print, Library of ... size. Good Times My great-uncle and aunt moved to Detroit in 1939 to run a Lendzion's 5 and 10 cent store in Hamtramck. They ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/11/2020 - 12:52pm -

Detroit, 1929. "Skyline and boats on the Detroit River as seen from Windsor, Ontario." Gelatin silver print, Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Collection. View full size. Good TimesMy great-uncle and aunt moved to Detroit in 1939 to run a Lendzion's 5 and 10 cent store in Hamtramck. They prospered there until 1965 when the shopping centers put them out of business, forcing them to move back to Ohio. However, Uncle Clarence had only fond memories of living there and still drank nothing but Old Dutch Beer, smoked local Detroit brand cigars and always had Vernor's ginger ale for us kids when we visited. Down Canada WayDetroit is the only place in the U.S. where you can look south into Canada. At least that's one of those geographical facts they taught us in grade school. Another surprising fact that has stayed with me: the Atlantic end of the Panama Canal is west of the Pacific end. He took the midnight train going anywhereWindsor is not technically "South Detroit", but it's the closest thing there is to such a place. Re: Down Canada WayEver hear of "Alaska"? Across the DitchI live in Windsor and have been here all my life. The view has changed a lot. The Ambassador Bridge linking the two cities was opened in this year, and in 1930 the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel opened. Prior to that the only way between the two cities was by ferry, thus the proliferation of boats on both sides of the border. Locals have always called the river "The Ditch." SkyWhen I embigulate these photos I either play with the size to get it to fit entirely within my screen or leave it ultra-large and slide it around to view the meat or heart of the photo (which can vary with mood). With cityscapes, I usually take the scene up to the top of the tallest buildings and let the foreground fill in. But look at the sky in this picture! On account of having to look at those majestic clouds, there simply isn’t any room for Windsor in my embiggened view. Everything But the OinkI was wondering just what the good citizens of Windsor could "wear like a pig's nose" -- some Canadian delicacy? A frostbite-preventing schnozzola-warmer? Turns out that it was a sign advertising Finck's Overalls... "Wear Like a Pig's Nose." "Try a pair. The Man Who Thinks Invests in Finck's." (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos)
Detroit Grand Circus Park, approx 1920
... of the Statler Hotel I was able to match the image to Detroit's Grand Circus Park. The next guess is the date. Possibly about ... 
 
Posted by bhappel - 09/21/2009 - 5:04am -

Due to my Grandfather's work with Pierce Arrow, I took a stab at guessing the location. Using Google maps and some online history of the Statler Hotel I was able to match the image to Detroit's Grand Circus Park. The next guess is the date. Possibly about 1915-20. View full size. The StatlerThe photo dates to about 1922-23. The Hotel Statler (left) was completed in 1923. There was another building finished about the same time that should be just to the left of the tall, gabled one at right. But since it's not shown yet (it's not quite the size of the "big three" in this view, but bigger than what's on its property), I'm thinking the pic had to be from 1922 before the Statler actually opened or the other structure got well underway. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Detroit River Tunnel: 1910
The Detroit River circa 1910. "Michigan Central R.R. tunnel -- sinking the last ... contractors." 6½ x 8½ inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Boys at lower right So ... of the photo for me. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2022 - 10:26pm -

The Detroit River circa 1910. "Michigan Central R.R. tunnel -- sinking the last tubular section. W.S. Kinnear, Chief Engineer, Butler Bros. Construction Co., contractors." 6½ x 8½ inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Boys at lower rightSo much to look at in this photo, but I can’t take my eyes off those three boys in the lower right, on the wooden pier. One lounges casually, one is caught in motion as he insouciantly leans forward, and the third boy appears to be yanking himself backwards. Whatever else is going on in the grown-up world of construction and engineering, these three young fellows are the focus of the photo for me. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC, Railroads)
Detroit Publishing: The Sequel
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1902. "Detroit Photographic Company, southeast view." Our second look at the home of ... creating an over-obvious color job? Postcards Was Detroit Publishing a competitor or as large a producer of postcards as the Curt ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2014 - 2:49pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1902. "Detroit Photographic Company, southeast view." Our second look at the home of the Photochrom-process postcard. View full size. Ripe for colorizationWith all the false-color postcards they turned out, someone should do some retro-justice to this plate. Any takers for creating an over-obvious color job? PostcardsWas Detroit Publishing a competitor or as large a producer of postcards as the Curt Teich co. in Chicago? [At its peak in the early part of the century, Detroit Publishing was selling around 7 million postcards and prints a year. - Dave] (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Skinny Dippers: 1910
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "News Tribune newsboys' plunge bath." Someone make these kids a sandwich. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. There's one in ... a tiny pool there. But hey! better than nothing eh? Detroit Athletic Club From an article on the Detroit Athletic Club in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 4:58pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1910. "News Tribune newsboys' plunge bath." Someone make these kids a sandwich. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. There's one in every crowdToday was plaid day. Didn't you get the memo? What's the rule?Don't eat a month before swimming, or don't swim for a month after eating. Surprise Swimmer!If you look closely, you'll see an African-American boy in the water on his back swimming. WOW! That seems unheard of for the time. [That's no boy. - Dave] PB&Js coming right up!Some things never change, and one of those is preteen boys! They look the same and act the same as my sons and the dozens of little boys who have been here to play with them over the last 20 years. I wish I had a dime for every PB&J I have made! Those diaper things they are wearing are kind of interesting, aren't they? Interesting photoIs this a way that the newspaper had to retain the kids to work for them? sort of like perk? That is also a tiny pool there. But hey! better than nothing eh? Detroit Athletic ClubFrom an article on the Detroit Athletic Club in the December 1888 issue of "Outing": The bath-room caused much marvel in these parts. It is 30 by 16 feet in size. The centre of the marble-paved floor is occupied by the plunge-bath, 20 feet long and 12 feet wide. Its sides are lined with white enameled bricks, and a constant flow of water is secured from the city service-pipes. Swim timeat Neverland Ranch! Hoot Mon!Which Scottish clan are these laddies from? CoverageIf my experience in boys parochial school and the Y many years ago is any guide, the bathing attire might be only for the photo. Normally we did without. Not Too SkinnyIt is funny reading all of the comments about how skinny these boys are. In truth, this was normal and it becomes plain to see what an overweight nation we've become. Many old images posted from the period show everyday people and most are slim in our eyes when in fact this was considered normal. The trunks have drawstrings on the side a la "one size fits all," and it seems that is true! Even though they look strange. All Arms and LegsI remember when I was all arms and legs. That was in the late 1960's. Mother would tell us to go outside and play and never had to suggest it twice. I worry when I see today's kids brought up on video games and very little other physical activity. Pool party!I don't think I've ever seen a picture with so many kids smiling and having fun on Shorpy! They usually look so serious. Birthday-suitedWhile a junior high student circa 1955, all of us boys would swim sans swimsuits in our public school's indoor pool, perhaps 60 of us during the one hour period. Naturally, we all wondered if our female counterparts did the same during their own sessions in the pool! My inner 5th grader is all agiggle.The newsletter for the "Detroit Athletic Club" (where women may not have been allowed) was called "Outing?" I am not saying a word, but my inner 5th grader finds that extremely funny! Hams, Divers, and HooligansI really love this picture. It has an incredible timeless quality to it-- just energetic little boys having a great time. Sans period clothing (I guess the trunks are distinctive) and distinctive early-19th century hairstyles, you can really see this happening at any time. As opposed to the many serious, posed, portraits on this site, there are so many characters evident in this shot. I love the grinning ham in the middle of the pool, and the kid in the middle/back of the pool waving at the camera! The lone, overwhelmed adult probably telling the kids not to dive, and the kid in the left foreground making an exaggerated diving motion and mischievous smile either preparing to disobey or pretend that he is going to disobey. Just another great shot on Shorpy. ObservationsOne adult is in the pool. One adult is trying to control the playful boys, and a third adult is hiding from the camera, in the alcove at left. And none of the boys have shirts on, or the long wool pants you would see bathers at a beach wearing. Instead they all have strange plaid drawstring diaper-like trunks (except the fellow at the far left). Are they not wearing the full bathing suits because they are in a pool rather than outdoors? Or because they are all children? Or because they are all males? Or maybe all three reasons. If you said this picture was taken in 1970 instead of 1910, nobody would know the difference. That isn't true of beach photos from the same time. Here's The Real SkinnyI notice that the only adult in this picture seems to be giving orders, but only the biggest boy's eyes are on him. A long time ago at the YOh WOW! It is hard to believe that this photo is that old. But if it is, then all those kids are long dead! I went to the YMCA for swimming lessons. But we swam naked. The pool was the same depth throughout. Girls were at one end of the pool and us boys at the other end. The only people that wore swim clothes were the teachers. Then after the lesson all of us kids could splash around for about 10 minutes. No wet swim shorts or wet towel to have to deal with. I was about 11 or 12. Most of us were the same age. They was only one or two kids that were starting to develop "down there." Maybe some of the girls were the same. But you could only see from the neck up. There was nothing to see. The way you knew if it was a girl is that they wore swim caps to keep their hair. Those were the days. Would I go back to them. NO!! Why? Because I grew up with migraine headaches. I would have 3 or 4 headaches a week. sometimes I would think that I had two of them at the same time. My parents told me that it was all in my head. Well they were right. I had to endure them, but sometimes at school I would run outside and puke in the shrubs. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Kids, Swimming)
Detroit Opera House: 1900
... section of a four-part panorama whose center includes the Detroit City Hall view posted yesterday. Photo by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Bicycles!!! I'm impressed by ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 12:33pm -

Circa 1900. "Opera House and Campus Martius." The leftmost section of a four-part panorama whose center includes the Detroit City Hall view posted yesterday. Photo by Lycurgus S. Glover, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Bicycles!!!I'm impressed by the prevalence of bicycles in this date and time. It makes sense, now that I think about it. Horses and carriages were such a hassle for the casual trip around the corner to the store. If you weren't trying to carry too much a bike could take you anywhere a horse could in about the same amount of time. I guess the thing that makes the bike seem out of place is the lack of provision for the bicycle in any of the pictures I've seen from the turn of the century. Things like bike racks, bicycle shops, tires, etc. I guess they were mostly sold out of department store basements or something so they weren't usually visible to the street camera. The 45 star flagServed its country from 1896 to 1908. It must be an interesting animal in the wagon.Eveyone in front of the Opera House is focused on the animal in the crate. It would be interesting to figure out just what is in there! Enlarging the image, patterns on the animal almost seems like a farm animal (like a cow). But if it is something non-exotic, why would they crate it instead of just leading like a horse? Looks like Charlie Chaplinis crossing the street to go see Dick Mansfield rock the House. All Gone AwayThis was the second Opera House on this site, and is almost brand new in this picture, having been built in 1898 after the previous one was destroyed by fire. In those days Detroit's theater and entertainment district stretched off to the right past Wonderland up Monroe St. for several blocks. Not a building in this picture is still standing. The only survivor is the fountain. It was moved out of downtown in 1926 to a park 6 miles to the north, where it has sat dry for many decades now, to facilitate - what else - automobile traffic. The Opera House ended its days as a discount store. It, along with all of the other buildings on that block, was torn down in 1966. Surprise sightingI see two dogs on the sidewalk, both off leash. One is in front of the fountain. The other is just to the left of the Sparling's store. Remains of the DayThe only thing in this picture that still exists is the Merrill Fountain, lower left. It was moved six miles up Woodward Avenue to Palmer Park, where it sits in deplorable condition. The FoysThey probably never saw the inside of the opera house, but I'm willing to bet they played the Wonderland more than once. Charlie Chaplinprepares to cross the streetcar tracks! Remarkable pictures.I've never seen, on Shorpy or elsewhere, pictures like these in which all the participants seem so alive. It's almost like a painting of a streetscape, in which the artist has spent time on the body language of each of the people. I suspect the secret is that the photo was taken on a holiday or Sunday. There aren't the dense business crowds so each person can be seen as an individual. First class. Thank you. Henry VRichard Mansfield was touring 'Henry V' in 1900 so it's either a bear for the crowd scenes in that crate or perhaps one of the dogs of war. I also noticed Charlie Chaplin.It also struck me that these guys had a resemblance to Stan and Ollie: Look ~ A Zebra!The extraordinary detail exposed in these images is a great lens into what's going on within the finely grained detail of everyday life. The cart in front of the "Mr. Richard Mansfield" marquis sign - the one that's drawn a crowd, including children, would appear to hold a Zebra. At least that's what it looks like within the pixellation limits of the image. An exotic, striped animal is the best I can make out - and a Zebra seems plausible. A walkable, bike-able center of Detroit - how futuristic! The city's been struggling and spending billions in the post WW2 era to bring back this kind of density and detail to little avail. Too bad that when cars allowed people to whir & whizz by at 30 mph or more, no one thought the refinement and detail of urban fabric was important any more. What once rewarded you as a citizen-pedestrian-saunterer at every turn, began to degrade you with subtracted empty storefronts, fountain removals, and missing teeth. Today you'd probably be arrested for bringing a Zebra to the curb for children to have a look. Can't wait to put the 4 pics together into a panoramic view. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Miller Time: 1942
September 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Milling machine operator at the Allison Motors plant." ... port right of center. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Detroit Photos, Factories) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/15/2023 - 5:06pm -

September 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Milling machine operator at the Allison Motors plant." Acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size. Title?I don't know what to title this. Originally I thought "Top Ten". The problem is you keep coming up with a headline that shoves a Top Ten headline out of the Top Ten. And they don't deserve to be shoved out. The Top Ten probably contains close to a thousand headlines. If all that makes sense! Kearney & Trecker?We had a very similar horizontal mill at the old GE plant where I worked. It did have the 'finish is approved by the War Production Board' brass badge on it. Not sure but I think the machine was made by Kearney & Trecker* of Milwaukee. *Upon finding another photo of the same machine, I have come to the conclusion that it is a Brown & Sharpe Model 2. It’s a pareidolia momentCan’t help but look at the machine and see a face that seems to be saying ‘Wow! A woman!’ Left Arm, PleaseI noticed her smallpox vaccination scar on her left arm. I have one in the same place: it's nearly faded away by now—like so many of my generation (and certainly of hers). Some girls then were given the vaccination on their thighs, "where it wouldn't show." It's a different world now, and smallpox is just a dim memory. What beautiful eyesAnd the woman's eyes are very nice, too. CollectibleHer employee badge, boldly proclaiming her to be TEMPORARY, is a pure Cadillac collectible. That would be a really fine thing to pick up at a garage sale. Beats yet another union pinback badge. Safety FirstMany of the pictures on Shorpy of machine operators without eye protection make me grit my teeth. I spent my working life in the machine tool industry and safety glasses/goggles were at the top of the list. Even wearing glasses I was milling cast iron two different occasions and got cast iron "dust" embedded in my eyeball. Under magnification, these "dust" particles looked like tiny needles. I wonder how many people suffered eye injuries during those days? Kearney & TreckerThat's definitely a Kearney & Trecker horizontal. I've spent many hours running them. The other photo that was posted in the comments may be a Brown & Sharpe but it's not the same as the machine she is operating. The geometry of the overarm arbor support is different. Also see the difference in the front apron mounted feed lever and oil port. There is a hex head plug for oiling, left of center in the original post. The other photo posted has a spring loaded swinging metal cover on the oil port right of center. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Detroit Photos, Factories)
Office Cubicle: 1911
... and Ontario Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The whole building? B of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/13/2023 - 2:36pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1911. "Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Bldg., St. Clair Avenue and Ontario Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. The whole building?B of LE Building ... does that mean the brotherhood used the whole building? [They owned the whole building. - Dave] Full frontalSo we get the glamour shot of what we only had a tantalizing glimpse of a half-year ago. Still around, and still durned impressive ... or incredibly monotonous, depending on your preferences. [Er, no. That "tantalizing glimpse" was of a different building. - Dave] We can take comfort in being wrong together: you're pointing to the building across the street - which wasn't built until a decade after this picture, and I was mistaken that this is extant ... sadly StaredownIs that a Studebaker electric facing off with that horse? No Safety BarriersThe unfinished streetcar tracks catch my eye and how it is not surrounded by any sort of safety barriers - another reminder of how it was a different time back then. Also, wonder what the BoLE Auditorium looked like. Probably not as ornate as what would be created in another 10-15 years. Safety lastA torn up street and no barricades or traffic cones. Must have been before personal injury lawsuits were invented. At home in ChicagoThis style is from the Chicago School of architecture, which emphasizes the building's structural grid, uses relatively little ornamentation, and has large plate-glass window areas. I think it's a good look, especially considering that buildings would eventually be clad in only glass curtain walls. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Cleveland, DPC, Railroads, Streetcars)
Old Ferry Lane: 1910
... Kittery Point, Maine." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Kittery in railroad lore ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/21/2023 - 4:51pm -

Circa 1910. "Old Ferry Lane -- Kittery Point, Maine." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Kittery in railroad loreRailroad fans know of Kittery because it is home to the least active rail line in the country. The line goes to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and averages two trains, of just a few cars each, per year. Rumor has it that they carry radioactive waste from submarines to disposal sites in Idaho, but the Navy won't say. A Nice WalkFound the spot the photo was taken! Looks like the house is still there as of 2017. Just love this old photo, makes me want to walk down that dirt road on a nice summer day with my dog. Kittery Shipyard rail moveThey did a move to the yard back in September. Here is a video from a rail move last year: There's a signpost up aheadWe see the small sign, Old Ferry Lane, at right. But, past the branches, there is another sign for those headed in this direction. It's a much longer sign. I wonder what it says? ["I'M ACTUALLY A FENCE"? - Dave] This could be the house. The trail of evidence suggests ...This view seems to be close to the spot in the original image. The stone wall in the original has been lowered and smoothed over in the current view. But the mall cape in the distance has the same dormers looking out over the roofline, and the outcrop of stones along the edge of the driveway today is also present in the original image. Sure does seem like the spot. I've commented earlier that "things don't change much in New England." Even more of a truism in coastal Maine. Bicycle tracks?It looks like there are more bike tire tracks on that road than anything else. [Um, those are wagon tracks. - Dave] The Box on the Pole:What is the box used for? Just local messages to people in the neighborhood? Box on the pole:Judging by the porcelain knob and electrical wires running to the box, my guess is there's a switch in the box to turn on a light at the top of the pole. That box is wiredIn addition to being padlocked, the box on the pole has two wire connected to it. One passing around a ceramic insulator and then goes up the pole passing yet another insulator. Another goes straight down to the ground from the bottom of the box. I'd guess this means it's its power and the box may be a junction box or fuse box. Re: Box on poleThat appears to be a single wire telephone. The wire coming down the pole goes into the phone while the wire at the bottom completes the circuit using earth return. OK for short hauls but the noise level increases rapidly with distance. Probably a dedicated service customer protected with padlock. The WallInstead of the stone wall having been shortened, I'd think the more likely scenario is that the level of the road has been graded and raised, obscuring the lower portion of that cement capped stone wall. Great photos. (The Gallery, DPC, Landscapes)
Suburban Cowboy: 1963
... kind of life on a street like this in the early 1950s in Detroit as hard as that is to believe. You want sunshine -- on a cloudy ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 03/03/2023 - 12:57am -

I just started scanning my sister's photos of her kids from the 1960s. Here's why she was smart to have saved the negatives. Back in 1963, they lived in South Gate, California, in a neighborhood full of classic cars, it seems. My nephew Jimmy in a 2¼-inch square Kodacolor negative. View full size. The clouded crystal ballJimmy (now James) tells me that three years later and a block away from this idyllic scene, there were the Watts riots. Color SaturationI can't help but wonder if most of us who grew up in the middle-class or upper-middle class white America of the 60's and 70's see our childhood memories in lavish Kodacolor. When I was this boy's age, there were the Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy assassinations, coming almost one right after the other. I knew that the grown-ups were very worried, but I wasn't sure just why. Later, I figured out that the only thing that Westchester had in common with Watts was that both names begin with a W. The innocence of childhood is fleeting, indeed. She squealed with delightwhen she saw this photo! Where to begin? The lights integrated with the porch railing are fascinating. Like the house itself, they have a very 1930s art deco flavor. Little Red WagonAlmost everyone can remember having one when they were a kid. I bet this photo makes us all just a little nostalgic. Thank you for sharing all of these great photos with us, tterrace! Blue skiesI see why now people continue to believe in "the good old days." The color saturation, blue skies, happy, smiling kid -- looks like nothing would ever go wrong in this place, doesn't it? Old RedThat Radio Flyer sure brings back memories. Thanks. South Gate StreetviewThe cars were better-looking in 1963. Particularly the Buick next door. View Larger Map Street View! Street View!Can you give an address so we can see how the neighborhood has fared? Ouch!!The beautiful '56 Ford at the left has been tagged but you can see that it did naught but bend the bumper! It didn't disturb the paint! The good old days indeed! Today, that'd be a $3000 repair! Great PictureLove that "Jimmy" has been written on the back of the Radio Flyer! South Gate!I grew up in the neighboring city of Downey and I would LOVE to see more pics of the South Gate area if you would be so kind as to post them! THANKS! Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?There's another classic Buick in this shot, the white one in the distance, straddling the sidewalk. There's not enough detail for me to tell, but it appears to be a '55 or '56 Roadmaster. I'm sure that if anyone (visiting from the future) had told the owners of these Buicks that GM would be a tottering financial wreck in 2009, they'd never have believed it. Sign of the times...Any idea what the sign posted on your sis's house says? Just so IdealI have to agree with the comments made under the heading Colour Saturation. I recently have been looking at photos of me and my family in our house as I was growing up and you know I don't remember that the carpet was threadbare -- yet it was. I don't remember that we had a broken down car in our backyard -- yet we did. I don't remember that our lounge suite was old and we needed a new one -- but we did. All I remember is that it was a safe, happy and fun place to grow up in and I had a great time. So yeah I think we all of us remember the good and not so much the bad, and isnt that the way it should be. The high, fine, sky of awhile agoIt doesn't happen as much as it seemed to 40 years ago when I was a kid, but every now and then, usually on a quiet Sunday morning or a Tuesday off from work, the sky will have that same tall, bright, look; gently spotted with clouds and a blue turning from light to dark off into space and there will be a slightly warm breeze and everything will seem clean and new and full of possibility. And you can take a deep breath and smell the trees and maybe some creosote from a power pole, and it's 1967 again. A lovely day in this beautywood Love those Mr. Roger's blue tennis shoes. You could buy them at any Alpha Beta grocery store for $1.98. I grew up in a similar Southern California community around the same era. The loppy sidewalks remind me of the joyous hours I spent on roller skates with a skate key on a string around my neck. Were those times so much better or is it that we were just innocent kids? I had a car that was built there!I used to have a '68 Pontiac Bonneville that was built at the South Gate GM plant. It was a great car, very well screwed together. Kodacolor wonderlandDon't you wish you could reprogram your brain to "see" full-time in Kodacolor? The world would be such a cheery place! Was the big warehouse in the current Street View next door in 1963? It seems so out of place. Martini LaneIt's Mad Men! Odd porch lightsThose garden lights were very common in our nearby suburb. They were mostly used along driveways, paths, or planters. This is a most unusual installation. And they are still there. I might give this place a drive-by at lunchtime. American IronI really enjoy the look of these old cars - especially the 1959 Pontiac ahead of the Ford. It's probably a Catalina. Many of these cars had a space age theme to their design. By the hour?It's worse than a warehouse next door. It's a skeezy motel. And it looks like it's been there since the '60s. 2819 Willow PlaceIt looks like the place might be for rent, $895 a month. ColorI think two things contribute to the burst of color. One is that color film is much richer than the digital stuff we have now. And, secondly, the cars WERE much more colorful then than the drab vehicles we see now. Unfortunately, I think some of the color has gone from our lives in many ways since then. P.S. - From the glimpse of the back wheel well in the car in the distance, I can't help but wonder if it might not be an Olds instead. Beautiful streetMy children lived this kind of life on a street like this in the early 1950s in Detroit as hard as that is to believe. You want sunshine-- on a cloudy day? Some readers spoke about the past as always being bright and sunny like this picture. During a bout of temporary insanity many moons ago, I took leave of my senses and purchased yellow-lens prescription glasses. It did make every day sunny and the world brightened when you put them on. Or you can look just look through a colored cellophane candy wrapper and get the same effect. Just trying to be helpful. South Gate street view 1961Here's 2819 Willow Place, along with the ugly building next door, a couple years earlier. Jimmy playing with a neighbor's puppy, and a selection of early-50s cars. Yes, those are different lamps on the railings. The Salmon DeSotoI know what you mean about auto paint being brighter back then. My guess is that paint trends were still built more around primary colors than the more subtle and "nuanced" tints and shades of today. I remember there was a year or two that featured flamingo pink, black, and white as a trio. Knocked your eyes for a loop. Especially on the big fin cars. Dad was looking at one, but ended up going with the pale blue. Too much pink for a man from the Ozarks, I guess, looking back on it. How did Jimmy turn outWhat is he, about 48 years old today? Had I only known..Geez.. had I known I was a branding opportunity, I'd have taken advantage of it a long time ago. I don't think I've been that cool since that day -- red wagon, cowboy, riding a possible Radio Flyer tricycle as well (I'm sure someone will sort out the logo, maybe it was Royce Union). Funny thing about that pic. Those years I only have memories of things in black and white. Maybe I only remember those years from pictures which were mostly black and white, I guess. Obviously there was color. My memories of color start about 1967, yet every television event memory I have was black and white until about 1970. Apparently we got a color TV then? So what the hell happened to Jimmy? Well, without getting too personal and please forgive the third person narrative, here ya go. After leaving Los Angeles in 1971, the family moved to Marin County. Jimmy decided he was going to be a rock and roll star and started a metal rock band in the early 80's. The day Nirvana hit the charts, he knew that the music he was good at was no longer popular, so he joined a Southern rock tribute act and toured the Bay Area for 10 years. He then decided to get back to the original reason why he started playing music in the first place, for fun, and only plays local gigs, usually benefits. During this time he also got married and had two children. He is now a media personality in Wine Country and owns his own web consulting firm. He also writes for several Wine country publications and does "flavorful" wine industry videos. If you're ever in Sonoma Valley, you may even run into him. Though he goes by James now. A note from Jimmy's MomThis part of South Gate was a blue collar area, consisting of single family homes, and "court" apartments. The lots there were fairly deep, and so people would put in two rows of four apartments, usually single story, with the garage or carport at the rear with the laundry room and clotheslines. The "court" was the central walkway between the two buildings where the entrances were, except for the front apartments. Just behind Willow Place was Firestone Boulevard, a heavy industrial area at the time. The big Firestone plant was there, and other manufacturing plants. Often in the evening, strange smells would fill the air. This era was also what I call "between the smogs." They had banned outdoor burning of leaves and trash in the Los Angeles Basin in the late 1950s, and the air was fairly clear most of the time. But with increased population, and the increase of jet travel, the smog was back by 1964. The only real clear air days were when the Santa Ana winds blew. The ugly building next door contained a restaurant as I remember, in its one-story days. It may have also been a small motel. We moved to our first home in Diamond Bar, in the eastern part of the L.A. basin, in 1963. The red wagon makes an appearance there with Jimmy pulling his little sister in Little Red Wagons elsewhere on Shorpy. The South Gate apartment was the inspiration for the Salmon Kitchen, also seen elsewhere on Shorpy. Our landlady developed a blend of paint that she used on all her kitchens. As I remember, it was part peach, part mushroom and some kind of off white. She said it didn't yellow, and when the tenant moved out there wouldn't be any shadows on the walls from where the clock or the calendar had hung. So she would not have to repaint every time, just have the walls washed. Our dad and mom liked this idea, and so was born the salmon kitchen in Larkspur. Jimmy's Mom Just fabulous!Saw this link from Instapundit. What a fabulous photo! I love the comments, too, and the Google maps link. InstacowboyForty-six years later, Jimmy's 15 minutes of fame in the blogosphere have arrived. Now the top link on Instapundit. 9I was 9 years old in another part of California, but I had that tricycle and a similar little red wagon. My parents had a Ford Crown Victoria, my father worked, my mother stayed at home to raise me and the world I grew up in was truly both wonderful and wondrous. Even with the duck-and-cover exercises in school. LampsI believe the lamps were replaced during the time we were there.. Look at those in the background then look at the pic above. I dare say they're different. Status symbolsFor the younger Shorpyites that might not remember the 1960s, most working or middle class families had only one car (if they had one at all). It was a point of pride to park your car either directly in front of your house or prominently displayed in the driveway. The more obvious the better; bright colors helped even more. Take that, you Joneses! Also, you scored big status points with of those gangly omnidirectional TV antennas on your roof as seen in the background. Indoor "rabbit ear" antennas just had no class. Nirvana vs. Marshall TuckerJust my opinion, Real Jimmy, but at least you were paying tribute to music that deserved it. I really hope there won't be any grunge tribute bands in the future. Status SymbolsWe started with one car in 1960 but had to have another since we both worked. Then, we had a teenager and, then, another. Soooo -- 4 cars. Walk? Bicycle? Ha! Not in California. Now, it is a nationwide problem. Thanks for reminding me. Cool Hat, KidLove the photo. I had a had just like that as a kid and think I have photo somewhere of me wearing it while sitting on a pony at a neighborhood birthday party. Takes me back...I think THIS is the turning point. This photo captures the apex of our society. I see the dreams of so many families right here. A house of your own. A clean street. Meticulously maintained homes. The kids free to play in the neighborhood. A perfect blue sky. This photo makes me cry. Grew up nearbyI grew up in the SF Valley in the same era, that photo takes me back. I also watch the TV series "Mad Men" and the cars, furniture, fashion etc. are all things I remember. The easy days of riding your bike up and down the neighborhood with your friends, not a care in the world. Sigh. Pure EvilNo helmet, knee pads or elbow pads denote a neglectful lack of regard for poor Jimmy by his mother. That hat no doubt contains lead-based pigments; clear evidence of child abuse. And what's this?? A toy GUN??? That poor child's evil, troglodyte mother should be thrown in jail for creating another gun-crazed criminal!!!!elevnty1!! (/nanny-state nutjob) Great pic. It reminds me of my own childhood, before childhood was destroyed by the culture of fear we have today. Dang, That Could Have Been ME!Boy, does that look familiar. My grandparents had a house in South Gate, at Tweedy Boulevard and San Luis Street. I was even born about the same time. And I had my trusty steed "Tricycle" and my Mattel Fanner 50! The Melting PotOh yes, I remember the days when all the kids in the suburbs had Anglo names like Will, Paul, and Rosemary. Today we have a much more diverse society. Suburban namesNo, they had names like Jimmy, Mary and Davy. Their Mom Some things aren't so differentMy childhood was like this in northern Illinois. However, there are still some pockets of America like this. In my subdivision outside of Denver, small children play up and down the street just like Jimmy. If you look around, you can provide a life like this for your children Same hereMy mother and I watch Mad Men and love it. But she'll always point things out while we're watching and say "My parents had those! And those, and those!!!" "I remember using that!" Apparently they get everything "down to the t" when it comes to the setting. Re Pure Evil by Random Numbers Random Numbers said: Great pic. It reminds me of my own childhood, before childhood was destroyed by the culture of fear we have today. The irony I see in Random Numbers' remarks is that this kind of negativity sounds just as whiny as today’s “nanny state," and serves the unintentional purpose of proving that life--or at least People--haven't changed much at all since the 1960's--when grumpy old people even then lamented how much better (more real, more sincere, etc.) things were when THEY were children. Anyway, I trust that Random Numbers and his like-minded baby boomer peers are “keeping it real” by not giving in to today’s "culture of fear" paranoia and availing themselves of the myriad medical advancements and pharmaceuticals that have increased well-being and longevity by decades as compared to those fun and free “good old days” when people routinely died in their 60s! (--Wouldn’t want to be a hypocrite.) p.s. tterrace your photos are WONDERFUL! Cowboy Jimmy Honest to Abe, this is one of my favorite pictures of yours! South Gate memoriesMy folks had a house on Kauffman Avenue until 1968, when they bought their house in Downey. It was very close to the old South Gate water tower, near South Gate park. I'm sure you remember the area. I only have vague memories, as I was just a toddler when we lived there. I should see if I can find some of the photos my folks took during the time they lived on Kauffman. I'm sure they look very much like these! "Just a snapshot "As beautiful as any William Eggleston photo I've ever seen, and I consider him a genius in the world of photography. This is just utterly enchanting -- I can't take my eyes off it. (Same is true for the photo you posted a while back of the young man in a sea of blacklight posters.) This is just the best website ever! South Gate kidI grew up in South Gate in the 70's and 80's. This picture looks very much like my grandparents street. They moved to South Gate after WWII ended and lived and worked there for the rest of their lives. It was a wonderful & diverse city at that time. I was wondering what street this picture was on. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kids, tterrapix)
Easy Payments: 1906
Detroit, Michigan, circa 1906. "Askin & Marine credit parlors." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Gotta Give 'Em Credit ... the movies." Sarah Farly According to the 1906 Detroit city directory , Sarah J. Farly (widow of Stephen M. Farly) was the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2012 - 9:14pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1906. "Askin & Marine credit parlors." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Gotta Give 'Em CreditI like the concept of a "credit parlor." "Come in. Have a seat. Care for a cup of tea? How much can we loan you?" And is that a newsgnome on the corner? Super signage"We furnish the home. We clothe the people." So noble! Gately's Peoples StoreMy family used to shop at Gately's Peoples Store in Tinley Park, Illinois, when I was a kid, until it closed in the 80s. Some Gately's photos from another store. A photo from the Roseland (Chicago) store remnants: And a closeup of that same logo on the building, on a souvenir plate from the '50s. The Sound of the PastI wonder how much different the sound, the timbre, the echo of city streets was before motor cars assaulted the auditory canals? Being "in the city" must have been a very different sensory experience. When the only sounds were the clop clop of horses and the clang of trolleys on those wide, empty streets. Perhaps the zzzzzt of the trolley electric wires overhead, too. And a cop whistle now and then. The swish of a woman's long dress as she whisked into a store. The jangle of the bell hanging on the door. When you could HEAR everything with a vividness that has been lost to time. It must have made the city seem larger, calmer, more majestic, more austere, more vivid. And, as they say, like "in the movies." Sarah FarlyAccording to the 1906 Detroit city directory, Sarah J. Farly (widow of Stephen M. Farly) was the proprietor of the Farly Tailor shop at 83-85 Michigan Avenue, on the southeast corner of Wayne Street (now Washington Boulevard). On the right side of the photo, Wayne runs away from the camera toward the Detroit River. View Larger Map Look out Detroit! Your future is coming.Little old Detroit had no idea what was coming in 1906. Can you imagine if someone then could have seen into the future to the forthcoming glory days of Detroit, its pride and wealth and on to the present collapse. It sure makes you wonder what is ahead for all of us, each city, each region of this big country. The exciting changes always seem to come from the inventors. It certainly is tempting to yearn for the quieter days of horse and buggy and the much slower pace. Thank you Shorpy for archiving the past. It is so comforting to visit even if we can't stay. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Stores & Markets)
Sootyscape: 1918
Detroit circa 1918. "Sky scrapers from interurban station, Jefferson Avenue at ... Fords , not the Model T Fords), Dime Savings Bank , Detroit City Hall , Hotel Pontchartrain and Real Estate Exchange . 8x10 ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/09/2023 - 2:27pm -

Detroit circa 1918. "Sky scrapers from interurban station, Jefferson Avenue at Bates Street." A view last glimpsed here. And here! Landmarks include, left to right, the Ford Building (put up by the L-O-F Fords, not the Model T Fords), Dime Savings Bank, Detroit City Hall, Hotel Pontchartrain and Real Estate Exchange. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.
Cleveland: 1912
... House, Public Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Jaywalkers I love these ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/12/2023 - 12:37pm -

Cleveland, Ohio, circa 1912. "U.S. Post Office, Custom House and Court House, Public Square." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. JaywalkersI love these old pictures from before crosswalks had even been thought of. "I want to be over there. The shortest way is diagonally across the intersection. Off I go." +104Below is the same perspective from July of 2016. Little Red WagonSo is this a little red wagon and someone using it to scoot? Cars 23, horses 1, pushcarts 1It's just 1912, but the competitive battle between four-hoofed and four-wheeled transportation is pretty much over. (The Gallery, Cleveland, DPC, Streetcars)
Size Matters: 1942
September 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Learner at the Allison Motors plant. Dimensional finishing." ... age than today. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Detroit Photos, Factories, WW2) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/14/2023 - 11:17am -

September 1942. "Detroit, Michigan. Learner at the Allison Motors plant. Dimensional finishing." Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size. The work of an Old MasterThe last two Rothstein pictures remind me of what a fine craft photography used to be. He's doing a routine assignment for the War Dept and turns out a couple masterpieces. [This (and the other photo) are among seven from this assignment marked "Killed," meaning they were found for whatever reason to be unsuitable for publication. Credit for how they look here goes in part to Photoshop. (And me?!) Below, an image contrasting the edited photo with the original unprocessed scan. - Dave] Learner needs to learnHow to wear a particle mask. At least when there is a photographer around. [If he's not grinding, he doesn't need the visor or the mask. Using a micrometer doesn't require any protective gear. - Dave] That shirtIt is obviously a work shirt and will not be worn to church on Sunday or anywhere dressy. Still, it is ironed and there is a crisp crease going down the sleeve. 1942 was indeed a different age than today. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Detroit Photos, Factories, WW2)
Detroit Edison: 1910
Circa 1910. "Edison Electric plant (Detroit Edison Company), Detroit, Michigan." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Delray Power Station? I ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/04/2014 - 9:39am -

Circa 1910. "Edison Electric plant (Detroit Edison Company), Detroit, Michigan." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Delray Power Station?I believe that this is Delray Power Station. The first two 3kW units went on line in 1904, probably serviced by the large central stack. Two more units were added the following year, as Detroit Edison tried to keep pace with the huge increase in power demand. 3kW?If this is true this massive plant wouldn't power three hair dryers. Maybe 3000kW? Even this doesn't seem like enough for all that hardware. OopsGood catch, Mark P. A million (100,000) thanks. 3kW AgainI did a little research on the Delray plant. The article I found stated the plant was originally designed to output 6000kW and that it would provide all the expected power needs for 20 years. Sort of like the guy that said 30 or so years ago that he couldn't understand why anyone would ever need more than 16K of RAM in a PC. Delray II opened in 1906 with another 14kW output. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, Industry & Public Works, Railroads)
What Goes Around: 1912
The year is 1912 and the place is Detroit. What's going on here? View full size. UPDATE: Many people ... caption: "April 4, 1912. Foundation for gas holder, Detroit City Gas Company." Happy Thanksgiving To Dave and all of the ... of the base of a gas storage tank, probably at Detroit. I dunno, unless it's some kind of early 20th-Century ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 10:50pm -

The year is 1912 and the place is Detroit. What's going on here? View full size. UPDATE: Many people correctly identified this as the beginnings of a gas holder, or gasometer -- a storage reservoir for what used to be called "city gas," or coal gas (as opposed to the natural and LP gas that we use now). The original caption: "April 4, 1912. Foundation for gas holder, Detroit City Gas Company." Happy ThanksgivingTo Dave and all of the Shorpy friends - Happy Thanksgiving (would they be Shorpyians or Shorpyites?) Mongo Not KnowMongo only pawn in game of life. Gas Storage Tank?Are they building a storage tank for natural or manufactured gas? Gasholder?I think they're constructing a gasholder. What's going on here?Well, first I thought it might be a kiddie ride, but upon further inspection it seems to be some kind of construction site. But for what? a. A storage tank b. A church / synagogue / temple c. A railroad turntable (though no rail lines can be seen) d. A platform stage for Lady Gaga or Madonna? Got Gas?Is it the first step in constructing one of those gas storage tanks that has a diaphragm-like device that raises up and down with the volume of gas in the tank? Round and roundMight this be some sort of tank for holding something. From Mongo?Other than building a landing pad for Flash Gordon's pals, I'd guess it's going to be a big storage tank for something earthly. The constructionof the base of a gas storage tank, probably at Detroit. I dunno, unlessit's some kind of early 20th-Century supercollider. Goes AroundThis looks like a concrete foundation for some sort of round tower, but what do I know, I am just a machinist. My guessLaying foundation for one of those gigantic gas storage tanks you used to see all over up until the 1960s or so. Air Ship Landing.Looks like an Air Ship landing facility to me. Gas Tank?Building a gas tank? My guessBuilding a wastewater treatment facility Building a water or other liquid storage tank?They're building the roof (as it were) and then the sides get built from underneath. On the other hand, that's a heck of a tank. RRMust be a roundhouse turntable I know!Early twentieth century crop circles. My answer isThey are building a natural gas storage tank. Is it...Is that one of the old gasworks under construction? Beginning Foundation for a Building, Water Tower or Gas Tower?One of those 3 things are all I can guess about what is going on here! It's a gas holderLike this: https://www.shorpy.com/node/8422?size=_original SewageSewage disposal plant? Gas tank?It looks like one of those big circular gas storage tanks. It's a crop circle machineIt's a crop circle machine so the aliens know where to land Just a guess, butI think they're building some sort of gas or oil holding tank. ConstructionBuilding a water treatment plant. The Detroit GasometerThis looks like the foundation for a new gasometer, maybe this one. Atom smasherParticle accelerator? A very small one. {OK, probably not.} Maybe the base of a large water tank? It seems to small for an arena or a test track, even at 1912 speeds. Gas holder?My guess - building the bottom of a gas holder for city gas storage. ObviouslyIt's the beginnings of the space station in "2001." Just a wild (pitch) guessCould it be the foundation for Tiger Stadium? There Goes the NeighborhoodWhatever they're building (tank, smoke-stack, merry-go-round?), it's going to destroy whatever property value remains for the the hovel next door. AND THE ANSWER IS ...As many of you correctly guessed, it's a gas holder. See the caption under the picture for the details. Ice skating rink??Happy Thanksgiving all! Gas CityIn Indiana, next to Marion, is the small town of Gas City, so named because natural gas was found there. It was thought to be a bonanza, but that proved wrong, the gas was quickly emptied, the name was never changed. Hurry up, guysWe've got to get the world's largest merry-go-round finished by Thursday! Riveting machinesNote the two large U-shaped riveting machines at left. There has to be a powerful air compressor somewhere around. The plates will be riveted and then the seams will more than likely be caulked to prevent leaks. What's the man doing at the top of the screen?He is standing at the base of something long, with his wife looking on. It took me a minute, but it's a mast! The boat is off to the left. You can see the front (bow), poking out from behind the building. Also, I am guessing the house next to the construction site is now owned by the construction company. The fence has been taken down for easier access. GasometerphileWow. I lived on this site nearly 30 years ago (West Grand Blvd and West Fort Street). Of course by then there were no traces of the gas plant being there at all. Sad because I have a serious fanthing for gasometers. Most of the houses across the road there are gone now. Neat to see that horse drawn wagon in front of one. Love this blog! I'd rather have a coke We still have a coal gassification plant here in Schenectady, NY, although it's been converted to storage for many decades now. The leftover coke was sold as a heating fuel, but the smell around the plant was pretty foul. NYMO was able to supply cooking and lighting gas to the thousands of G.E. employees in the surrounding area up until it switched to natural gas. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)
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