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BFF: 1922
... gone amok. Not quite twins The Ellis Island Ship Database shows a a 6-year-old Veronica Gracie and a 5-year-old Miriam ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:12pm -

May 20, 1922. Washington, D.C. "Veronica & Miriam de Gracie," daughters of Mr. and Mrs. S. Lonsade de Gracie. National Photo Co. glass negative. View full size. What A PairI assume they're twins. They are delightful. Forget a bad hair DAY, this is a bad hair life. Their parents sure gave those girls a stupid hairstyle. It is kind of a Kewpie doll meets Mohawk gone amok. Not quite twinsThe Ellis Island Ship Database shows a a 6-year-old Veronica Gracie and a 5-year-old Miriam Gracie arriving from Rio on the Aeolus in March 1922, accompanied by a 30-year-old Samuel Gracie and 27-year-old Miriam Gracie. Veronica does have that older-sister look. [Samuel de Sousa Leao Gracie was the charge d'affaires (first secretary) of the Brazilian Embassy. - Dave] Charlie Brown's Sister SallyI always wondered what inspired that character's hairstyle. I will wonder no more! (The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Natl Photo, Portraits)
Charlestown Navy Yard: 1906
... hidden treasure Near the foreground, that sailing ship's bow belongs to the U.S.S. Constitution, a.k.a. Old Ironsides. The ... Constitution in the foreground area of the picture. This ship is the oldest commissioned naval vessel in the world. Also know as Old ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/05/2022 - 1:22pm -

Boston, 1906. "Bird's eye view of Charlestown Navy Yard." After 175 years of military service, Boston Navy Yard (originally called Charlestown Navy Yard) was decommissioned in 1974. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Series of platformsOkay, I’ll bite. What is that series of tables or platforms with horizontally-striped legs in the lower left quadrant? I was thinking maybe supports for the keel of a boat in drydock, but what to make of that one-story brick structure to their right? It would be directly in the way to the water. USS Constitution Is that the USS Constitution partially hidden behind those buildings lower center right? I have a souvenir piece of wood from the Constitution I received as a gift. Also, I have a used artillery shell casing. I understand they have to do maneuvers and fire weapons to keep it commissioned. Old IronsidesYou can just see parts of the obscured USS Constitution in the foreground. Almost hidden treasureNear the foreground, that sailing ship's bow belongs to the U.S.S. Constitution, a.k.a. Old Ironsides. The venerable frigate was undergoing restoration. Another 1906 view, (available for download courtesy of the Naval History and Heritage Command at ) shows more of the Constitution from its stern. USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides)You can see the bow of the USS Constitution in the foreground area of the picture. This ship is the oldest commissioned naval vessel in the world. Also know as Old Iron sides as the attacking cannon balls seemed to bounce off the mostly oak sides during the Revolutionary War. It still resides in Boston and is a major tourist spot. Just this week it was announced for the first time ever a female commanding officer will take the reins in mid January 2022 PeekabooI see you, "Old Ironsides." The venerable USS Constitution, partially hidden but never invisible, just indivisible in the right side of the photo. Old IronsidesShe wasn't launched until 1794, so she didn't fight in the Revolution. Her reputation dates from the War of 1812. Drydock PumphouseThe round building in the center right of the image is still there, showing its age a wee bit. Constitution Turn AroundEvery Fourth of July the Constitution is turned around in the harbor. In 1986 I was invited to be on the ship for this. My brother in law was lead restoration and maintenance carpenter for this ship for thirty years. What a gig. He got me on the ship, it was amazing, it was pulled and guided by tugs but on the ship you didn't notice that. It was just gliding through the water. As it's turning by Moon Island they fire the cannons in salute. That ship rocked as the cannons were fired, looking up the giant masts were swaying from the force. A wow moment for sure. Interesting too, in working on the ship, my brother in law said in restoring it there were no laminated wood parts. When he needed certain wood he'd fly to Central America, into the forests there, put an "X" on a tree and say "Ship it to Charlestown". Different viewI have an album of the navy yard and nearby Chelsea naval hospital, pictures seem to be from 1875-1900. This one view seems to show the same smokestack in the center left. though I'm not entirely sure. The are many others so if you're interested let me know. USS St. Louis (C-20) in backgroundThe funnel and mast configuration of the partially obscured ship just to the right of middle is most likely the St. Louis. The other two ships in the same class were in the Pacific in 1906, based on Wikipedia. Two vessels in the right backgroundThe black-hulled vessel nearest the camera has a raked black stack with a white band. This is a freighter, as evidenced by the cluster of cargo booms on her afterdeck. Behind this black-hulled freighter is a very interesting naval vessel which has two military masts with fighting tops. She has a large gun turret on her foredeck. Her funnel has an oval cross section. This is either a pre-dreadnought battleship (BB) or more likely a Monitor (BM). I'm unable to identify her; perhaps some Shorpy Sleuth can provide an ID. Is that not the stern of the vessel to the left of the photo?They usually slide backwards coming out of drydock. I can't tell for certain but this looks like a series of drydock berths to me, with Connie in the foreground and two others to her port side. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Boston, DPC)
Chicken Dinner: 1942
... hope he made it back home okay. [Odds are he didn't ship out anywhere. Only around one in ten of the 1.2 million African-Americans ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/19/2023 - 12:56pm -

March 1942. "Baltimore, Maryland. Sergeant Franklin Williams, home on leave from Army duty at Fort Bragg, watching his mother put chicken into the oven." Specifically, an Oriole range made by the Standard Gas Equipment Corporation of Baltimore. Medium format acetate negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Office of War Information. View full size. BittersweetI find these two most recent Shorpy pictures of Sergeant Williams to be bittersweet: the joy of being home with family combined with the poignant knowledge that he would soon be shipping out. None of the three articles state what happened to Sergeant Williams over the course of the war. I hope he made it back home okay. [Odds are he didn't ship out anywhere. Only around one in ten of the 1.2 million African-Americans in the military during WW2 served overseas. You can read more about Franklin here. - Dave] Could take quite a while... for Mom to get that chicken the way Franklin likes it, since the oven is turned off. (The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein, Baltimore, Kitchens etc., WW2)
Mysterious Tunnel: 1924
... to remove from the scene. So, they loaded the kids up in a ship and went west for a quickie divorce in Reno. Unfortunately for the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/08/2021 - 12:49pm -

September 26, 1924. Washington, D.C. "Mysterious tunnel." A strong Hardy Boys vibe here. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size. UPDATE: While initial speculation (bootlegging, espionage) was soon dispelled by an eccentric insect expert's explanation that he had dug the passages "for exercise," historical evidence suggests that this was a tunnel of love. Or at the very least, bigamy. Old BasementIt's probably an old basement from a burnt building. Burnt building debris falls into the basement and leaves voids to be discovered later. [A plausible theory, but incorrect. - Dave] That's probablyjust an forgotten old septic tank. [What it is is what the caption says. - Dave] It's da cops, boys!The men in suits look like they may be detectives. Am I even warm? RemainsNext to the laundry, the bones of a Model T. The interesting case of Allen v. AllenIt seems that tunnel building wasn't the only hobby of Dr. Dyar. According to the interesting case of Allen v. Allen, 193 Pacific Reporter 539, Dr. Dyar was also a practicing bigamist. He apparently married his second wife using the name of Wilfred Allen. His second family seemed to have lived nearby his first in Washington, DC. The question is was he digging his tunnels to connect the homes of his two families? (The reporter who broke the first story of Dr. Dyar being the source of the tunnels also found a second set of tunnels at his house on B Street.) At some point, his first wife had had enough and wanted out. This would seem to have left wide open his relationship with his second wife except that they had concocted a fictional husband who they now needed to remove from the scene. So, they loaded the kids up in a ship and went west for a quickie divorce in Reno. Unfortunately for the Allens/Dyars the judge in Reno didn't buy their story. Not sure how it all sorted itself out in the end, but I do know that the good doctor suddenly died five years after the story of his tunnels made the local papers. DetourThe alleyway has been blocked with a board nailed to the trees; the lantern (red, maybe) will serve as a warning at night. Also note the camera tripod. Two guesses.Underground railroad, or, secret distillery. RumrunnersMight this have had something to do with Prohibition? The man standing over the hole is holding a broken bottle neck, and some of the participants are grinning like they've figured it out. In recent years out here in San Diego, the DEA and INS have found several "mysterious tunnels" running under the international boundary between Tijuana and San Diego. Somehow those tunnel discoveries never seem to inspire the kind of jollity seen here. Make a sharp leftAre you sure that rabbit said this was the way to Albuquerque? Calling Dan BrownA mysterious tunnel discovered in our nation's capital! Those pesky Freemasons are at it again. "Upon closer inspection ...""This is clearly a mystery tunnel," said D.C. Police Inspector Sherman T. Ransom, second from right in photo. AlsoA strong hat vibe. If you dig a hole that's deep enoughEveryone will want to jump in. -- Firesign Theatre What's so funny?Could the man bent over the hole be holding the key? Who wants to crawl in the dirt?Hey, I know! Let's get the the skinny kid with the newsie cap and light colored jacket! It'll be a hoot! Call for Elliott NessThe twenties, an alley, a tunnel. I suspect something to do with the Volstead Act. Spider HoleIt's where Saddam Hussein's great grandfather hid out. It's the heat!Prohibition was in full swing at this point. The official looking men, the camera tripod, a broken bottle in the hand of the bull leaning over the hole. The happy expression on the face of the young man coming out of the hole. Perhaps a distillery raid? Very suspiciousIt looks like the piece of sheet metal was used to hide the mysterious tunnel. Prohibition?Caould it be a cellar to hide illegal liquor? Looks like the fellow leaning down towards the hole is holding part of a broken bottle out towards the fellow coming up from the hle. Escape Route?Given that 1924 is during Prohibition, I'd bet it was an escape tunnel from a basement "speakeasy" in one of the background buildings. Root cellar!Someone's smugglin' turnips! Well dressed gopherEvery kid should wear a light colored jacket and cap when going into a hole in the ground. I'm wondering what the man is handing the boy. It almost looks like money? Illicit booze pipelineIf it's connected to the garage in the background, I would guess it's an escape route from a speakeasy. Before Groundhog DayBack in the day if Jimmy came out of his underground lair and saw his shadow, it meant 6 more weeks of winter. ClewsThe man bending over the hole looks to be holding a broken bottle. Could this perhaps have something to do with prohibition? Maybe it was an escape tunnel from a speakeasy? The Underground exposedSo much for the Trilateral Commission's secret tunnel to sneak up on the Masons and take over their plan for world domination. ProhibitionCould the mysterious tunnel have anything to do with bootlegging? My Guess Is:Considering the year of the photo. That what they have found is either the location of a still or some bootlegger's stashing place. Rabbit HoleAlice's favorite tea parties take place here. Scram It's the G-men!Must be an escape tunnel from a speakeasy. Where's Geraldo when you need him?The fellow with the pocket watch and no jacket doesn't look like he is having a good time. Perhaps, since this is the height of prohibition, that is because these hardy boys have found where he stores the hooch. German Spies!Washington got its first inkling of this subterranean network when a truck sank a wheel into one of the tunnels in an alleyway behind the Pelham Courts apartments on P Street, making the hole shown in our photo. Initial speculation centered on German spies and rum-runners. The truth turned out to be more prosaic, yet still bizarre. They were the work of a millionaire Smithsonian entomologist named Harrison Dyar, who said he had dug them between 1908 and 1916 "for the exercise," although he clearly seemed to have a fixation on underground passages. After his newspaper interview in 1924 (below), he was found to have dug another network of tunnels around his current home on B Street (Independence Avenue). He died in 1929, though parts of his underground labyrinth were still being stumbled upon (and into) as late as 1958. Inside the tunnelClick to enlarge. Could that bea broken bottle the one guy is holding in his hand? Hard to tell, but this being 1924, it's a good chance that the tunnel has something to do with Prohibition. Ask Al Capone. Or, maybe, Geraldo Rivera. Harrison Gray Dyar, Jr.Could this be one of Dr. Dyar's creations? I GuessThis is some sort of forgotten security/escape tunnel leading from a government building, probably dating to the time of the Civil War. Beyond RepairThe remains of the auto in the upper right have me wondering what model year it is. Must have been one of the first Model T's from '08. AmazingInteresting hobby. Some people collect stamps; some build model aeroplanes. He wanted something different. That's a swell pictureBut I can't see Stan or Ollie. T timeThe Model T has a brass-era radiator piled on the frame that was last used in 1916. The headlight are mounted in a style that started in the summer of 1915. Mr. Dyar Explains Washington Post, Sep 27, 1924 Mr. Dyar at first was reluctant to discuss his strange handiwork which, when uncovered, created such a mystery that theories that the tunnels had been used as a meeting place for German spies in war days were given as much attention as the police theory that they were the rendezvous of bootleggers. It had been suggested even that they labyrinth was the workshop of a gang of counterfeiters. "No." chuckled Mr. Dyar. "The theories are all wrong. You have solved the mystery all right. I dug the tunnels. I did it for exercise. My son, Otis Dyar, who is now a man and married out in California, was a little boy when I began to dig. He used to play in the tunnels. "In fact," he continued, "other boys played in the tunnels and while they didn't annoy me they became a nuisance to some of the neighbors. Complaints were made and I recall on one occasion Detective O'Brien investigated. "Another time, I recall, a policeman came snooping around to look into the tunnels. I played a little joke on him. I put a clock back in the tunnel and when the policeman heard it ticking he must have thought it a time clock on an infernal machine or a smuggler's den or something." Contractors and engineers who have viewed that part of the labyrinth which has been opened declare the bricklaying and construction of the passages generally the work of an expert artisan. "I'm not a bricklayer," Mr. Dyar said with a laugh. "My business is with mosquitoes, moths and butterflies. I just laid the bricks on evenly; that's all." … Mr. Dyar said he knew nothing of the German newspapers which were found in the tunnel and which gave rise to the rumor that perhaps German spies had occupied the underground place. He pointed out that they were dated in 1917, two years after he had moved from the Twenty-first street house. aka Wilfred AllenBut wait - there's more. In 1906 (one year after he started tunneling for exercise), Dyar secretly married Wellesca Pollack using the alias Wilfred Allen while remaining married to his first wife, Zella Peabody. The two of them had three sons, and he deeded $100,000 in property to her. Unfortunately for him, he had another hobby - writing and publishing autobiographical short stories about a character named Mr. French. In one such story, Mr. French deeded a substantial amount of property to "Flossie," until Mrs. French discovered it. That story was used against him in two highly-publicized divorce suits, Dyar's Reno suit to divorce Zella (which failed on jurisdictional grounds), and Zella's California suit to divorce Dyer (which apparently succeeded). Then, as Harrison Dyar, he legally married Wellesca, and adopted their three sons. [Wow. Amazing. - Dave] Electric torchI'd like to have that flashlight he's holding. (I collect flashlights, old ones are especially cool) The CarThe car is indeed a Ford. It has obviously been disassembled, and the fuel tank is out of place, and the steering column is lying much lower than it would be in use. It has a brass radiator so is pre 1917, but has electric headlights so is post 1914, so is only about ten years old at the time of the photograph. One of the mudguards (fenders) is at the base of the tree hiding the feet of the smiling man in the greatcoat. Joel and Ethan - are you watching?If this isn't a perfect vehicle for the Coen Brothers, I don't know what is. (The Gallery, Bizarre, Curiosities, D.C., Natl Photo)
Seeandbee: 1912
... GHW Bush qualified for carrier duty on her sister training ship, the USS Sable . Tension It must be a really tense time, ... for someone to give the signal and see this marvelous ship slide into the water. And float [hopefully]. I like the lady in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/12/2012 - 6:07am -

November 9, 1912. Wyandotte, Michigan. "Steamer Seeandbee on the ways just before the launch." 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Strange fateShe became in 1942 the USS Wolverine (IX-64), a converted training carrier. The only one of two sidewheeler carriers ever. It Wasn't Finished YetThey must have finished it off while it was in the water. Here's what it looked like finished. Seeandbee's Future AccomplishmentsEarly on in WWII, the Seeandbee (along with the Greater Buffalo) were purchased by the Navy and converted into the world's only freshwater, coal-fired, paddlewheel aircraft carriers (The USS Wolverine and the Uss Sable, respectively), for training pilots. Both were scrapped at the end of the war. The Namewas selected by contest, and Seeandbee stood for "C&B" -- Cleveland & Buffalo, the railroad that owned her. Sidewheeler to carrierIn WW II the Seandbee was converted to the USS Wolverine, a training carrier (or "unclassified miscellaneous auxiliary", acto the navy). One GHW Bush qualified for carrier duty on her sister training ship, the USS Sable. TensionIt must be a really tense time, standing there, just waiting for someone to give the signal and see this marvelous ship slide into the water. And float [hopefully]. I like the lady in the lower right corner with the babe in arms, I'd step back a bit further if I were her, just in case. All together now, on the count of three:So when it is time to launch it do all of those guys under the ship knock out their respective support poles and then duck quickly between the rails that it uses to slide sideways into the water? What happens if one or more of the poles are not cooperative about knocking loose or someone misses the three count? Sounds to me like an occupation that life insurance companies would certainly shy away from. I must be missing something, there must be a better way. Please enlighten us Shorpy. No Ducking RequiredIf I'm not mistaken, the poles aren't pulled out from under the hull at launch. The ship and the support poles are all resting upon those topmost inclined planks, and it's the planks which are being held in place from the other side. Their anchorage is removed, and the whole system, ship, poles and planks, slides off. Splash Zone?A new launch looks like a popular spectacle, but I wonder if the front rows, close to the near side of the ways, is a Shamu-style splash zone! "Please leave all Kodaks and radio equipment in your automobiles, as the management cannot be responsible for damages!" Honeymoon and TailhookMy late friend graduated from the US Naval Acadmedy in 1941 and married, spending his honeymoon on a SeeandBee voyage. He then became a Naval Air Pilot and practiced carrier landings and take-offs from the same ship renamed the USS Wolverine. Certainly he and his wife were one couple of maybe a few who could have ever claimed to have spent their honeymoon on an aircraft carrier. Proto-taggingAll you commenters from last week: the railroad car in the foreground appears to have some sort of pre-spray paint graffiti on it, including what looks like a stylized letter "T". Old wheelI like the flatcars wheel - forged with the year 1888. Also, when they launch ships like this, how do they / DO they recover the wood rigging that slides into the water? Does it sink? Float? Flat car wheelThat wheel has been cast, not forged. The number is probably a serial number. More freight car wheels !Freight car wheels are forged not cast as they are made of steel and turned to the final dimensions. The 1888 is the year of manufacture as railroads like to keep track of how long things last and for the past hundred years or so it has been required by the Feds.( retired railroad machinist) Fire SafetyThe Seeandbee represented a step forward in providing fire detection and suppression built into the vessel. Perhaps that, along with large size, made her a suitable candidate for conversion to an aircraft carrier. While steam-driven side-wheel paddlers were approaching their final days when the Seeandbee was launched, it was still considered by some to be superior propulsion system for maneuverability and passage through ice. Safety Engineering, Vol. 26, November, 1913. A New Era in Steamship Equipment At last a steamship company has constructed a vessel in which the fire peril has been considered as important as length, breadth and comfort. There has recently been launched the largest and most costly passenger ship on inland waters—the "Seeandbee"—built by the Detroit Shipbuilding Company, and owned by the Cleveland and Buffalo Transportation Company. This vessel plies between Cleveland and Detroit. The "Seeandbee" is 500 feet in length and has sleeping accommodations for 1.500 passengers. In the design and equipment of this vessel, nothing in the way of comfort has been omitted. A new element of safety has been introduced. Contrary to the almost universal rule of steamship construction, the owners of the "Seeandbee" have afforded protection against fire for the passengers. The Aero Fire Alarm Company, New York, has equipped the ship throughout with the Aero Automatic Fire Alarm System. Sprinklers have been installed. How many passenger-carrying steamships carry such protection against fire? Examples have been frequent recently of the terrible destruction which fire accomplishes when it appears on a vessel unequipped to speedily detect and extinguish fire outbreaks. Thousands of lives are jeopardized each day on board firetrap ships, the owners of which refuse to consider seriously the grave danger to life from the fire peril which exists in their vessels. The Cleveland & Buffalo Transportation Company has set an example in providing for the safety of passengers, which can well be followed by other steamship owners. The "Seeandbee" represents a great step forward in steamship construction. The Aero Automatic Fire Alarm System consists of a fine copper tube which is extended in loops throughout the entire ship. Both ends of these loops are returned to a cabinet, which, on one end, contains a sensitive diaphragm, which moves sufficiently to touch an electrical contact point on the occasion of fire breaking out in the ship. Fire causes a rapid rise of temperature, and thus the air in the tube expands and so operates the diaphragm. The other end of the circuit terminates in a testing valve, which is opened at the time of testing into an air pump, by which pressure is created in the tube similar to fire pressure, causing the diaphragm on the other end to make the electric contact and carries out in exact manner the operation of the system in the event of an actual fire. … More on RR wheelsThose wheels are cast. The date of manufacture is included in serial numbers today per AAR regulations. I don`t know if that was true in 1888. All wheels made in North America today are cast except for the following manufacturer. http://www.standardsteel.com/history.html Forged wheels are required for passenger service and some freight cars. Most cast wheels today have the serial numbers on the back plate raised above the surface. Forged wheels have numbers stamped into the back hub or rim face. Retired wheel machinist. Last word on RR wheels?All the previous posts are partially correct in their own way. The wheel in question is almost undoubtedly a cast wheel. The raised lettering is a clue. The 1888 is also undoubtedly the date of manufacture. Railroad car wheels are currently manufactured both by forging and by casting. I believe that cast wheels comprise a larger segment of the new wheel market, due to lower cost. These are cast STEEL wheels, not cast iron, manufactured in highly automated facilities. However, a wheel cast in 1888 is most likely a cast IRON wheel. The real visual ID on these are the cast-in cooling ribs on the reverse side. More than anyone likely wanted to know about a minor detail in the foreground! John G (former RR Car Dept. Manager) Where's WaldoI think I have found him and his twin brother wearing identical knit caps in the front, near the water, to the right of center. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Wayne County Building: 1908
... Vizcaya "The prized cannon was taken from the Spanish ship Vizcaya during the battle of Santiago, Cuba, in 1898." ( Detroit: A ... cannons off the Vizcaya, or melting down bits of the ship to make cannon covers! I had no idea of the connection when I posted the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/12/2022 - 3:52pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1908. "Wayne County Building." The Motor City before it got very motorized. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. On the plus side, it's still thereOn the minus side, they replaced the spire and got rid of the awesome statues on the roof. (Wonder what they did with those?) Amusingly, the cannon appears to now be a playground. Creeping mechanizationI count 10 horse drawn vehicles and 11 motorized, so the tide is rising. [Actually 11 horse-drawn. See lower right between the cars. - Dave] Interesting that all of the steering wheels that can be seen are still right hand drive. Also another white clad street sweeper in the upper right - did they call them White Wings in Detroit as in NY? Wayne County CannonMy curiosity was piqued by the cannon on the lawn. Was it connected with a significant battle, fort or warship (if it is a naval weapon)? Not there now, and the most recent photo showing it that I've found online is from the late 30s or early 40s. No other mentions that I've located, unlike the War of 1812 cannon formerly on the grounds of the old Detroit City Hall. Wonder if it was a victim of wartime scrap drives? Ben-HurThose are incredibly large chariot sculptures on the roof. Only 46 StarsThe flag flying over the courthouse in 1910 would only had 46 stars. [And indeed they are 46-star flags. - Dave] Something Else is MissingIn recent photos, not only is the cannon missing, but so are the rather large and detailed triumphal statues once mounted above the entrance pediment. I have yet to even see mention of that in any of my Detroit links. Many of the statues and the bell tower etc. from the old Detroit City Hall have been "stored" out in the elements for decades at Fort Wayne. War prize from the cruiser Vizcaya"The prized cannon was taken from the Spanish ship Vizcaya during the battle of Santiago, Cuba, in 1898." (Detroit: A Postcard History.) It was a 5½-inch (140mm) cannon. Apparently there is a 140mm cannon at Fort Wayne, so maybe that's where it was taken after it was removed from this site. Several of the ten 140mm guns went to places like West Point and Annapolis, according to this page. [Everyone's grabbing cannons off the Vizcaya, or melting down bits of the ship to make cannon covers! I had no idea of the connection when I posted the very next photo. What an odd coincidence. Which we never would have found out about if tterrace hadn't asked his question. - Dave] Hey buddy, you wanna buy a building?Unfortunately, the Old County Building, as it's called in Detroit, is now restored but empty. Wayne County moved its remaining offices to the nearby (and breathtakingly beautiful) Guardian Building a few years ago, and the place has been the subject of an ongoing legal dispute between the county and the developer to whom it was sold several years ago. In recent months a sign has been posted in front of the building that states "Historic building, for sale or lease." The statuesThe sculptures were restored and and are back as of 2009. Left and RightDuring the early years of the automobile in America, right-hand drive cars were popular for those who had chauffeurs. Having the driver on the right enabled the chauffeur to quickly get out of the vehicle and open the back door where they passengers would be seated. It would have also enabled someone who was driving his own car to get out on the curb without stepping into muddy streets and also into traffic. In many places it was illegal for the driver to get out of a car from the traffic side, in some places, this law lasted well on into the 1960s. Interestingly, the habit of exiting on the curb side even from cars with left hand drive, and even in situations where it is perfectly safe to do otherwise can be seen in a number of films. "Psycho" for instance. In almost every scene where a driver exits the car, the do so by sliding across the seat to the passenger side. Quadriga RestoredThe two sculptural bronze charioteer groups of figures were removed for restoration, which took several years. They were hoisted back into place last December. http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?t=3763 The Statues are BackThe rooftop statues were returned a year or so ago - they had been removed for cleaning and repair. See them being installed (and close-ups) here. (The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Marcella Hart: 1943
... birth in 1943. Just out of curiosity Oldtimer, what ship was your father serving on when he was lost? This is my new nick here ... into North Africa for the campaign against Rommel. His ship was hit by an aerial torpedo and sunk very quickly. Being an "Engine Room ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2012 - 4:43pm -

April 1943. Clinton, Iowa. "Mrs. Marcella Hart, mother of three, employed as a wiper at the roundhouse. Chicago & North Western R.R." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size. Blue and RedWonderful photo! I imagine Jack Delano saying something like, "Just as you are, ma'am, that's fine. Yep, grease and all, that's what I'm after." and her saying "You can have the grease, but there ain't no way you're taking that picture till I've put on my lipstick." Our momOur mom was a wiper, too. But it was mainly on our cabooses. And on really bad days, she probably looked a little like the hardworking lady in the photo. Sans overalls, of course. Marcella's tickerI'll bet there's a railroad pocket watch in her upper right coverall pocket attached to the denim shoelace. Some things don't change.I work on diesel locomotives in the Morris Park yard of the Long Island RR. The steam engines are gone, as are the wipers, but we still get just as filthy! WipersOK, thanks "Our Mom" for the mental images - but what does a wiper do in a locomotive sense? Good Manicure TooDespite her hard, dirty job, Mrs. Hart still has beautifully lacquered nails. Reminds me of the landlady in the first reel of "Swing Shift," who, as her young tenants are putting up her blackout curtains for her after Pearl Harbor, finally finishes with her nail file and announces to the room, "Well, this is one American who's going to die with perfect nails!" Re: WipersA wiper was essentially a '"ube tech" and cleaner, they went around and filled oil reservoirs on bearing-boxes and various pivot points then knocked off accumulated road grime. The Wiper's JobThe wiper's job was to wipe down or clean the boiler jacket -- no mean task on a big, modern engine. This was done with a handful of "waste" (a leftover from the textile mills, it was basically a wad of loose thread, used by the handful like a shop rag -- this is what she's holding in her right hand) and dipped in a light oil or kerosene (the red can). Wipers might also clean headlight, reverse lamp and class/marker lights, cab glass, and sweep down the running boards to remove accumulations of cinders. May have even hosed down the deck of the cab during this busy time, although firemen usually took care of that chore. Wipers Wipeoff dirt, grease, and any other gunk that gets on the locomotive. Railroads worked hard to keep their equipment looking good. If a wiper was good, he/she could move up to oiler, and learn how the various bearings should be lubricated. My dad started out his careeras a "callboy" on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1920s. Very few people in those days had telephones. He went door to door to wake up operating personnel, like locomotive engineers and firemen, to call them to work. The prerequisite for the callboy job: you had to have a bicycle! His dad, my grandfather, was a "hogger"(locomotive engineer) with the CPR. He retired circa 1950. My dad progressed to an engine wiper, apprenticed as a steamfitter and received his journeyman's papers in 1936. He served in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve in WWII and went missing in action at sea 10 days before my birth in 1943. Just out of curiosityOldtimer, what ship was your father serving on when he was lost? This is my new nick here now, BrentMy father was serving on the HMCS Louisburg and Royal Canadian Naval Corvette of the Flower Class. They were on convoy duty running supplies and troops into North Africa for the campaign against Rommel. His ship was hit by an aerial torpedo and sunk very quickly. Being an "Engine Room Artificer" below decks, his chances of getting out alive were slim to none. Thanks for asking! http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/824.html (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Jack Delano, Railroads)
Cooley Airship: 1910
... limited space is impossible. The general shape of the ship suggests a large yacht, with keel and tailboard, and even a bowsprit, with ... ribs encloses a space similar to the hold of a ship, in the sides of which are cut numerous portholes for use of the pilot in ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/01/2012 - 12:08am -

Rochester, N.Y., ca 1910. "Cooley Airship. The aviator sits in the front to manage the wheel and the engineer sits six feet behind to control the engines." John Cooley's giant kitelike aircraft, of a design dating to the 1890s, was something of an aeronautical dead end. More here as well as here. Bain News Service print of a glass plate now in the Albert R. Stone Negative Collection. View full size. Aerial YachtWhat dreamers … Farm Equipment Dealer, January, 1911. A Gigantic Aeroplane. "In construction at Rochester, N.Y., where since early spring John Cooley and a force of seven mechanics and draftsmen have spent ten, and sometimes twelve, hours a day in hurried but careful labor," says a correspondent in Fly, "is a craft which is confidently expected to revolutionize the navigation of the air, and to relegate existing types into the obscurity of mere playthings for ennui-afflicted men of wealth seeking diversion in its most exciting form. This is the Cooley model, a gigantic aeroplane, nearly 100 feet long. In late September, 1909, the plan of building a monster aeroplane for use as a commercial transportation medium was conceived by Inventor Cooley, who has spent twenty-eight years in the study of aerial navigation, and the backing of several New York capitalists was secured, among them that of Richard Parr, the customs official, who was awarded $100,000 by the United States Government for his services in exposing the sugar frauds. … The greatest difficulty that confronted the builders was the utter lack of existing types from which to draw comparisons and gain ideas. Every detail must be worked out in the brain of the inventor, with no regard for fundamental principles connected with the operation of other types of air-navigating craft, since the Cooley model differs essentially from every known make. To describe it adequately in a limited space is impossible. The general shape of the ship suggests a large yacht, with keel and tailboard, and even a bowsprit, with the similarity ceasing when a front view is obtained. Not an inch of resistance is opposed to the passage of the big man-made bird through the air. All is gradually sloping lines and inclined surfaces, with the plane surface so placed that the passage of air beneath has a tendency to push upward so long as even the slightest velocity is continued. One hundred feet from tip to tip, and less than 15 feet wide across the center, the plane will sustain a weight of 1400 pounds—one pound to every square foot of soaring surface—thus giving a margin of safety of over 500 pounds. Two wide planes extend from the center like the upper planes of an ordinary biplane, with one big plane extending downward like the fin of a fish, and various small planes, or sails, are rigged on the 15-foot pole extending out in front of the main body. A framework of cloth and strengthened ribs encloses a space similar to the hold of a ship, in the sides of which are cut numerous portholes for use of the pilot in guiding the immense machine through the air. All mechanism is controlled from a seat in front of the center line, wires running to every part of the craft and a signalling system connecting the pilot with his engineer, or engineers, as no limit is placed upon the size of the crew carried. Two 40-60-horsepower engines are installed working independently, both engines occupying a space amidships, just behind the engineer's quarters. On each side a driving shaft runs through a hollow wooden conduit to the propellers, which are placed approximately five feet from the ground, without taking into consideration the elevation of the machine when the wheels are installed. A tail tapers gradually from the center body fifteen feet to the rear, and is graduated from the top of the framework, twenty-five feet from the ground, to a sharp point. No detached steering plane is used, the control of the plane depending upon the working of the many small sails which take the place of the usual ailerons. Strengthened bamboo is used throughout, with a special brand of Naiad rubber-covered silk, and the wheels are extra wide because of the immense strain placed upon them. One of the chief features of the "Flower City," as the big craft will be called, is a device for lessening this strain, consisting of a spring just above each axle, with a give of one foot. To say that the model will be a success would be to make an unsupported prediction, but inventors and aviators who have looked over the machine have expressed the hope and belief that it will prove to be the sensation of the aviation world. Models constructed upon the same plans and driven by small motors have flown successfully, and have shown the most important feature—absolute stability in the air. The plans of the promoters sound like a romance of the middle ages, and are quite as hard to realize, calling, as they do, for a complete world tour in the ship, with stops at all the principal cities of the United States and Europe. The crossing of the Atlantic is but one of the least daring of these plans, and a direct flight from Rochester to New York is first on the program. A crew of four men, with Mr. Cooley and supplies to last for a three days' journey, will be placed in the plane on the trial trip, so that, should the idea prove a success, no time need be lost in demonstrating the practicability of the machine to the world. Another "Life Imitiates Art"?I Wonder whether Mr. Cooley had got his idea from reading H. G. Wells' "The War In The Air" (published 1908)? Kite shaped aircraft take a major role in the plot of that novel, and as fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft they best lighter-than-air airships. Which was something the experts of the time could not quite bring themselves to agree with. Not yet anyway. After all, the airships did fly somewhat longer and further than those mousetraps. Not even the horrendous losses of the German war airships drove that point home. It took at least one horribly failed airship project for each major power to do that trick. But did it fly?I can't tell from either of the links if this contraption ever got off the ground. Given that Mr. Cooley disappeared towards the end of the project, I can't decide if he was either a visionary or a conman. Either way, it is clear that those days really a great age of invention where daring ideas could be tried. An ungainly beast!I would have loved to see this contraption fly. "The magnificent airship of Rochester and its hangar are said to have been destroyed by a windstorm." http://rocwiki.org/Cooley_Airship Mr. Cooley's Air Ship Sailed Away But the men at the ropes could not manage the vessel. This I would have loved to have seen. The giant airship swooped up in the air while men were unsuccessful in holding her down as she soared to 500 feet and then landed on top of four oaks. A viral You Tube moment. NY Times Article Re: Cooley's AirshipThe NYT article which EvenSteven links to is from 1895 - 15 years before this photo. It refers to a different aircraft - probably either a massive kite or a lighter-than-air balloon. (The Gallery, Aviation, G.G. Bain)
Dandruff Avalanche: 1903
... is interesting. I wonder if they're referring to the ship Old Ironsides or some piece of legislation the paper believes wrecks our ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/30/2023 - 8:52pm -

May 1903. New York. "Newsboys at Greeley Square." Our title is a word salad plucked fresh from this 8x10 inch glass negative. Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Headline NewsAMERICANS ON MONT BLANC CAUGHT IN AVALANCHE! Greeley SquareGreeley Square is a triangular park bounded by Broadway and 6th Avenue between West 32nd and 33rd Streets, two blocks south of Herald Square. It is named for one of the most eccentric figures in American history and contains a seated statue of him. Horace Greeley (1811-1872) founded the New York Tribune, which by 1850 was the nation’s highest-circulation newspaper. One of the founders of the Republican Party, he was a continual irritant to Abraham Lincoln, not just because he thought he should dictate policy, but because he kept flailing among positions, supporting ‘peaceable secession’, then a strong war effort, immediate abolition, then a negotiated settlement with the South. Always enthusiastic, there was hardly any fad or ‘reform’ that he did not advocate at one time of another. (He was for, then against, women’s suffrage.) He supported Reconstruction but signed Jefferson Davis’s bail bond. Breaking with the Republican Party, he was nominated for president in 1872 on a fusion ticket with Democrats, lost badly to Grant, and died a month later. He is perhaps best remembered for “Go West, young man,” a phrase he denied coining. (It probably originated with John B. L. Soule, an Indiana publisher.) 6th Avenue ElOn the right side of the Shorpy photo is the 33rd Street station of the long-vanished 6th Avenue Elevated. The building is the Union Dime Savings Bank, also vanished (though it outlasted the El by 20 years). In center of the image below, you are looking straight down the sidewalk in the 1903 photo. No, thank you, I already have oneI notice our dapper pedestrian in his bowler (derby?) isn't being petitioned to purchase a newspaper from any of the several vendors around him, no doubt because he is already carrying a newspaper. Reminds me of men or women who wear wedding rings when they're not married. Old Style HumorDad (1919-1997) was a mixture of Jackie Gleason, Danny Thomas, Red Skelton, and Spike Jones. One of his many quips that he would shout out as he did household chores was: Extra! Extra! Read all about it! 20,000 soles found dead in a shoe factory! The New Coke!Prevents baldness and clear thinking. Later known as Herald SquareThat's the Sixth Avenue El in the photograph. 1903 places during the period when electrification of the line was new and the first subway was under construction. Today (from a different angle), courtesy of Wikimedia: The ShiningSmall detail; But every adult in the picture appears to have a shine on their shoes. Even the guy sitting on the right holding a stick, his shoes are a little rougher than the others, but there is still evidence of a shoeshine on the tip of the toes. Constitution wrecked?The headline about the Mount Blanc Avalanche is interesting. I wonder if they're referring to the ship Old Ironsides or some piece of legislation the paper believes wrecks our country's most precious document. I'll vote for the USS Constitution as in 1903, Charles Francis Adams III, descendant of two US Presidents and in his role as president of the Massachusetts Historical Society at the time, requested Congress rehabilitate Old Ironsides and place her in active service. That would happen 22 years later when her restoration began. [The Constitution was a racing yacht. - Dave] The Constitution was a Train WreckThe Constitution was a contender to defend the 1903 America's Cup. She lost to the 1899 winner Columbia, principally owing to the ineptitude of her crew. Columbia went on to beat Sir Thomas Lipton's Shamrock II in the 1903 Cup. The Frank SlideCanada's deadliest avalanche, known as the Frank Slide, occurred at the end of April, 1903. I wonder if that warranted a headline? [As noted below, the headline is about an avalanche on Mont Blanc in the Alps. - Dave] If I thought the Frank Slide was the subject of the headline pictured, I wouldn't have wondered if it warranted a headline of its own. Still loving my daily Shorpy time travel. (The Gallery, DPC, Kids, NYC, Railroads)
Stings Like a B: 1942
... to confuse the issue there were A-26s too. Twin engine ship built by Douglas. B-25 The plane is a B-25...the b26 has a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/04/2017 - 2:28pm -

        Time flies like B-25's. Another Kodachrome from the Early Days of Shorpy, enlarged and re-restored. October 1942. "B-25 bomber assembly hall, North American Aviation, Kansas City." Kodachrome transparency by Alfred Palmer for the OWI. View full size. I never realized how small aI never realized how small a B-25 was. That thing's tiny. Also, where are all the people? Bright yellow!Not exactly a stealth bomber, eh? Where are all the peopleMight be that a security guard on night duty took the picture. Where the people areThey are mostly hidden by the planes. I see at least 19 people. The photographer was Alfred Palmer, who took hundreds of pictures like this for the Office of War Information. BombersNot many of you know about WW II planes, first the rest of the outboard wings haven't bee assembled and put on yet, next the yellow color is the primer paint, the finished coat would be olive drab, camouflage or desert colors light & dark sand depending what theater of war the plane would be sent to. North American AviationThat was not a B25 (a four engine heavy bomber) The plane in the photo appears to be the twin engined B26, a much faster, lighter "attack bomber" for lower level pin-point missions rather than the carpet bombing that actually the larger B-17's and B25's were best suited for. B25 bomberThe B25 was a twin-engine medium bomber. I have some more pictures of the assembly line to post later in the week. B25 bomberGood plane; wasn't it a B-25 that hit the Empire State building late in the war years?? Harry B25 BomberYes, that was a B25. From Wikipedia: At 9:49 a.m. on Saturday July 28, 1945, a B-25 Mitchell bomber flying in a thick fog accidentally crashed into the north side of the Empire State Building between the 79th and 80th floors, where the offices of the National Catholic Welfare Council were located. One engine shot through the side opposite the impact and another plummeted down an elevator shaft. The fire was extinguished in 40 minutes. Fourteen people were killed. Elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver survived a plunge of 75 stories inside an elevator, which still stands as the Guinness World Record for the longest survived elevator fall. Despite the damage and loss of life, the building was open for business on many floors on the following Monday. B-25 or B24?You're thinking of the B-24 4 engine "Liberator" bomber which was cousin to the B-17 "Flying Fortress" that did carpet bombing before the advent of the B-29 "Super Fortress". The B-26 was a twin engine light bomber made by Martin Aircraft Co, and in the same category with the B-25 "Mitchell". This is definitely a pictureThis is definitely a picture of a B-25, also known as a Billy Mitchell. I flew as a passenger in one of them in 1948 on my way to an Air Force tech school to become a radio operator. It had to be the noisiest ride ever in a medium bomber, but it was fast. Kodachrome?Was this taken on Kodachrome? Look at how well the colors are retained. - Nick [Yes,a 4x5 Kodachrome transparency. - Dave] This is definitely a B-25This is definitely a B-25 Mitchell, not a B-24 Liberator, and not a B-26 Marauder. I have shot B-25s in the past, so I have personal experience with this plane. This is the same type of plane that Jimmy Doolittle flew off of the deck of the USS Hornet in 1942 to bomb Tokyo during WWII. Above comments very interesting Some knowlegable,some not.I flew this plane (B-25) in the South Pacific. What a beauty it was. It was a medium bomber that was turned into a strafer with 12 50's firing forward, very lethal. We flew tree top missions on land and mast top missions when hitting ships. B-26 and A-26Just to confuse the issue there were A-26s too. Twin engine ship built by Douglas. B-25The plane is a B-25...the b26 has a different tail configuration and the b-24 looks similar but has 4 engines. B-25This is an early model B-25, probably a D model due to the aft location of the upper gun turret and the lack of a tail gunner position. B-25 D'sThose are B-25 d's at the Faifax assembly plant. My dad built em there. He's still kickin and saw the photo. Brought back a lot of memories. He says thanks for the great pic. Nacelle Tips?I spent a lot of years in aviation, working on everything from light aircraft to WWII war birds. I even worked in a factory for a while on Swearingen's final assembly line in San Antonio. Later, I went on to fly professionally ending my career with about about 2700 hours, many of them in various types of WWII vintage aircraft. I was wondering if anybody knows what the red covers are on the ends of the nacelles [below]. I have never seen anything like this before. Nacelle CapsInteresting. The appear to be temporary rather than permanent, held on by bungees attached to the incomplete wing assemblies. Interestingly they are only found on two of the aircraft; the plane nearest to us where the worker is at the tail assembly, and the plane ahead of it to the right. Neither of these aircraft has wheels or propellers. Most of the other aircraft in the assembly area do. Trouble is that the plane to the right of the second plane with the caps doesn't have a cap but also doesn't seem to have either props or wheels. I'm just guessing here but I think my reasoning is good. It seems obvious that these nacelle caps are used to indicate that some step in the assembly process, probably related to the engines or the hydraulics of the landing gear, hasn't been completed and tested yet and so long as the red cap is remains on the nacelle the aircraft can't go further in the assembly process. But as I say this is just a guess. Nacelle capsThese appear to be in place to protect the metal while the wing root and nacelle are lifted into place or while the a/c is being pushed about, at least until the wheels are installed. Perhaps a tow bar is attached to the nose gear strut at that point. Then again, they may be giant hickies. Fairfax B-25 PlantThe Fairfax B-25 plant was NW of the tee intersection of Fairfax Trafficway and what's now Kindleberger Road in Kansas City, KS. The photo is in what was the final assembly high bay near that intersection and facing north. The plant was bought by GM after the war and used for auto production until it closed for good in the mid 80s and then torn down. The old Fairfax Airport next door was bought out about that time, closed and a new GM-Fairfax plant built on the airport site to replace the old auto plant. Here's a nice KSHS pdf history of the B-25 plant: http://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2005winter_macias.pdf The B-25 plant site is now a fenced off, vacant, scrubby field. The only facility remains are the parking lot with what's left of the main entrance drive. You've got a great photo blog. This photo is my new wallpaper, I hope that's okay. Mellow YellowI had no idea that planes would have been painted yellow at this stage! You always see B&W photos so I just assumed they were still just bare metal. B-25 Fairfax plantI'm pretty sure that Fairfax plant was in Kansas City, Missouri, not Kansas. I live withing walking distance of the plant and I'm on my side of the state line. Those B-25 bombers were always Bushwhackers, built by the ancestors of Captain Quantrill. The B-25 Bomber ain't no jayhawker. george.todd [The B-25 plant next to the old Fairfax Airport is now part of the General Motors Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas. - Dave] Mickey the B-25My mother-in-law worked at the Fairfax plant installing bombsights in B-25's. She would taxi the aircraft out herself once the bombsight was installed for the ferry pilots to deliver them. She often talked about one that had the name "Mickey" painted on it. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about this aircraft. Any news would be appreciated. Thanks. B-25 Bomber Plant locationJust to clarify, the plant that produced the B-25 bombers in Fairfax was located on the north side of Kindleberger Road, east of Brinkerhoff Road. It was west of the old Fairfax Airport and has since been torn down, however the parking areas from the old plant are still in place. The new GM Fairfax assembly plant was built on the east side of Fairfax Trafficway, right in the middle of the old Fairfax airport. [aerial photo] That yellow paint is a primerIt was a nasty zinc chromate concoction meant to prevent corrosion and also allow the top coat of paint to adhere better. Worn paint revealed the primer underneath in contemporary pictures. Eventually it was realised the average wartime airframe didn't last long enough in service to allow corrosion to begin and the primer was dropped, a cost and weight saving. B-25 plant LocationHere there is an aerial photo showing the plant and airport. The plant was immediately adjacent to the NW corner of the airport. (The Gallery, Kodachromes, Alfred Palmer, Aviation, WW2)
Manhattan: 102 Years Ago
... Flier From the pre-aviation era when "flier" meant fast ship. The Bunker Hill is an example of first quality American shipbuilding ... camouflage" on former Bunker Hill That type of ship camouflage was called a "dazzle pattern." It was widely used in WW I and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/18/2012 - 6:55pm -

Manhattan circa 1908. "New York skyline." Part of an eleven-section panorama. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. White FlierFrom the pre-aviation era when "flier" meant fast ship. The Bunker Hill is an example of first quality American shipbuilding circa 1908. While "modern" in terms of amenities, ships of this time were not required to carry sufficient numbers of lifeboats for all people aboard. The Bunker Hill appears to be carrying four. Scheduled "White Flier" time for one-way passage between New York and Boston was 15 hours. ABC Pathfinder Railway Guide, 1912 Eastern Steamship Corporation All-the-Way-by-Water The Great Express White Steel Fliers Massachusetts and Bunker Hill. Splendid Steel Freight steamships are operated by the Metropolitan Line between Boston, Mass. and New York. The Massachusetts and Bunker Hill are notable examples of Modern Marine Architecture. Many of their staterooms are en suite, with connecting bath and toilet facilities. All staterooms are most attractively furnished, and equipped with the most modern sanitary fixtures. Inside staterooms are provided with electric fans. They are provided with a most attractive outside dining-room on the Main Deck, a Hurricane Deck Cafe; are equipped for the burning of oil as fuel, with Automatic Sprinkling Appliances, Wireless Telegraphy, Submarine Signal Service, and all other modern facilities to insures the Security and Comfort of passengers. All outside two-berth rooms, $2.00; Inside, $1.00. Electric Fans in inside room. More of the NYC navyIf you look to the left side of the picture, those boxy barges lettered for the New York Central are lighters used to service ships in other parts of the harbor besides at the railroad's own dock facilities. This page gives a nice overview of the kinds of facilities in the city including a map that shows an overall picture of where they were. Containerization finally killed this kind of transloading off in the early sixties when someone finally figured out that giving the stevedores two passes on the goods wasn't exactly labor-saving. Manhattan, 1908 on ShorpyAre you going to put up the other 10 sections of the panorama - they would be of great interest to Rail Marine modellers along with many others. [It's on Shorpy's to-do list! - Dave] The Flatiron's diminutive brotherwas the German-American Insurance Building, on Liberty Street. It is now Louise Nevelson Plaza. Read all about it. Re: Steampunk?Steampunk is fairly reasonable, but I see it more as "Metropolis" - and I don't mean Superman's version! Steampunk CityThis image excellently represents the zenith of Steampunk USA -- look at all the plumes rising from the soaring skyscrapers, and the stalwarts of steam power on the mighty river. A nation is coming into its own -- work is getting done. Regard with awe the rising Manhattan silhouette –- all correct angles forming the canyons that will forever define the island, with just the right amount of added artistic flair that decorum & modesty would allow. This is at the very moment prior to the time when noxious internal-combustion engine -- fueled by the devil's excrement -- began its century of degradation & domination. [It was filthy, sooty coal that made the steam. The air over New York is a lot cleaner now. - Dave] DazzlingThe former Bunker Hill in 1918. City Investing BuildingStanding shoulder to shoulder with the Singer Tower is the picturesque City Investing Building, designed by Francis H. Kimball and built 1906-1908. This view, which I've never seen before, shows how close together they really were. Sadly both were demolished together in 1968 to make way for the US Steel Building (now known as 1 Liberty Plaza). Had to happenThe day has finally arrived. I have been shorpyized, One look at this photo and I recognized the Singer building right away. Mother said there would be days like this. NYC TugboatsThe New York Central boats are tugboats. The NYC along with Jersey Central and I believe the B&0, all operated tugboats which were used to move their RR barges to and from New York City. South Street SeaportPier 16, along with the unseen Pier 17 out of the photo on the right, is now part of the South Street Seaport, so it's likely that many of the smaller buildings on the extreme right-hand side of the photo still survive! Pier 15 bit the dust at some point, though. All Too HumanYes. So many wonderful buildings, of which few we see here survive. This, however, to me, seems to be a view of humanity of a past time. A photo taken from the same spot today probably wouldn't give you the same feel. "Bizarre camouflage" on former Bunker HillThat type of ship camouflage was called a "dazzle pattern." It was widely used in WW I and also in WW II. Dazzle camouflage was meant to confuse attackers as to the ship's course and speed. It also confounded early range finders. OK I wanna see the whole panoramaCan someone stitch it together? [Have at it. - Dave] Camo aheadSteamship Bunker Hill apparently became USS Aroostook, a mine laying ship, in WWI. The naval historical center has an interesting series of photos of her. Some of the photos show a pretty bizarre camouflage pattern, too. S.S. Bunker HillNew England Steamship Co. was the New Haven Railroad's dominant marine operator and served the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket from New Bedford. The Bunker Hill and others were overnight steamers to New England from New York. More Singer!Thanks for yet another great photo of the old Manhattan skyline with the Singer Building in it. What's that building?What's that Flatiron-looking building just to the left of Rogers & Pyatt Shellac? I wonder if it's still standing. 50 storiesThat Singer building dominated the skyline back in the day. Many buildings in NYC are 50 stories and over now, but it would be still be a very interesting landmark structure if it survived today. 1908 ShellackingFor best quality shellacking … Stubbs Buyers Directory for the Wholesale Drug, Chemical, and Allied Trades, 1918 Rogers & Pyatt Shellac Co. 79 Water St., New York. [Suppliers of:] Gum Copal Gum Kauei Gum Sandarac Horizontal vs verticalThe long white boat and its wake make a pleasing and flourishing contrast with all the vertical lines. Where would those "New York Central" boats have been going to/coming from? Do they connect with the railroad? Were they taking passengers across the river? Steampunk? Really?Hey I know the internet has to reuse the same old boring subculture buzzwords over and over again but stop misusing the term "steampunk." The Industrial Revolution wasn't about form over function. [So I suppose we could call you Anti Meme. - Dave] For Tim DavidOk, it's not quite perfect, but HERE is the full panorama. Aroostook ConversionBelow is a before/after image of the Bunker Hill/Aroostook refit. (Stitched from the above Shorpy post and the image at Wikipedia, flipped left-right.) Old NYCI love drawing old NYC and I love Shorpy. Check out my site for more. www.erosner.com ManhattaI bet Manahatta was given the nickname The Big Apple because of all the road apples on the streets. Come for the stunning architecture, run away gagging from the smell. What I'm learning from this phenomenal site are the minimal changes from Civil War customs and architecture up through the 1910s. Regardless of incredible inventions, social norms hardly shifted at all till WW1. Yes!I would also like to see the entire panorama. Even if bit by bit. Someone say Panorama?Sorry for a bit of a screw-up where the Harbor starts on the left side because Photoshop has a bit of a malfunction, but here's the full panorama. Enjoy! 9528x960 (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, NYC)
Tashmoo Too: 1901
... I can see only 4 lifeboats on the port side of the ship, assume there are 4 more on the starboard side for a total of 8. Looking at the number of passengers on the ship, this seems to be a possible miscalculation of "Titanic" proportions. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:16pm -

Detroit circa 1901. "Steamer Tashmoo leaving wharf." Another look at the popular excursion steamer with a capacity crowd of day trippers. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tippy TashmooOK, everybody rush over to the port side and wave to the folks ashore -- kersplash! Hold FastSkipper is waiting to let go the stern line I believe. ObservationsPassengers' only "flotation devices" appear to be their wooden deck chairs. No fencing around the dock area. Ah, the good old days when people didn't sue like crazy. Bicycles were apparently quite popular then. Mostly men on the dock -- did they all send their sweeties off for the day? Something oddSomeone tried to scratch out the shadow of the flag from the negative (near bottom left). Women and Children First!I can see only 4 lifeboats on the port side of the ship, assume there are 4 more on the starboard side for a total of 8. Looking at the number of passengers on the ship, this seems to be a possible miscalculation of "Titanic" proportions. Ladies FirstChivalry seems to have been strong in Detroit. I count only two or three examples of the fairer sex awaiting the next steamer. I imagine the ratio would be far different today. Day Trip The Tashmoo is leaving the Detroit River wharf & is headed for the Belle Isle Park down river from Detroit. Canada is on the other side of the Detroit River. Passengers purchase a 1-day ticket (round trip) to Belle Isle (island). This excursion has been going on at least 110 years. Lots of fun & memories for those who take the trip. Dangerous linesAside from numerous other concerns (by our standards) check out how close the people on the dock are standing to the straining stern line. If that piece of cordage ever snapped it would have whipped across the dock and cut off folks at their knees! Even in 1901 you gotta wonder who was supervising the line handling. The Tashmoo's Date With Doomhttp://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=22 SpringlineMagnificent boat! The photo demonstrates a once standard method of ship handling, the springline. A line is run from a cleat at the stern to a dock piling. The ship ("boat" on the Great Lakes) then "backs against the spring", pulling the stern toward the dock, and causing the bow to swing out into the river. The boat had been docked in the nearer curved slip, and at this point has been swung out almost enough to ring engine ahead and cast off the springline. If the line was doubled around the piling, it could be cast off from the boat's deck, without help from the dock. The Detroit River excursion boats performed this operation many times per day, without tugboats or bow thrusters. A similar setup could be used to get the boat docked. Due to the very fast current in the Detroit River, boats normally dock facing upstream to this day. We rode the later BobLo steamers, Ste. Claire + Columbia, in the early 1980's, and watched this operation done to perfection. These boats were similar to Tashmoo, but had a single propeller instead of Tashmoo's sidewheels,and lacked her sharp prow, making them less elegant and efficient, but more manageable. As with most excursion steamers, the engine room was completely visible, exposed in a well. I got invited down to the engine room with my very young daughter, who still remembers it clearly. My wife's mother spoke fondly of riding the Tashmoo, which wasn't one of the BobLo boats. It normally ran north (at very high speed) from Detroit to Port Huron, with a stop at Tashmoo Park near Algonac. Hoist the Colors!Note the union jack on the foremast. Tashmoo MemoriesAs poor as our fatherless family of ten were in the early 1930s, we did get to ride both the Tashmoo and Put-In Bay boats. When I was 11 or 12, at the target range on Put-In Bay Island I actually shot the stuffed alligator that was on the floor for decor. No one got mad. They just told me to shoot at the targets. Do wish more people knew how beautiful Detroit used to be. Stern LineIt sorta looks like a line is connected to the pier and under tension at the corner of the close pier, running back and around the corner piling. It is positioned such that if it ran to a cleat on the ship somewhere behind the piling it would act as described in assisting the ship to lever itself, with the assist of the current, or perhaps the port wheel, in getting the ship (boat) away from the dock and underway. While in the Navy, we were instructed that the difference between a ship and a boat was that a ship could carry and launch a boat, something a boat cannot do. Don't think that included carrying a dinghy or the like. Don't think the size or type of water factors into the description. Tashmoo HullTake away some of the superstructure and you would have a most beautiful racing steam yacht. I find the design of that hull most attractive. It is interesting that in the previous Tashmoo photo, two vessels are at the same wharf and apparently boarding their passenger near the bow in each case. TurningI don't believe the stern line is still secure. I think the left wheel is turning slow ahead to hold against the dock. That allows the current to swing the bow out into the channel. Let the river do the work. Tashmoo ParkThe steamer Tashmoo's regular run was to Tashmoo Park on Harstens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River. Some of the park structures still stand. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)
Lewis Payne: 1865
... conspirators until permanent arrangements could be made. A ship had limited access (gangway)and hence relative ease of security. It also ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 10:15pm -

Lewis Payne, seated and manacled, at the Washington Navy Yard about the time of his 21st birthday in April 1865, three months before he was hanged as one of the Lincoln assassination conspirators. View full size. Photograph by Alexander Gardner, probably taken aboard the ironclad U.S.S. Montauk or Saugus. My thoughts exactly.My thoughts exactly. Mer-oww! and now the rest of the story..Payne had been detailed to murder Secretary of State Seward as his role in the plot. Seward had been in an accident days before and was in bed wearing a metal neck brace. Payne attacked him with a Bowie knife in the darkened bedroom, slashing him several times. But for the brace, he would have cut Seward's jugular, killing him. Cute Guytoo bad he's a stone cold killa. Then its true they hadThen its true they had mentally deranged individuals in the 1860's and/or politically deranged individual in the 1860's just like in the 1900's and 2000's This picture was featured inThis picture was featured in the 1997 Ewan McGregor film Nightwatch. It was hanging on the wall of the Watchman's office of a morgue and becomes the object of Ewan's obsession. If you disregard the Lincoln conspirator part...hubba hubba. He looks like Tobey Maguire.He looks like Tobey Maguire. Can anyone tell me what thatCan anyone tell me what that backdrop is? It looks like a huge sheet of steel or lead. [As noted in the caption, the picture was taken aboard a Navy ironclad. It's probably a gun turret. - Dave] Barthes and Camera LucidaI *knew* I recognized this picture as soon as I saw it. It was featured in Roland Barthes' book "Camera Lucida" about photography. Sort of random, but if anyone wants to read a high falutin' book that deals with this photo, you should look it up. He really does look like Tobey Maguire doesn't he? The Handcuff in this picture is a "Lilly Iron"..There are matching Leg Irons. The stories around it abound. It was invented by a Dr. Lilly, a Military Dr., for restraining insane people. He later on went insane himself, and apparently died wearing them. These were used on all the Lincoln Assassination Conspirators, they were worn throughout their trial, till they were executed. These are VERY rigid. It is rather torturous to wear them any period of time. The Leg Irons use a chain, far more "humane". The Lilly Iron (Cuffs and Leg Irons) are both considered premium items to own, for cuff collectors (I am one). They aren't what you might call "cheap". I own a pair of Cuffs and Irons :) Cruel and UnusualI remember the picture was also featured in Ken Burns' documentary The Civil War. Imagine being in rigid irons for months. I'd go insane. Lewis PayneDeath must have been a relief after having to be shackled in those for months. That look in his eyes, it's mesmerizing. Lewis PayneIt's interesting that he is wearing a U.S. Navy shirt and trousers. Obviously an ad hoc prison uniform while aboard an ironclad. AmazingI am a photojournalist and the lighting and look in this photograph is just amazing. CKLooks like a Calvin Klein ad. As do the other pictures in the Payne series. When I see a period film hear people say that a person doesn't look like they belong in the prescribed period, I ask them why they think so. If it has something to do with the hairdo (like Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde) then I have to agree. But if the person says that the actor's face doesn't belong in the picture, I show them this picture and ask them if they have seen this Calvin Klein ad. They ask when it was shot, say circa 1992. Then I drop the bomb and tell them that it was taken in April or May 1865. Shuts 'em up every time. THE FACEAm I the only one who has seen THE FACE above Mr. Payne! While watching Nightwatch and hearing Nick Nolte tell Ewan who was in the picture, I had to Google. Always intrigued by the pic and movie, now more so.. Temporary quartersThe ironclad was selected for the conspirators until permanent arrangements could be made. A ship had limited access (gangway)and hence relative ease of security. It also facilitated movement to another venue if needed. Sec. Stanton didn't want the individuals torn apart by a crowd who, it occurs to me, might have thought to swarm the entrance to a military prison. An armed vessel was a pretty good solution. MuscledContemporary accounts note that women were "thrilled" by Lewis Payne's well-muscled form. I don't see that at all; he looks like a very lean young man. Did Not KnowI was just looking up historical pics of the D.C. Navy Yard and came across this. First reaction was an okay *shrug* because I didn't know who it was until I read the caption and now I find it slightly chilling. This has haunted me for more than 40 yearsWhen I was 13, I read "Love is Eternal" by Irving Stone, which is a very romantic, historic novel about the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln. I was a weird kid. While my friends all had crushes on Davy Jones, I fell in love with Abe Lincoln and couldn't get enough information about him. Several of the photos of the conspirators have haunted me, ever since, but none so much as this one of Lewis Payne. I think the fact that he was a very handsome young man makes it stick in one's mind more easily, but the look on his face speaks volumes. He obviously did not think of himself as a cold-blooded killer. He saw himself as a prisoner-of-war; a martyr for a noble cause. As far as comparison with actors, I don't see Toby Maguire as much as I see actor Patrick Fugit, as an adult. About Lewis Payne and his muscles.It was reported that his neck muscles were so strong, that he died solely from asphyxiation. None of the bones in his neck were out of place when they cut him down. (The Gallery, Alexander Gardner, Civil War)
Gulfport: 1906
... The 0-6-0 in this photograph is owned by the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, which ran from Gulfport to Jackson with several branches ... ladies in the left foreground are a mystery. Could the ship be carrying passengers? It seems unlikely because the "resin" being ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 2:38pm -

Gulfport, Mississippi, circa 1906. "Steamer loading resin." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Languid personifiedThe two ladies, who one assumes were wives of the officers, seem totally disinterested in what's going on around them. No doubt they have seen it all before but you would think they could have made an effort for the photographer. Farked?The ladies seem so obviously out of place, the photo appears to be pre-farked. Rails to the GulfThe 0-6-0 in this photograph is owned by the Gulf & Ship Island Railroad, which ran from Gulfport to Jackson with several branches in Southern Mississippi. The G&SI was a long-term project, check out this link for more information on the scrappy little line. They were taken over by the Illinois Central in 1925. Visit this link for a route map and more information on the G&SI. http://www.msrailroads.com/G&SI.htm As a Mississippian, I'm thrilled to see our State Port before it became a facility of concrete, bananas, and TEUs. Another Screw.So may great details as per usual in a photograph from Dave! Note the spare propeller bolted to the deck behind the hatch and amidship betwixt the two steering chains. If a propeller was lost or damaged en route, it was cheaper and quicker to carry a spare than have one made, then shipped on another steamer possibly several thousand miles to some distant port. As mentioned previously, whose flag IS flying astern? Note the box car to the right has an inner slatted door for ventilation, above which are the trolley wire support brackets on the poles for an electric railway. Thank You. Are those womenResin ladies or plank inspectors? She's checking him out."Arlene, quit looking at the camera & check out the butt on the guy standing by the barrels." Passengers, too?This one's loaded with great maritime details, but the two ladies in the left foreground are a mystery. Could the ship be carrying passengers? It seems unlikely because the "resin" being loaded is evidently a really messy substance (perhaps the sap from pine trees, used in glue and some kinds of paint? There were/are plenty of pine trees in Mississippi.) The man in the left middle might be working the steam winch. His knee is close to the cylinder that's doing the driving, and another drum like the one on the right is doubtless taking the tail of the tackle that's passing behind the black man standing at the left to take the weight of the two barrels being swung on board on the right. It seems that the longshoremen at Gulfport in the period were all black, but the man working the winch might not be (hard to tell since he's facing away from the camera). We are looking aft at the quarterdeck of the ship. This is shown by the emergency steering wheel and stern staff with flag. The ship is not US flag, possibly from one of the South or Central American countries? The chain entering the boxy fitting next to the lounging man at the break of the quarterdeck is almost certainly a steering gear linkage from the main steering station on the bridge; note there is a second, identical one on the other side of the ship. Mechanical steering linkages were common on steamships of the period. The emergency wheel would be geared direct to the rudder head in case one of the chains parted or something on the bridge let go. Note the sailing ships tied up astern of the ship in the foreground, a 3-masted schooner on the left and a square rigger, possibly a bark, on the right. It is a little surprising to see a deep water square rigger on the Gulf Coast as late as 1906, but schooners were very common and several are shown in the distance. A sticky professionAlthough this photo was taken before my town came to be, the sight of those barrels of raw pine tar are familiar to us here in Portal, GA, a tiny town which holds an annual Turpentine Festival and which lays claim to one of the only still functioning original stills from the 30's-40's. The still is fired up each year and turpentine made and sold in Mason jars and glass jugs to the community. Although the practice of harvesting pine resin died out in the 60's in our area, almost anyone who has spent time in the woods here can attest to finding pine trees with the "catfaces" still present, which is what they called the V-shaped scars from the slash marks made to collect the tar from trees. The tar is extremely flammable and care must be used at the still site around the furnace underneath the vat, lest the whole structure go up in flames. Mabel, get out the washboard!Seeing those ladies in their crisp white linen under the smokestack soot is making me cringe!! Ya gots to feel sorry for himI'm talking about the poor guy over on the back right of this picture (part of a trio) having to wear the polka dotted calico overalls that were obviously home-made by his wife from flour sacks or feed bags and styled like an apron. I'm pretty sure he was razzed by the other stevedores for not fitting into the image of "rugged" that they portray. Wow!Marjorie Main was older than I thought. A bra! A bra! My kingdom for a bra. I mean really, all the unmentionables available back then and they had yet to wrap some things up properly. Ventilated box carThe boxcar with the "slatted door' is a ventilated boxcar. On the Atlantic Coast Line they were known a "watermelon" cars because that's what was shipped in them. SunWould that be the Sun low in the background? Through a haze? [No. As we can see from the shadows on the ship, the sun is high in the sky. - Dave] Modishly buxomThe pigeon-breast, S-curve silhouette was the fashion. It's likely that lady has some combination of corset and padding to create that monobosom. As weird as it looks to our eyes now, she'd have been considered the more stylish of the two ladies at the time! RiggingI don’t know anything about ships, propellers and the machinery in this photo. However, I may be able to add something about the ladies. They look middle class to me, they are not in working clothes. Their skirts are well pressed without too many creases. Perhaps wives of officers? They look to be aged late 30s or 40s. They are both wearing straight front corsets. They look not to be very tight, the wasp waist had passed out of fashion 8 years ago. These two would probably have worn tighter, stiffer and longer corsets for best wear. At this time the corset did not reach the bust, so the breast sagged. It was about this time that the bra made its first appearance in fashionable circles, and probably these two were unaware of it in 1906. My only comment is that they are not wearing hats. At this time hats were BIG and an essential part of a woman's costume. Flag AsternSorry for the late comment, I had medical issues in 2014 and missed most everything. The flag is that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the "merchant flag" to be exact. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
Let's Do Launch: 1943
... Maryland. Portraits of the workers who turn out 'Liberty' ship cargo transports, during lunch hour or on rest period." 4x5 inch acetate ... Ships, eventually 384 of them, along with LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) and Victory ships. What is being said Would love to know ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/01/2023 - 3:01pm -

May 1943. "Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyards, Baltimore, Maryland. Portraits of the workers who turn out 'Liberty' ship cargo transports, during lunch hour or on rest period." 4x5 inch acetate negative by Arthur Siegel for the Office of War Information. View full size. Juan de la cruz is awesomeThe photo with "What is being said"? is different from the original "Let's Do Launch". Either Mr. de la Cruz has astounding Photoshop skills or it is the second in a series of pix. Either way it is a personality plus photo. [I added the photo to show what they were laughing at. - Dave] Short-lived but crucialThe Birmingham-Fairfield Shipyard existed for less than five years. It was one of two yards (the other in Portland, Oregon) constructed under the 1941 Emergency Shipbuilding Program. The emergency? Even though the U.S. was still officially neutral, it had to react to the severe losses of the British Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Baltimore yard built Liberty Ships, eventually 384 of them, along with LSTs (Landing Ship, Tanks) and Victory ships. What is being saidWould love to know what is causing all the smiles. What is the conversation. If I had the editing skills, I'd add balloons to each of people with, starting from right to left: "Say what?" "Can't be true!" "He really did that?" "Yup, I saw him -- " And then I run out of conversation. Someone else, with better imagination, can carry on. Dave - Thank you for adding it. Wish I could take credit for it, but I can't. It is as fun a photo as the original. Lots of smiles. And I really wish I could hear the comments! Brown bagsFrom what I can see, they all brown bag their lunch. I wonder why none of them has a black, domed top, metal lunchbox with a handle? [Because when a metal lunchbox falls on your head from 50 feet up, it hurts. - Dave] Point taken. The other observation I have is about the guy sitting fourth from the right, including the man sitting on the bottom step. I'm pretty sure he was a football lineman. He's a big guy and he's wearing what appears to be a varsity letter on his sweater. Waxed paperWhen I was a kid we didn't have plastic sandwich bags. A sandwich wrapped in wax paper worked just fine. At the lunch table, I could lay it flat for a clean place to lay my lunch out on. Occasionally, I'll still wrap a sandwich in wax paper. The S.S. John W. Brownwas assembled at the Baltimore shipyard in 1942, and is one of two surviving fully operational Liberty Ships preserved in the United States. It is docked in Baltimore, and open for tours and living history cruises. https://www.ssjohnwbrown.org/ Looks like Central CastingEach one of these guys looks like some character actor. Especially the fellow in the white sweater, I'm sure I've seen him in a Bowery Boys picture. Good bunch of guysThere's lots of nice body language in this shot. I especially like the fellow, lower center, leaning back into the legs of the guy behind him, who is gesturing with a touch to the shoulder. And, of course, they are of different races -- in a time that racial segregation was widely legal and widely practiced. VarietyThat's quite a collection of headgear. The man with the bill-less cap probably is wearing it backward, not because it was the style but possibly because he wears a welder's mask when he's working. Today you would probably see uniform OSHA-approved hard hats. And you wouldn't see any cable-knit sweaters. (The Gallery, Arthur Siegel, Baltimore, Boats & Bridges, WW2)
Law and Order: 1918
... reboot of the brand. Ahoy Put these guys on a ship, and dare the pirates to even look like they're going to board. Shoe ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/24/2014 - 8:57pm -

New York. May 16, 1918. "Police machine gun." 5x7 glass neg. View full size. They're not so toughJust wait till they meet up with The Rat Patrol! RoboCop, 1918 StyleI'll bet those unruly crowds dispersed in a heartbeat when THAT came buzzing around the corner! Rat-Tat-Tat-Tat!Why did this police department need such heavy firepower? At first, I thought, "bootleggers!," but Prohibition didn't start until the following year. Red ScareThis was at the height of Red Scare when it seemed to certain Justice Dept. people that the Bolsheviks were going to try to take over America next. [The Red Scare was in the 1940s and 1950s. What prompted this was the outbreak of World War I and fears of German saboteurs. - Dave] Firepower, candlepowerI hope they did their shooting in the daytime. That kerosene headlamp wouldn't have been have been much good at night. Other interesting features of the Indian include an extremely primitive speedometer running off the front wheel hub (it looks like an afterthought), and an exposed clutch, just behind the driver's boot. There was an attempt to revive the Indian brand in California in the 1990's, but the company went under after making just a few bikes... based on much later models than this one, of course. Potato DiggerI think that is an 1895 Browning "potato digger" Third Liberty LoanCheck out the poster in the background. MountedThe machine gun is mounted on a sidecar, right? The tripod looks a little tall, the machine gunner will have to stand to use the sights. But you know when the policeman says "pull over," you better do it quick! After WWII think "Tipster" is referring to the Red Scare in this country as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. This photo was taken before that occurred. Two things.One, they better get some earplugs. Two, I need one of those on my motorcycle. Believe me. RecoilI can only imagine the kick that monster would inflict on the rider and the sidecar! A ChoiceI think the Indian motorcycle is more interesting than the machine gun. However the gunner appears to be very focused, almost like he's looking for an excuse to fire. Colt-Browning Tater DiggerColt-Browning machine gun Stuffed ShirtWhat is that jammed into the jacket of the cop walking behind the motorcycle? A very low-slung bulletproof vest? A canned ham? Half of a skateboard? Please, someone tell me there's an explanation. Indian MotorcyclesThe Indian Brand has once again been resurrected in 2009. They're being built in North Carolina and they're a pretty sweet looking ride, but time will tell if it's a successful reboot of the brand. AhoyPut these guys on a ship, and dare the pirates to even look like they're going to board. Shoe fetishO.K. I admit it. One of my favorite things about this blog and the photos are the fab boots and shoes these folks were wearing. Right handedIndian motorcycles' twist-grip throttle was on the left side. Because most people are right-handed the cops could shoot and ride. The Canned HamThat lump in the background officer's coat is his sidearm, most likely a revolver in a full-flap holster. As per the earlier photo of the lady traffic cop: https://www.shorpy.com/node/5864 Must have!This is the most useful motorcycle accessory I've ever seen. Every bike should have one. Manhole coverFor some reason, I continue to be impressed that the manhole covers from a century or more ago look essentially the same as those today. So many other practical things are very different from today, but not those. I'd give a mint for one of thoseI wonder if a version of this contraption sits in a museum anywhere? This is a pretty radical law enforcement solution even back in those "uncivilized" days... Maybe it was related to the end of WWI? What might be the legitimate reason for arming motorcycle guys with something like this? [See the newspaper clipping below. - Dave] The whole setup seems a bit unwieldy however and machine guns are notoriously inaccurate in an ideal staging. This would be especially true when you're on a bouncy motorcycle sidecar on 1918 city streets possible getting shot at by somebody while the scared driver swerves wildly to avoid bullets. I prefer the M203 version with my Harley! Cash box?Any idea what the little "treasure chest" on top of/attached to the gas tanks is for? Maybe..doughnuts? Tool bagI was looking at an Indian Big Twin at a motorcycle museum and if memory servers, that's the tool bag on top of the tank. Throttle GripThe idea that Indians used left hand throttles so the cops could shoot while riding ia a myth. There was no standardization of controls back then. Indian used a left hand throttle because that's the way they always did it. Harleys used a right hand throttle and just as many police departments used them as those that preferred Indians. The Hollywood image of a cop, riding at breakneck speed on his bike, guns ablazin', is silly. Red ScareActually there was an earlier "Red Scare" which ran from 1917 to 1920. As a Teaching Assistant in gradual school (25 years ago) I lectured on this subject. This earlier Red Scare was involved with the fear of a Bolshevik-like revolution being imported into America. Fifth Columnists were seen almost under every rock. Union organizers, socialist activists, civil rights proponents, suffragettes, pacifists, Jewish immigrants, German Immigrants, and anyone remotely critical of the government were all suspects. (The Gallery, G.G. Bain, Motorcycles, NYC)
RMS Lusitania: 1908
... Funnels The Lusitania and her slightly faster sister ship Mauretania each had four functional funnels. In this picture many of her ... today. Look closely at the painted white water line on the ship and you will notice that much of it is missing even thought the ship is ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/30/2021 - 2:58pm -

The Hudson River circa 1908. "RMS Lusitania passing Hoboken piers." The doomed Cunard ocean liner would be torpedoed by a German submarine in 1915 with a loss of 1,198 lives. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size. PingInteresting perspective. Photo looks kinda like it was taken from a periscope. Stunning!What a stunning image! How majestic those early super-liners were. A couple of interesting details: I'm surprised how many wires are holding the smokestacks in place. Also, it looks like smoke's only coming from the middle two stacks. Does anyone know if the Lusitania also had a dummy stack, like the Titanic? Most interesting detail I'm noticing is the crow's nest on the front mast. Before the days of radar, it was still the human eye that warned the captain of dangers ahead. Wouldn't want that job on a cold, rough North Atlantic night! Yep, an interesting perspectiveOn this picture. Very cool. Save YourselfLet's see: Eight lifeboats this side, presumably eight on the other, 40 people to a lifeboat (probably generous) = room for 640. By the time she was torpedoed the Lusitania had 48 lifeboats (some collapsible). Only six were successfully launched. The TaniasLusitania, Mauretania, Aquitania, and let's not forget Wonkatania! The AniasLet's not forget the Beatlemania! Many ironiesThe "Hoboken piers" in the background were then owned by two German-based shipping lines - Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg America line. The U.S. seized them when it entered WWI, and then used the piers to unload the thousands of caskets of GIs killed in battle. Four FunnelsThe Lusitania and her slightly faster sister ship Mauretania each had four functional funnels. In this picture many of her boilers were undoubtedly exstinguished to conserve fuel as she entered NY harbor. Unlike the Titanic these ships were built for speed as well as luxury and had to meet certain government specifications for use during war time. In return the British government subsidized the cost of building both ships. And fast they were, faster than most if not all "liners" on the sea today. Look closely at the painted white water line on the ship and you will notice that much of it is missing even thought the ship is barely a year old in this picture. That was a telltale sign of a seriously fast ship back in the days before gel coat or epoxy paints! It would be well over two decades before another ship was built that could barely outrun the Lusitania's surviving sister. Even then the aging 23 year old Mauretania nearly took the speed record back with a stunning 27+ knot average Atlantic crossing. This is a spectacular photo of an historic, beautiful ship. As fast as she was, she could not outrun the torpedoes fired at her off the coast of Ireland on that tragic, warm sunny day in May nearly 100 years ago. I just found outMy grandmother came to America on this ship! Not this sailing (which would have been way too cool) but this ship! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, WWI)
Wired: 1929
... feet high! The details have taken me hostage....will you ship me some squash come fall? Coal miner's wife I am thinking of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/22/2012 - 6:52pm -

"Schneider electric store." C. Schneider's Sons in Washington, D.C., circa 1929. ("Give her an Electric Grill for Xmas.") Harris & Ewing glass neg. View full size. ABC washerGood info on the ABC washer but this model would have been a gravity drain -- the spout around the top of the spinner moved toward the washtub to redirect the water for reuse or into a sink or laundry tray/tub to dispose of. The washtub had a hose that was lowered into a floor drain or bucket or a simple valve opened to drain the waste water out. Quite a varietyThey even sold an electric mop! It must have been a failed prototype, though, seeing as they're hard to find now. CurrentI'm surprised they let all these AC appliances in DC. Lionel TrainsBehind the man is a cabinet stocked with Lionel Electric Trains. Today, that inventory would be a nice collection to have. Growing up in D.C. during the fifties, I could walk to three hardware stores that sold these. Most Fascinating of AllIn a room of wonders for the period that would make it easy to wile away many hours of discovery and experimentation the most fascinating thing may just be the very up-to-date bare bulbs in the ceiling. These are an early version of todays ubiquitous yet now outdated "soft-white" incandescent bulb. Like the faces of both the man and flapper here photographed, all things, even with serious modernity, do come to an end. Electricity in the airHe was madly in love with her, and she knew it. Look at her Mona Lisa smile. Collector's Dream!As a collector of antique electric fans and related early electrical items, I feel like a kid in a candy store when I see pictures like this! Wonderful stuff Dave, thank you for putting all these great photos out for the world to see. It's almost like going back in time. Quite a few of us fan collectors check out your site daily looking for early electric fans which appear in some of the photos. Do you have any more shots of this particular store? I'd love to see different angles of all the goodies they had for sale. [Alas, this is all there is. - Dave] SchneiderI wonder if J.F. Schneider and Son Meats and Groceries was related to C. Schneider's Sons Electric store. ABC WasherThe 2 tub spinner washing machine was first introduced by the Easy Washing Machine Corp. in 1926. This product differed from the wringer washers in that it had a second tub with a high speed spinner that extracted water from the clothes. A simple drain hose hung over the sink or into a drain pipe. I think ABC was merged into or bought by Easy, the largest manufacturer of washing machines in the 1920s. The company was sold to Murray Electric (now part of Siemens) in 1957, and then to The Hupp Corp. Easy production ended in 1963. At its peak in 1948 the company sold almost 500,000 units. No sunglasses?With nine bare bulbs, a tin ceiling and all that metal and chrome! Sun LampIs that large lamp front center with what appears to be a transformer base a carbon-arc lamp? The box on the floor that would seem to go with it has a C and A on the end flap. Replacement parts? [Letters on the box are U C. - Dave] Electric Grill C. Schneider's Sons 1207 F St. N.W. Give Her An Electric Grill for Xmas You Can Boil, Fry, Broil, Cook Anything You Want in this Grill It's not the ampsIt's not the amps, but the vamp who put the cat-that-swallowed-the-mouse look on the man's face. I think sparks have been flying in that room. What is it?What's the boxy device with the vented cupola next to the ABC washer (foreground, center)? [An Eveready "Sunshine Lamp." See above. - Dave] Circa 1929Thursday, May 2, 1929 to be exact. Oh, and I'll take all of those electric trains in the display case. Not for XmasMy father once gave my mother a waffle iron for Xmas. He spent a very cold night. Advance of TechnologyYou can tell how better off we are today, our floor polishers are big or bigger than riding lawnmowers. The version next to the mop could not even hold a single drunk person. Mystery ObjectOn the right of the picture, on the table behind the clocks (beside the serious-looking woman), in front of the calendar -- what are those round things that look like they have lights going all the way around? [Light bulb displays. - Dave] I feel like I'm in a time machine.And just walked into this store with all these modern electric appliances. The detail is awesome, and it seems I could just ask either of these two a question about those cool little toasters. All these items would be very collectible today. Tick tock tick tockMy grandparents had the exact same clock as the "napoleon hat" shaped one to the right of the lady, and I still have a working flip toaster similar to the ones on her left. I know a few people who would kill for one of those model trains in the cabinet at the back. GE Monitor Top fridgeLove the GE Monitor Top refrigerator at the extreme right of the picture. Those things were built great, I myself have one only four years newer than this and it is still running perfectly. No GardenGee Dave, thanks alot for putting this great picture up at this time of year! I have fallen in and won't come out until my garden weeds are six feet high! The details have taken me hostage....will you ship me some squash come fall? Coal miner's wifeI am thinking of the poor coal miner's wife which was posted yesterday. What a difference all these helpers would have made for her, Another note. I still use a gooseneck lamp to read by. I have nothing better. The bare bulbsIt seems that the several bare bulbs in the ceiling would have created a distracting glare. Wouldn't some sort of glass diffusers or shells have been available by this era? Perhaps they were so proud of their bulbs, they wanted shoppers to see them in all their unadorned glory. On an unrelated note, the object the woman is leaning against looks sort of like a big-screen TV — an amusing illusion, to say the least. Don't Try That TodayOr you will get the electric grill thrown right back at you upside the head. Women do not want "household items" as gifts any more. This is a beautiful store, with a very nice looking couple running it and the lady with "sausage curls" was very well groomed for 1929. Lots to see here, thank you Shorpy for another photo containing many wonderful items to jog the memory. Welcome!...To the Museum of Obsolete Technology! Where our motto is, "the more things change, the more they stay the same!" Enough to curl your hairAnd somewhere in one of those boxes (front left, on the counter below the electric coffee pots) is the same model curling iron that gave her those perfect marcel waves. Bask Naked in the Summer Sun"Boxy device" next to the washer is an Eveready Sunshine Lamp. More here. Let me be the first to point outThe grammatical error in the poster near the top of the wall on the left. That iron holds its heat, as well as one apostrophe too many. On the other hand, it would make a fabulous gift! Thanks for the suggestion, Dave. ToastedI have one of those Edison electric toasters like the ones lined up behind the first one. Still works like new. It toasts one side at a time, so you have to turn the bread around. I'm a Little ... What?The appliance on the left -- Perc-O-Tea? [Obviously you have never heard of the Perc-O-Toaster. And probably for good reason. - Dave] Perc-o-ToasterWhat do you know, the Perc-o-Toaster seems to do exactly what its name implies! Here are a couple of more detailed pictures: http://toast2go.tripod.com/ToasterGallery-Ads12.html Make Mine Perky!I, for one, would love to own a Perk-O-Toast. Bare BulbsI live in a house built in 1925, we have that exact same light fixture in the hallway. It throws out precious little light even without the bulb cover, which is probably why someone removed it and put it in the attic. Probably the same case here. For those who want to imagine, it's vaguely tulip shaped and made of white glass, you could find almost an exact replacement for it in any home improvement store today. UnpluggedThe dustmop was obviously not meant to be in the photo. It isn't an electric appliance and has most certainly been used. ABC and IThe washing machine is an ABC, which stands for Altofer Brothers Company. Henry Altofer, when he was a youth, built a crude washing machine for his mother to make washday chores easier for her. It proved to be the beginning of the ABC company which grew into a major appliance manufacturer. A few years ago the old abandoned factory was still standing in Peoria, Illinois. The Altofer and Gudeman families were close friends for many years. Henry witnessed the last will and testament of my great-grandfather Fritz Gudeman 10 days before Fritz died in 1890. Also, Henry and my grandfather David married sisters; and in 1936 Henry bought Fritz's old home and farm, located one mile north of Roanoke, Illinois, from one of his sons. Hello Miss NewmanI had a phone call yesterday from a nice lady in Texas whose grandfather owned this store -- he's the man in the photo. Her father (who could be heard in the background exclaiming, "That's Dad!") identified the woman as one Miss Newman. He also recalled the pressed tin ceiling. Dustmop Has a PurposeThe dustmop in front isn't a mistake. It's there as a sales tool. The store owner used it to demonstrate that his electric machine worked better at picking up dirt than a regular dustmop. That's why the mop appears to be used. It's the old Fuller Brush sales demo--throw dirt on the carpet and then show how the vacuum picks it up more efficiently. On top of everythingThat ceiling has to be (well, I suppose it does not HAVE to be) the most ornately designed ceiling I have ever seen. I think it is unattractive. I wonder if our presumed-to-be-business-friends-only couple tried to avoid looking up at it, so as not to dampen the magic of their cramped but oh so electric moments together. Frozen in timeThis photo shows my grandfather Percy Christian Schneider in his store, which took its name from my great-great-grandfather Christian G. Schneider -- he began with a foundry that cast large items like bells, then moved into hardware. By 1929, C. Schneider's had become an outlet for the burgeoning appliance market. Grandfather's assistant or clerk on the right is Miss Newman. My father, Donald Schneider, recognized his dad, Miss Newman and the store as soon as he saw the photograph. Thank you for preserving a little piece of my family's history. Schneider ConnectionWould love to connect with Susie Schneider who left the last comment. I'm a long lost Schneider relative that is developing a website dedicated to our ancestors. www.schneidersofdc.com It's under construction. Jon M. Schneider Metal desk lampsI inherited one of those and tried to use it but the metal gets hot enough to burn the skin. Which is why my mother did not use it very often but it sat on the desk for years. (The Gallery, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Stores & Markets)
Winter Street: 1940
... gone. The brick building was the headquarters of Bethlehem Ship Yard, owned by Bethlehem Steel. Later it was sold to General Dynamics. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/05/2023 - 10:44pm -

December 1940. "Winter Street, Quincy, Massachusetts. A Syrian neighborhood near the shipyards. Slum area where many shipyard workers live." Photo by Jack Delano. View full size. GrouchomobileThat car just needs a pair of glasses and bushy eyebrows. Maybe a grease moustache. Don't see too many grille covers these days, even in the northeast US. [The car: 1937 Ford. - Dave] Lots still there! Watch mePark right next to the No Parking sign. There is gentrification going on nowIn the array of slums we have seen on Shorpy, this looks relatively livable. The house on the left is still there, recognizable below. If you move down the street, past the greenery on the right, whatever was there has been replaced by some nice, new apartments. If you go the the T-intersection and turn right onto E Howard Street, the old factory building disappears. "Home" is a four-letter word, tooThe phrase "slum" seems to have been used quite loosely here -- as evidenced by the number of buildings that are still extant, 80+ years later -- perhaps an ominous foreshadowing of the coming decades when "blight" became a catchall phrase to get rid of ... well, almost anything that someone in power didn't like. Worth a VisitI used to live in Quincy, and recommend a visit to The Old House at Peace Field, the home of Presidents John and J.Q. Adams and several later generations. Most Presidential homes feel like museums, but it's easy to imagine the Adams family puttering around Peace Field. Quincy also claims to be the site of the first Howard Johnson's restaurant; the location is now occupied by the Wollaston T station. My how times have changed!Personally, I think the slum shot shown above looks better than the slums today. Cold winter nosesThe curbside Ford's owner has provided its nose with a makeshift winter radiator grille cover to aid in faster winter engine warmups and better heat retention when underway. Happy owner now enjoys warm fingers and nose thanks to a comfortably temperate car interior. Concerns though, about the cold-nosed Kitty, clambering onto the the left front tire. Is it contemplating a way to access that enticingly warm, under-hood location provided by the recently parked, still warm '37? Be careful Kitty, countless tails and various other cat appendages have been mutilated or torn off in similar, deceivingly inviting, paw-thawing hideouts! Old housing yes but no slums there.The shipyard in the background is now long gone. The brick building was the headquarters of Bethlehem Ship Yard, owned by Bethlehem Steel. Later it was sold to General Dynamics. 7000, seven thousand men and women worked there in three shifts around the clock. They built Navy ships and in later years liquid natural gas tankers. It was the bread and butter for hard-working men and women. As to Winter Street, it may look old and rickety but it was a clean neighborhood of families and shipyard workers. It still stands today but the Shipyard is now a stinking parking lot for an automobile distributor. A waste of valuable land and deep water docking. Anything hiding under there?Inquisitive cat peeking up under the Ford's left front fender. Slum?What good is making a comment if it just gets tossed. Don't give me the so many comments talk, there were two or more comments submitted beyond mine and they were published. I'll think twice before I support this site. [No need to stop at twice. - Dave] Big things happening beyond the end of Winter StreetWhen this photo was taken, the Fore River Shipyards in Quincy were ramping up their operations in case the United States entered World War II. Construction was underway on the battleship USS Massachusetts (BB-59) and light cruisers USS San Diego (CL-53) and San Juan (CL-54) - all three of which were still afloat and in action at the war's end. Now a museumThe shipyard is gone. Not sure where shipbuilding is still happening, but it's not in Massachusetts. I think the labor costs for one of the most expensive metro areas in the country got to be too much, and the shipyards were deemed "inefficient". That was in the 1980s. The Reagan Administration hit the off switch in 1981. By 1986, General Dynamics shut this spot down. A sliver of silver lining. The yard has been repurposed for some local businesses, including dredging and chemical fertilizer depots. There is also a museum dedicated to the Quincy shipbuilding tradition. And yes, it is used as a car distribution lot for dealers - for American cars. The Google map view shows the vehicle awaiting a home are Chevrolets, Jeeps, and GMC trucks. Much smaller than ships, but still helping the US economy. (The Gallery, Cats, Jack Delano)
On the Edge of the 60s
... came home from work and said that he had to get on board ship in a few days. He said he didn't know where he was going or when he would ... 
 
Posted by tterrace - 09/29/2011 - 6:37pm -

Even though it's 1960, it's obvious that the 60s haven't started yet. My eighth grade class photo in Larkspur - or as Dave would say, idyllic Larkspur. I must say, though, that we're looking somewhat less idyllic than when some of us were gathered at the same spot eight years earlier. I'm in the front row, second from left. So, when did the 60s begin? A case could be made for 1963, 1964 or 1965, but I'm going for 1965. View full size. 60s != sixtiesThe problem here is that the Sixties as a cultural phenomenon has very little correlation with the decade of the 1960s. In most of America, the Sixties (drugs, sex, rock-n-roll, decadence) began in late 1968 with the large demonstrations against the war, and faded out around 1975. By contrast the 1960s, as seen in this picture, were a time of prosperity and optimism, a time when boys looked like rocket scientists and girls looked like rockets. Did any of these boysserve in Vietnam? Great photo BTW When the 60s beganThe 60's began on Sunday night, Feb. 9, 1964! I'm from a later generationbut I think Buddy Holly (among others) had a influence on kids back then. (Or was he just that way?) The 60sI'm in the group who think the '60s started at the end of 1963 with JFK's assassination, followed by the Beatles in '64. And the end of the decade came in 1973 with the U.S. pullout from Vietnam and Nixon's resignation in 1974. No moreAn innocence that no longer exists in our children. So tell us, tterrace, just how innocent *were* you kids? Starting from top right, moving counterclockwise. On a scale of 1 to 10. -Dave] I was six in 1960This shows life as portrayed in "Leave It To Beaver." Then came the Beatles and life changed. That's how I remember it anyway. Girls ARE more matureIf you enlarge this photo, and carefully scrutinize all the faces, it is apparent that all of the girls seem to be certain of who they are and comfortable in their own skin. Many can also pass for high school students. The boys on the other hand show various characteristics of rebelliouness, moodiness, sadness, some seem troubled and pensive, some look like cut-ups and wise guys, just a lot less certain of the image they wish to portray and many can pass as fifth graders, looking at least three years younger. I'm thinking perhaps some parents were much harder on their sons than on their daughters as the girls seem relatively content while the boys show signs of personal conflict. I hope they all found happiness. Thank you for this very nostalgic picture. O.K. RomeoWhich girl (?!!) did you have the hots for? I was in 2nd grade in 1960 ... and you're right, we were all still blissfully living in the fifties then. I think the sixties began with the assassination of JFK and arrival of the Beatles in 1964. The era was in full swing by the time of the Summer of Love and the murders of RFK and MLK. And, btw, if anyone ever perfects a time machine, I'm going back to live with your family, tterrace. "Idyllic" is the right word for most of your pics. Nothing screams 1960... like a Hawaiian t-shirt! Such a lively group of kids, and to think, in just under a decade this same group of youngsters will introduce the world to pot, LSD, and the Grateful Dead! When did the 60s begin?I too was an eighth grader in 1959-60. It's hard to say just when the culture of the "60s" first emerged in the national consciousness. I guess I would say 1964-1965, with the beginning of the Vietnam buildup, the civil rights movement in full swing, campus protests, inner city riots, and the emergence of an entirely different style of popular music. Anyone who leapt from 1963 to 1968 would have been completely lost. I Want to Drivemy '50 Ford to the drive in with that little gal next to the teacher, whew, what a doll she must have become in high school, "Apache" (1960) on the AM car radio. How many?Point of curiosity -- if you know -- how many of your classmates are still alive? It seems like every class starts losing members about a year after graduation so I suspect you've lost your share as well. Innocence of youthWell, our names were innocent-sounding enough anyway: Albert, Bob (2), Bucky (really Harold, but who knew?), Carla, Christine, Cynthia, David (2), Dennis, Earl, Frances, Hilliard, Jack, Jean, John (3), Johnny, Ken, Laurie, Lenore, Lonna, Marcia, Margaret, Paul, Peggy (2), Richard, Roberta, Roger, Russ, Sam, Sharon, Sheila, Tom. Ashley, Brittany, Brandon, Justin and Dakota were absent that day. Could be my classI believe the 60's started around 1962, but in a small way. The folk music scene, and coffee houses contributed to it. Early Dylan, Baez helped nudge us into a new decade. But the really visible 60's didn't occur until around 1964/65 with the British invasion of music, and fashion. The guys in the photo defiantly exhibit a late '50s sensibility in their clothing choice, and hairstyles. [Definitely. - Dave] Decades vs. ErasOne of tterrace's contemporaries takes on the '50s-'60s thing. Let's go back to the '40s. '40-'45: the Depression jarringly became the WWII Era--privation and sacrifice. '46-'51: the Post War Era--baby boom, consumer goods and housing in short supply. '52-'63: "The Fifties", the "Fab-u-luxe Age"--tail fins, massive consumption, rock and roll, shadow of nuclear destruction, JFK. Started to peter out with Cuban missile crisis. Ended November 22, 1963 '63-'72: "The Sixties", civil rights, the British Invasion, Women's Lib., Viet Nam, student riots, Stonewall Riot, M.L. King and RFK assassinations, Chicago convention, Nixon, war winds down. '73-?: Beyond here lies Disco, gay rights, bad presidents, trickle down, AIDS, Iran, energy crisis, limited wars, cell phones, the Internet and Shorpy. Positive IDI graduated a few years later at LCM and recognize about 14 of the people, all boys by the way, as some of those were the ones you had to look out for. Do you remember all the names to go with the faces here? Too Cool for SchoolPlease let us know (if you know) what happened to the dude sitting next to you on the right. I bet he wound up in juvy. Front row guyI wonder what happened to the James Dean guy in the front row. He had an obvious magnetism and confidence that the other boys seem to be lacking. More than 10 years to the SixtiesHaving graduated from 8th grade in the same year, I would say that the 60s began in 1955 with Rosa Parks in the front of the bus and with the trial and ended with the sentencing of Patty Hearst in 1976. For me, just starting to open my eyes to the world, the Sixties began with the Civil Rights movement, JFK, and the Space Race. In between there was Vietnam, the draft and the anti-war movement; the assassinations (JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcom X); the Summer of Love, Woodstock, and the rest of the drugs, sex, and rock & roll scene; and all the societal and personal changes, large and small, that we remember in different ways. It ended with Altamont, Kent State, Manson, Nixon and the Symbionese Liberation Army. A long, strange trip indeed. I'm glad I was on the ride. The girl by the teacherShe is not only seriously cute, but that direct gaze, as if she's looking right at ME, indicates she really knows who she is (as someone else pointed out). That, and she's quite a flirt. Alpha Male spottedBack row, between Buddy Holly and Susan Boyle. An ath-uh-lete. Those are some seriously huge looking trees in back. Redwoods? Casual Friday?I was in public school 8th grade in 1964, my first experience with "real clothes" after parochial school. I am amazed at the attire in this photo. In the front row alone I spy sneakers, rolled-up pants, and dungarees. All would have been verboten in our school. There's also the glaring absence of shoe polish. The gals, though, all appear demurely and appropriately dressed. Could this have been "class day" or some other occasion calling for "dress-down" attire? BTW, the gal at the top right is hottimus maximus! My wife posed in front of these redwood trees.And she did it many times through her school years. She also remembers Mr. G, the teacher in this photo. Seemingly fondly. Some of these guys look familiar to me. My sister was this age, and ended up going to Redwood High School with most of this crowd. I think she even went out with the guy in the second row from the top, two over from the teacher. I'm pretty sure he was kind of a baseball hero in high school. Some of these lads look like the kind of guys you'd have to avoid if you were younger like I was. There was a pretty good pecking order that went on back then between age groups. And if you were from out of town, then you were in real trouble. I was from the next town over, but would head to Larkspur to run amok in the abandoned houses along the Corte Madera Creek. Dangerous and fun. No real teasing quite yet... of the girls' hair, that is. In a couple of years those natural looking bobs would be teased and sprayed into larger than life beehives and bouffants. By 1962 I am doing just that and seeking great heights of unnatural hair that looked just like the styles in Hairspray. Although my sixth grade year of 63-64 was certainly pivotal between Dallas and the Beatles, the 60s started for me in 1962, when hair was hard to the touch, shoes were very pointy, and boys that looked like the Danny Zuko lookalike in the front row would have been the object of my desire. That day in Dealey PlazaDefinitely the 60s started that Dallas afternoon on November 22nd 1963 Fan ClubOh tterrace....you need to have a fan club! And I want to be your president! Your photos make my day, Daddy-o! Bye, Bye Miss American Pie!I’ve been wrestling with what I could ad to these observations. I’ve decided that Don McLean knew what he was talking about when he sang about “The Day The Music died.” That did seem like the day of transition to me. Before, it was the optimistically innocent time of early rock ‘n roll, Davy Crockett and Annette Funicello. Afterwards came the threat of nuclear war, the Beatles & Stones and the threat of being drafted. The onset of darkness seemed overwhelming as our high school years commenced. Most of us got through it. People from The Edge of the 60sI met up with a number of them at the 40th reunion of the Redwood High class of 1964 and learned that the gal next to our teacher Mr. G. is, I'm afraid, one of the ones no longer with us. The fellow in the second row from the top, second from left was indeed an athletic-type guy, but it was his older brother who became a tennis pro of some note. This wasn't a "casual Friday" or any other kind of special-clothing day. This is pretty much how we all looked day-in, day-out. CreepyThat is how I feel whenever the adult male visitors on Shorpy make comments about the physical appearance of underage girls in the pictures....even if the pics are decades old ... it is just creepy. [There is definitely one creepy comment here -- yours. Ick! - Dave] Why so few girls?Was there a Catholic girls school nearby and thus the out of whack boy-girl ratio? I am about this age and this looks a lot like one of my Indiana school pictures of the time. Socks that always fell down. Checked shirts. Buzz (butch), flat top cut or Brylcreem. Jeans with a cuff. Always a white T-shirt under your shirt. Girls more mature so they were always going out with guys 2 years older. Thin and NowOne notable difference between your class picture and one of a current 8th grade class is the lack of fat kids! Everywhere schoolYou guys are youngsters. That year, 1959-60, was my first as a teacher. Every kid in the photo reminds me of one I taught. When in a group, mob psychology seems to rule, and these kids, especially the boys, could give any teacher problems. But in one-on-one situations, you would probably enjoy getting to know any of them. One of the best things about kids is that most of them eventually grow up! If you replaced all the girls in the photo... with iPods, this would look like a pack of present-day Brooklyn hipsters. Creepy?Hardly -- I look at this photo, and I feel part heartbreak, part bittersweet nostalgia. I see tterrace and his friends, and I see myself and MY classmates*, now scattered to the winds. This is a reminder of lost opportunities, a reminder of the futures we saw for ourselves -- mayhap, realized, more likely not -- and above all, a reminder of the fleet passing of our lives. Still, it's nice to remember what we were, and not try to force ourselves into the shorthand of decade-sized boxes. *Admittedly, some of us were smitten with other classmates. Remembering those early crushes -- and that's what has been commented on -- is part of who we were and are. Something in the WaterI distinctly remember my eighth grade class & none of the girls looked like this. 3/4 of these girls here look like 25-year-old women. It's a strange phenomenon. The beautiful girl sitting on the far right has a timeless look but definitely exemplifies wholesome fifties beauty to me; the dark girl with the sweater sitting in the middle looks four years ahead of her time, like she should be dancing to Spector records. Biology is strangeCan't help but notice - with this photo as well as my own grade eight class photo, taken 17 years later - the disparity between the girls and boys. Some of the boys look like seniors in high school already, while some - the line sitting in the front - could be in grade 5 or 6. The girls, on the other hand, look around the same age, and far more mature than kids just a summer away from high school. They do, as someone said earlier, seem like 25-year-old women. The same strange phenomenon is present in my own grade school grad class photo, shot in 1977. The stretch between 10 and 14 really is a biological roller coaster for boys in a way that girls seem to have been spared. I would love an explanation for that. The 60s started, for me, in the early spring of 1965, when I was 10 years old. My dad, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, California, came home from work and said that he had to get on board ship in a few days. He said he didn't know where he was going or when he would be back. We went down to the dock and waved goodbye and he said, "I'll see you by Christmas." I am sure he really knew where he was going, but couldn't say. He did come back, thankfully, 13 months later. I don't think I had a single waking moment, over the rest of the decade, that I was not conscious of the Vietnam War. I guess when the 60s started depends on what about the 60s you are thinking of. If it is civil rights, then I agree that it started even before 1960. If you are thinking of the hippie culture, campus demonstrations, etc., then I say it started in 1965. There were certainly all ready things, like the JFK assassination and the arrival of the Beatles, that had kind of paved the way, though. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, Kids, tterrapix)
Powder Monkey: 1865
... monkey by gun of U.S.S. New Hampshire , Federal depot ship off Charleston, South Carolina." Wet plate glass negative. View full ... to facilitate washing down decks shows that on a depot ship the gun was mainly a decorative object. I wonder if they ever had live ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:17pm -

Circa 1864-65. "Powder monkey by gun of U.S.S. New Hampshire, Federal depot ship off Charleston, South Carolina." Wet plate glass negative. View full size. Faster than a speeding bulletThese young boys or teens were part of the military in the age of sail. They were chosen for their speed and earned little more than a cot and food. Old for his ageHe's probably 12, but looks 30. Boarding axeNote the boarding axe fitted into a bracket on the cheek of the gun carriage. Boarding axes found their main use on sailing vessels in chopping through fallen rigging to help clear the decks. Normally they were worn in axe holsters on the belts of sailors. I have seen this picture many times, but this is the first time I have noticed the boarding axe in that bracket. Shorpy of the Age of SailThis cocky kid, is, in his way, not unlike Shorpy -- a youngster working in an adult world sharing the same dangers as the grownups. CutlassesThose cutlasses on the bulkhead were not there for decoration. En garde!Is that a selection of swords ready for action on the wall behind the boy? Even for 1865, they seem like relics of the past. The Good Old DaysWhen ships were made of wood and men made of steel. Monster GunI noticed how big the gun is and also that there didn't seem to be a rear wheel on the carriage (although it's possible it was concealed behind the boy's legs). So I looked up New Hampshire in the official "Dictionary of American Navy Fighting Ships ("DANFS") and found some neat details: "The 9-inch [Dahlgren] broadside guns were mounted on the two-wheel Marsilly carriage rather than the four-wheel common carriage...." and also the shells weighed over 72 pounds! The boy must not only have been quick on his feet but also have been strong as a horse. The absence of scoring on the deck from the non-wheeled carriage, and the fact that the breechings and gun tackles are tied up out of the way of the holystone party to facilitate washing down decks shows that on a depot ship the gun was mainly a decorative object. I wonder if they ever had live fire drills or if they just practiced running the guns in and out? Our hero probably kept the elevating screw clean and well oiled in addition to his ammunition supply duties. New Hampshire, a 2600 ton ship of the line authorized way back in 1816 and kept under construction as a means of preservation until the Civil War, was armed only with four 100-pounders and six 9-inch Dahlgrens. Designed for a traditional battery of 74 guns, she was a sister of the USS North Carolina, probably our best ship of the line of the age of sail, according to Chapelle's "American Sailing Navy." Bag O' ShotLooks like a load of grape shot at the ready on the upper deck above the touch hole of the gun. Somewhere in AppalachiaA worried mother sewed that heart and border on what appears not to be a uniform top, and sent it off to her little man, far away from home, hoping that the top would help keep him warm and the heart would remind him that she loved and missed him. Pleasant SurpriseAt first glance I thought this to be a later photograph as it doesn't have the "look" of most Civil War era photos shown here. This is quite a piece of work in my opinion. And that young man.... and man he is .... is timeless. Wonderful. Jaunty and jadedLooks like he's thinking, "Okay, take your picture then move along." But the rakish angle of his tam and the heart embroidered on his chest belie his tough-guy swagger! I imagine he'd seen a lot for one so young. I "heart" his shirtSuch sweet embroidery. A going-away gift from Mama? C'est magnifique, mais ce n'est pas la guerreA proud and handsome ship the USS Hampshire may have been but sadly in 1865 she was obsolescent. In 1859 France had built the first ironclad of the modern age, the La Gloire. By 1865 the major nations of the world were building ironclad screw or steamships as fast as they could. He looks confidentand well fed. Brave lad! Old CutlassThe cutlass was an official weapon in United States Navy stores until 1949. The last new model was the Model 1917 which is a popular collector's item. USN cutlasses made during World War II were the Model 1941, but they were only a slightly modified M 1917. In the Korean War, a Marine NCO was reported to have killed an enemy with a cutlass at Inchon. The Recruit Chief Petty Officer for each division at US Navy Recruit Training Command is still issued a cutlass. Change is slow in the NavyMany have mentioned the cutlasses, and other items as being dated for 1865, but they remained until after the Spanish American war of 1898. Hundreds of years at sea of crews having to repel boarders was well ingrained in any navy, and as steam and steel slowly developed over the years few things where given up on. Sails lasted for many decades after the advent of steam. Change was not only dragged down by traditions, but budgets as well, and also the new technologies were prone to constant breakdowns. Sailors could sew Back in those days sailors would embroider their uniforms themselves. You were considered salty if you had embroidery on your uniform and had it tailored just right. I am guessing he has a heart on his jumper top because he is BRAVE!!! Most sailors could sew, if not for the simple fact that they had to repair the sails and their own uniforms. If you get a chance read "My Twenty Years in the Navy" from the Naval Institute Press. Parrott RifleThe cannon in the picture is a Parrott rifle. A Dahlgren gun looked more like a Coke bottle. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Civil War, Kids)
Sick Bay: 1898
... plate it would appear that this was at one point the ship's paint locker. This compartment was most likely used as overflow capacity ... lanterns? It appears that this is in the bow of the ship, so those guys would have had a bouncy ride. Good thing they are armored ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 12:53pm -

Aboard the cruiser U.S.S. Brooklyn circa 1898. "Sick bay." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Paint LockerBased on the identification plate it would appear that this was at one point the ship's paint locker. This compartment was most likely used as overflow capacity for the normal sickbay. Morning Aftera rough night at the Enlisted Men's Club. The MO prepares a carefully calibrated dose of the Hair of the Dog. Can't kid a kidderSome of these guys fake it so they can have a turn in the great hammock. Kinda darkAside from the powerful light the photographer used, I don't see any lighting fixtures in there. Portable lanterns? It appears that this is in the bow of the ship, so those guys would have had a bouncy ride. Good thing they are armored in those fancy and sturdy sick bay bunks. On the right the patient is being offered something in a filthy cup, but he already has a filthy cup. And a filthy blanket to go with it. Where did they do the amputations? In that chair? Ah, the romance of the sea. Canvas coffinsYipes -- I don't like the looks of those sickbay beds. Looks like it would be way too easy to carry them up on the deck for a quick burial at sea! Ouch!I wonder what happened to the hand on the poor man holding the cup. It seems to work but boy oh boy is it 10 times bigger than normal. Poor seated guy on the left!That guy looks like he's been rode hard and put away wet. But mostly, I'm fascinated by all the mustaches. Isn't facial hair no-go in today's Navy? But these guys are elegant! LocationBeing an astute marine aficianado, I surmise the location of the sick bay is in the pointy-end of the ship. Forward CompartmentBased on the curvature of the bulkhead, the sick bay was located very near the bow of the ship. A safe distance from the engines and ammo lockers, but hardly the most comfortable ride when the ship is underway. On the mustachesLooking at all these naval photos, I have come to surmise that the only ones to have facial hair are the NCOs otherwise known as POs or petty officers. Mustaches seem to be a badge of the petty officers, and they seem to wear them proudly, and I have seen few POs without a stache. Join the Navy!But best not to get sick, really. It's not easy being greenI am feeling queasy just imagining those hammocks swaying every time they hit a swell. Back and forth ... back and forth ... back and forth. If I wasn't feeling sick before going to sick bay, I would after five minutes in there. PerplexedWhy in the world would you put sick people in a hanging swing on a weaving boat?? HammocksHammocks were the standard sleeping arrangement for enlisted personnel in most navies until well after World War II. The British and Canadian Navies didn't give it up until the 1950s. The US Navy seems to hav largely given them up by the start of World War II if not earlier. Supposedly a naval hammock is better than a bunk because it sort of enveloped you like a cocoon. The most obvious advantage was that in a swell the ship may be rocking but the sleepers were stable. Some even claim that they're safer than bunks on the grounds that if a ship rolls far enough or hard enough someone in a bunk could get tossed out or otherwise injured. The HammocksIt does seem odd to put sick bay in the bow where you're going to get the roughest ride, but the suspended hammocks would soften things. Rough seas would produce swinging, not jolting, and you'd never be thrown out of a bunk. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Medicine)
Mass. Mess: 1900
... it didn't have weevils in it. My dad spent time aboard ship in the 1940s and said the bread often had weevils in it, but they ate it ... eat. "Toast" That looks like a piece of ship's biscuit, or hardtack. One may wonder why he's displaying it so proudly. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/09/2012 - 6:46pm -

Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Massachusetts crew at mess." Watermelon -- yay! 8x10 inch glass negative by Edward H. Hart, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Mustache?Are mustaches a requirement for sailors at the turn of the century? All of the men in the front seem to have them. Hats Off to You!Is the hat in the top foreground hanging there, or was it thrown there, or (I hope) was the sailor was so surprised by the flash that it flew there?!? These sailors would faintif they could have a meal on board any of today's US Navy vessels. re: ToastLooks like he is holding up a piece of hardtack, a staple of the navy going back to the Revolution. Simply a hard biscuit made of flour and water (Civil War soldiers called them Army Bread, wormcastles (because when they got moist they would get infested with insects) and tooth-breakers) You can buy some here from a company that's made it since 1801: http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/store.html MarkTwo thoughts; that is a lot of asbestos, and the sailors of 100 years ago were a lot older than today's lot. Comments add so much!I love the discussions of things like this. The input from others, added to the information in the photo, teaches and gives us so much more of a feel for the experiences of people who lived before we were born. As far as the bread, it may well be hardtack but I hope, for the sake of the men, that it was toast! I've seen Andrew Zimmern eat a salad made with hard-tack that didn't look too bad, but it was soaked for a long time and had lots of things added to it. Just a plain piece of it would have fallen in the category of things one only eats to keep his belly from growling. Those older sailors, who had probably had some teeth pulled by that time, must have had an especially hard time eating it! William Christen, I love your pictures! Maybe he wanted some jamThe dark-skinned diner over the standing-in-front-guy's right shoulder is holding up what appears to be a piece of toast. Curious. Comments?Were the comments intentionally removed from the bottom of the full-sized image, or is my browser acting up again? If it was intentional, let me go on record as disliking it. I now have to click two places and toggle back and forth to see both. Yuck! [Click on the full-size image to see the comments. - Dave] Toast and JamEndless Summer has better eyes than I do! On the blow up, it certainly does look like a piece of toast. I hope it didn't have weevils in it. My dad spent time aboard ship in the 1940s and said the bread often had weevils in it, but they ate it anyway. They couldn't keep it out of the flour, and it added protein. It looks like maybe this kind of toaster was used. It is a non-electric model, so I assume they heated it on a stove top. My first thoughtWow, dozens of men in a small steel room surrounded by machinery. That must have been LOUD in there. Then I realized that this was taken long before deodorant was commonly used and it must have been RANK in there! All those hooksI'm wondering if this area was also the crew's bunk space as well as mess. By the looks of them (each numbered, by the way) I'd think each hook would be a place to hang a hammock, or one half of the hammock, anyway. Maybe also a convenient place to hang a hat while having a bite to eat. "Toast"That looks like a piece of ship's biscuit, or hardtack. One may wonder why he's displaying it so proudly. The name is Bond, James BondThe guy second from the left with the pipe behind him is the spittin image of Sean Connery Smellin' Like a Rose.Dear Truck5man, Precisely because all those men lived in such intimate surroundings, hygiene was, and still is, an item of pride in the U.S. Navy. The only RANK here was denoted by uniform markings. Any sailor who got sloppy about his cleanliness would probably be given an involuntary scrub-down, fore and aft, by his shipmates with a stiff brush and lye soap. The only exception was a pre-nuke, pre-diesel ship at sea. If water could not be distilled fast enough, the priority was always drinking water first, boiler water second and bath water a distant third. Of course there was always sea-water and a bucket. Re: Comments?I was originally as disconcerted by the new format as was Edvado, but now I'm clicking on the small picture to see the comments and when I get to the top I click on the small picture again to see the full size picture. It's not as comfortable as before, but it works. Thanks Dave for the continuing good work! Format ChangeWhat works for me is center-clicking on the small image to open up comments in a second tab, then center-clicking the small image in the second tab to get the full size image on a third tab. Then it's just a matter of switching tabs to view details or read comments about the image. I didn't like it at first, but being able to read comments and look at details without having to scroll up and down from one to the other is an improvement. I suppose we could do that before, but with the comments included under the full sized image it never occurred to me to try. In 1917In 1917 grandfather was a Chief Commissary Steward on the USS Indiana, a sister ship of the USS Massachusetts. These two ships and the third in the class, The USS Oregon also seen in the past on Shorpy) I am sure the fare was the same--perhaps no hardtack. Some of the faces might have younger as the Navy had a maximum age limit by then First image: Cooks and bakers on the USS Indiana (1917). Second image: food prep in the USS Indiana galley. Watermelon ??Spent three years aboard ship in the Navy back in the 60's. Never ever did I see a watermelon cross our mess deck! Apples and citrus fruits galore but no watermelon. Still not as good. I agree with Edvado. The old system was better. One click to see the full size photo AND the comments, and more importantly, one click to get back to the front page. Now it takes two clicks each way and it's easy to get lost so it takes several clicks to get untangled. The full size photos do load faster however. [Actually there's less clicking now, if you count scrolling as clicking. - Dave] On a Macbook or other Apple products, two fingers stroking the screen or pad scroll you around with no clicks at all. This was much nicer on the old scheme. Mess Misc.Compared to today's Navy, these fellows look so old but there obviously were many more lifers then...old tars. The sailors on the left side of the photo look like they're still waiting for their food while the other guys are digging in. Not Rank There      Side note to "Truck5man" and "codebasher" in the Navy the officers have rank and enlisted men have ratings.      Now hear this! Stand down, turn to and make your Groucho Marx type jokes about rank officers. The old NavyBare feet on the mess deck is not allowed, but there they are. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, E.H. Hart)
Marblehead Marinara: 1906
... a treat on this beautiful day. In December of 1907 this ship will set sail as a part of Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/22/2023 - 1:21pm -

Circa 1906. "Glimpse of harbor. Marblehead, Massachusetts." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Still very scenicThis is the view today. The terrain matches and the private boat dock at right is in the same place. If you look behind you, you'll see the Eastern Yacht Club. It looks like it was there in 1906. Idyllic with an asteriskMarblehead today is a lovely destination for an afternoon, with (in its own words) "quaint narrow streets and historic 17th and 18th century buildings [that] mirror Marblehead as it has existed since its founding in 1629." Also, not surprisingly, one of the wealthiest places in our second richest state. Its historic industries of commercial fishing, shoemaking, and aircraft manufacture have been replaced by yacht clubs and tourism. After World War II it became a bedroom community, and by 1970 was "built out." Though its website emphasizes diversity, its population of 20,000 is more than 95% white, with a median household income over $150,000 and a poverty level below 3%. It's one kind of American story. Maine Class BattleshipThe US Navy warship on the far right (partly obscured) looks to be a Maine class battleship, probably the Maine herself (BB10) (the second one, not the one that exploded in Havana in 1898) or perhaps the Missouri (BB11). Either way, she is resplendent in her peace time colors of buff and white and must have looked a treat on this beautiful day. In December of 1907 this ship will set sail as a part of Teddy Roosevelt's Great White Fleet. Spaghetti Sauce Slip?Are we sailing or having tagliatelle? [Marinara is Italian for "seafaring." In a pasta context, "sailor-style." - Dave] Marina is already Italian (and English) for marina. Maybe not so idyllicLurking far away in the extreme right center, there appears to a large steamship with three funnels and fore and aft tower structures. In 1906 the most likely suspect of that configuration (especially considering the area) would be the USS Connecticut (BB-18) Pre-Dreadnought Class Battleship. Georges SeuratIt immediately suggests "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte," probably because of the trees and the shade. Tree Of KnowledgeI need the learned Shorpy family to educate me about what the seemingly cloth bands around the trees are. I have never seen anything like that before. Thanks in advance. [Traps for the larval stage of the gypsy moth, which first arrived in the United States in Massachusetts in 1869. - Dave] Thanks so much Dave. Never too old to learn something new! Postcard KodakIt looks like the fellow on the left may be holding one of the recently introduced "Postcard Kodak" cameras. The format allowed printing your photos in the dimensions of the extremely popular postcards. Burlap WrapsAlso found in this photo. https://www.shorpy.com/node/14800 MemoriesMy mom was born in Marblehead and I spent many summers there. The picture is from the "Neck." We used to love to visit the castle that was on the seaside of the peninsula. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC)
D-Day: New York
... onto landing craft, not hovercraft, like the LST (landing ship tank) or smaller versions like the LCU (landing craft utility), which were ... Memories are funny sometimes My father was on a supply ship in the English Channel on D Day, lowering tanks into hovercraft that were ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/06/2013 - 10:25am -

New York, June 6, 1944. ALLIED ARMIES LAND ON COAST OF FRANCE. GREAT INVASION OF CONTINENT BEGINS. "D-Day. Crowd watching the news line on the New York Times building at Times Square." Photo by Howard Hollem or Edward Meyer for the Office of War Information. View full size. Unidentified ObjectDoes anyone know what the curved metal object with letters on it is? It appears to be on top of a car on the right. [DeSoto "Sky View" taxicab sign. - Dave] Internet, 1944is what this could have been titled. The scrolling electric sign was as good as it got then, and I am sure those folks were fairly amazed to see it. I wonder what it took to program it? My great-uncle went in at D Day +60 (August 7) as a replacement in the 2nd Infantry Division (L Company, 23rd Infantry Regiment); he was seriously wounded at Brest, France, a month later, died in 1956...and I was named for him. That was never far from my mind when I served in Iraq in 2004 at the same age he was when he earned his Purple Heart and (I believe) a Bronze Star. To all those who went in on D-Day...and throughout WWII, I stand and salute. So what about that moving sign?According to various sources the NY Times installed the first moving "news ticker" in 1928, using 14,800 electric bulbs. Given the technology of the day, I can only guess that each bulb required a relay, which would have to click on and off almost instantly to momentarily light its bulb, as the text scrolls along. This must have been a maintenance challenge (there seems to be a few extra bulbs lit, and some brighter ones that may just have been replaced). They may have used or even invented the "matrix" technique still used today for LCD displays, which uses "crosspoint" wiring to greatly reduce the number of lines going from the elements to the control system, but my mind still boggles at the number of wires remaining, and what kind of electro-mechanical system translated "operator input" to the streaming text. If only Shorpy's world-wide readership included a retired electro-mechanical sign technician! Just the technology of the news line was something...Before zooming in to see the image full size, on first glance the guy on the left and the guy 2nd from the right were in a posture not to different than someone holding a cellphone to the ear. Of course it's clear they were dragging on fags, sucking on coffin nails, drawing down on Pall Malls while taking in the portentous news. As someone not born until 12 years after the war was over - I am fascinated by what day to day life in the US was like, mobilized for war. Of course I grew up knowing it was a success, but at that very moment, who knew how this was going to work out - the intensity of the moment, even for folks in the street in Times Square, must have been incredible. Pausing to rememberMy brother landed D-Day plus 12 and my uncle D-Day plus 20. They were lucky, I guess, and returned to us to live out long lives. Great photo. Really profound. 6-6-44Yet to be born, a twinkle in my father's eye as he dropped from the sky into Caen with the Canadians early that morning. RIP Dad. 23,740 days later Kind of Gladwe can't see many faces in the crowd. We'd have to start wondering what they were thinking -- Is my son there? My dad? My husband? My brother? Funny but I cannot summon up any memory of D-Day. VE and VJ Days, and the dropping of the two A-bombs are sharp and clear, but not D-Day. I think perhaps that it might relate to what happened in early May. I was out riding my trike when a Western Union messenger rode up on his bike and went into the three-family apartment in which I lived. I heard a terrible scream through the open windows of the first-floor unit. All the neighbors (women since the men were in the military or working) flocked to the apartment with screams continuing for some time. I learned that the woman's son had been killed in action. I did not totally understand the horror, but I was sad because the young man had been very nice to the punk kid airplane nut from the third floor, even letting me hold his model planes. The first-floor family were an elderly couple, with the one child, who had become a fighter pilot in the Pacific. The husband walked with heavy braces and crutches, and, as I later learned, they just quit and gave up life. They moved within days and we never heard from them again. I think that I was in a bit of a void for a while. Walking to churchOn January 6, 1944, I was 6 years old in Fort Smith, Arkansas, part of a young generation which at the time had no knowledge of a condition known as peace. On that day, my mother received a phone call from a fellow church member who was calling everyone in the congregation to say that the invasion was under way. This was the signal to come to the church to pray. Our family; mother, father and two boys walked to the church to pray for the safety and success of our "American Boys" on that day. DeSoto Sky ViewThose great old DeSoto cabs had a sliding roof panel to let passengers see the views above them while being carried through the Manhattan canyons. The skyscraper with the clock housed the Paramount Theatre, a wonderful place to visit for a movie and a live stage show. I saw Phil Spitalny and his "All-Girl Orchestra featuring Evelyn and her Magic Violin" there with my family. The movie was "Miss Susie Slagle's," starring Veronica Lake and Sonny Tufts. Bright Lights, Big SignRadio CoverageThe National Archives in College Park, Maryland has recordings of the entire NBC and CBS broadcast day from D-Day and anyone can go in and listen to them. It's a very good way to get a sense of what the day was like for people at home listening on the radio as events unfolded. News ZipperFrom a 2005 NYT article on the Zipper: The Motograph News Bulletin, to use its original formal name, began operation on Nov. 6, 1928, election night, as a band of 14,800 light bulbs that extended 380 feet long and 5 feet high around the fourth floor of what was then the Times Tower. It was installed for The New York Times by Frank C. Reilly, according to an article in The Times, which identified Mr. Reilly as the inventor of electric signs with moving letters. Inside the control room, three cables poured energy into transformers. The hookup to all the bulbs totaled 88,000 soldered connections. Messages from a ticker came to a desk beside a cabinet like the case that contained type used by old-time compositors. The cabinet contained thin slabs called letter elements. An operator composed the message, letter by letter, in a frame. The frame, when filled with the letters and spaces that spelled out a news item, was inserted in a magazine at one end of a track. A chain conveyor moved the track, and each letter in the frame brushed a number of electrical contacts. Each contact set a light flashing on Broadway. There were more than 39,000 brushes, which had to undergo maintenance each month. The frame with the letter elements passed up and overhead, forming an endless circuit. Mr. Reilly calculated that there were 261,925,664 flashes an hour. D-DayJune 6, 1944, I was 16 years old and in Basic Training with the the US Maritime Service at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Many of us teenagers had close relatives in the military and wished we were there with them to fight the Axis. A month later, I was in a North Atlantic convoy assigned to a 20 mm anti-aircraft gun hoping that a Nazi plane would dare to fly over. "I'd show 'em." Of course I didn't tell this to my shipmates. skyview cabI believe this is the light-up sign on top of the Sky-View Cab Company. It looks like neon. I was watching an old movie from the forties (?) on TCM and I noticed these cabs. They had a sunroof cut into the roof of the cab so the passengers in the back seat could look up and see the buildings. I can't remember the movie, but the plot involved the passenger looking up and seeing something relevant to the story line. It must have been a gimmick for the cab company. It also must have been one of the early sunroofs in a car! More SkyviewThe Skyview NYC Taxicab that the tipster may have seen on TCM was in the musical "Anchors Aweigh". The scene where Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly are Standing up and looking out at the city in Betty Garrett's Skyview cab. Those DeSoto Skyview Cabs were sold exclusively through James Waters Chrysler Agency in Long Island City, Queens. The price for a new one was about $1100. I once heard a story that he was Walter Chrysler's Son-in-Law but I can't confirm it. The Skyview cabs were all over the placewhen I lived in NYC from 1941 - 44. They were stretched DeSotos with a couple of fold-up seats and the roof had glass so that one could see the tall buildings. There was also a radio built into the armrest on the right. The driver turned it on and the passenger controlled the rest. I had many rides in those cabs. Hovercraft at D-Day@sjack: I don't mean to rain on your parade, and I certainly don't wish to denigrate the memory of your father and his courageous service to our nation in World War II, but I'm quite sure he didn't lower tanks onto hovercraft for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. The US Army did not make use of hovercraft until Viet Nam, and then it was only on an experimental basis. As your comment is titled, memories are funny sometimes. Perhaps your dad talked about loading tanks onto landing craft, not hovercraft, like the LST (landing ship tank) or smaller versions like the LCU (landing craft utility), which were flat-hulled vessels that could approach fairly close to the beach and lower a ramp on the bow, allowing troops and vehicles to exit. The Bronx is up but the Battery's down"New York, New York, A Helluva Town" was sung in the Broadway "On the Town" but for the film changed to "New York, New York, A Wonderful Town" because of those archaic Hollywood codes at that time. Los Angeles may have our Dodgers but they don't have our songs or our Skyview Cabs. RememberingDuring my early teen's in the 1950's I was invited along on several fishing trips with 3 WWII veterans. One had been an Army Ranger, one a sailor who had been on the Murmansk Run, and the third a paratrooper. You can imagine the banter among those guys. The Ranger was in the D-Day invasion and had been wounded in the buttocks. The Navy vet always asked him how he could have sustained that injury advancing from the beach. Curiously, the paratrooper never spoke any particulars of his service. They're gone now, but I remember them being nice to this kid. Thanks guys. UnawareJune 6, 1944 - I was happily gestating in my mother's womb and would be born during the Battle of the Bulge (no relation to mom's condition). My dad, drafted in 1940 into the 7th Cavalry (yes, Custer's old outfit) had been converted into armor and was preparing to sail overseas to a place called Leyte Gulf in the Philippines where he would be wounded and spend the rest of the war, plus another year, in Letterman Hospital in S.F. Until his death in 1996 he could remember most of his company's buddies names and the names of their horses. More on radio coverageThe NBC and CBS D-Day broadcasts are available at the Internet Archive. NBC: http://archive.org/details/NBCCompleteBroadcastDDay CBS: http://archive.org/details/Complete_Broadcast_Day_D-Day That woundHow your Ranger probably caught that one: We were taught in training that buttocks wounds were very common; moving forward under fire without decent cover, one crawls. It is most difficult to accomplish this without making your buttocks the highest point of your body! Let us never forget the men of D-Day.An awful lot of them gave up their tomorrows so we could enjoy our todays. 'On The Town'Is the movie 'Mr. Mel' is thinking of; 'Anchors Aweigh' is set in Hollywood. Right Stars, wrong movie. 'Lest We Forget'A line from Ford's 'She wore a Yellow Ribbon' that fits this day so well. Odd TriviaThere are a couple of boats trading on the Great Lakes today that were at the Normandy invasion. One still carries the battle ribbons with stars on her bridge wings. One other point is that the Times building was of very attractive design before it was covered up with billboards. Communiqué No. 1I followed the NBC link provided by hlupak604 and listened to some of the radio coverage and heard, more than once, the short text of Communiqué No. 1 from Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force, which appears to form the basis for the scrolling text on the news zipper. It runs as follows: "Under the command of General Eisenhower, allied naval forces, supported by strong air forces, began landing allied armies this morning on the northern coast of France." Thanks! Uncle SamMy uncle Sam (no pun intended) landed at Omaha Beach, and immediately sustained an injury to his head. He was fitted with a metal plate to replace the part of his skull that he lost. Needless to say, his fighting days were over. However, he went on to be become an accomplished auto mechanic. Family, friends, and neighbors all asked him for automotive advice. He passed away last year at the age of 90. Thanks, Uncle Sam! - because of your sacrifices, I am free today to write this. Yeah, I remember.Although we didn't know it at the time, my brother was in the sand of Utah Beach just then. He survived the war. I remember vividly the headlines in The Detroit Times that afternoon, "WE WIN BEACHES". Due to the time difference, of course, there was plenty of fresh news of the invasion in the afternoon paper. I've been a news junkie since. May we never forgethow brave these men were. My uncle fought in Okinawa in 1945, unfortunately he never made it out alive. I still have the last letter he wrote to his "beloved mama", what a sweet soul he was. Bless them one and all. Memories are funny sometimesMy father was on a supply ship in the English Channel on D Day, lowering tanks into hovercraft that were being sent to French beach heads. Many, many, times I tried to discuss his experiences that day but he never really had much to say. He said that on D Day he was "on the water" (in the Channel) and they were pretty much working constantly getting the tanks loaded and shipped. They slept whenever they could he said. He landed at Utah beach (but didn't say when) and moved up the coast doing whatever was asked (he was in a supply unit) until he got to Belgium. And that was pretty much all I got out of him. His shared memories of the battle of the Bulge were even more meager ("it was very cold"). I'm jealous of people whose fathers discussed their war experiences; mine just didn't seem to want to share. Cold for JuneI realize most people dressed up in public back then, but most of the women in the photo are wearing overcoats. It must have been cold in New York that June day in 1944. Hovercraft tanks, sort ofOne of many unique innovations for the D Day invasion was the "Duplex Drive" tank, essentially a standard Sherman tank which was fitted with an inflatable, collapsible canvas screen and twin screw props which would enable the tank to float like a boat and wade ashore. Unfortunately, the contraption worked best in calm water, something that was in short supply off the Normandy coast that day. I remember a buddy of mine whose dad had served with the US Navy at the invasion re-telling his dad's stories of the DD tanks being dropped off in deeper, rough water due to enemy fire and sinking like rocks. Fortunately enough of the tanks were able to make it on shore to provide badly needed armor support for the ground troops, and the tanks were deemed successful enough to serve in the invasion of Southern France two months later, as well as during numerous river crossing operations during the remainder of 1944 and 1945. Good article with photos of the tanks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DD_tank Full messageI believe the full message read: "ALLIES LAND ON NORTHERN COAST OF FRANCE UNDER STRONG AIR COVER" (The Gallery, Howard Hollem, NYC, WW2)
Old Philly: 1908
... from America to Europe and ballast was needed for ship stability on the trip from Europe to America. No idea how they were ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 10:12am -

Philadelphia circa 1908. "Delaware Avenue, foot of Market Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Employee/management issueMan and horse seem to disagree about something. The horse is probably not happy with his benefits package and 401K. Aside from the historical interest... this is just a fantastic composition. Lens Flares!OK - Did these guys pose or was the shutter speed that fast? Mad HatterI love how this horse has a straw hat on! Horse with a hat.I love the Horse with a hat. The guy in the buggy must had loved his horse. It's next to the Bassett Ice Cream wagon. What a priceless photo. You can lose yourself in this pictureI love these photos, lots to see. An ice cream wagon, a horse wearing a hat. A reluctant horse, borax soap and a huge box of corn flakes. And I'm just getting started. Paved overAll of this is torn down and paved over today. But you can find some interesting things on the history of the area. Pier 3 Condominiums, for example, has collected a lot of information about the old waterfront. Among the details is a reference to an elevated railway connecting to the Market Street Subway: "completed on Delaware Avenue from Arch to South Streets in 1908. This route was known as the Delaware Avenue El or the Ferry Line, since its stops served the various ferries to New Jersey. There were two stops, one at Market-Chestnut and one at South Street where the line stub-ended." This looks like the "stub end." Wait!Where's MY hat? Stones in the RoadWhat intrigues me the most about this and many other old photos is the cobblestone streets. There must have been billions of stones. Where were they produced? How long did it take to pave a given area? Pain In The AssThat fellow in the foreground seems to be having trouble motivating his mule. Mad HatterCheck out the horse with a straw hat on the bottom right hand corner. Doesn't look like protective gear but an actual straw hat with ear holes! Too cute. HorselesslessGee, not a horseless carriage in sight. FinallyA horse with a hat! Terrific vignette of a vibrant commercial centre. So much to see and enjoy. FrustrationI wouldn't know what would be worse, a stubborn car or a stubborn horse. What a great photo. How many horses?I lost count at 40! Breakfast TimeBoy, I feel like some Toasted Corn Flakes. If only they'd "fall off the back of a truck." Four-Legged DrivePerhaps the driver at the bottom center is having difficulty shifting his commercial vehicle from the "idle" position. Tags Adams Express Borax Soap Clyde Steamship Company Philadelphia, New York, Paris The Bassett Ice Cream Co., 504 Market St. Toasted Corn Flakes My Great Grandparents' WorldGreat image of the area where my great-grandparents lived and my grandfather was born (Chestnut and 5th in 1905). Thank you, Dave, for all the wonderful images of Philly. Tug a little harderLooks like ol' Bessie doesn't want to go! This is the best!I adore this photo! So much activity here and it is a visual feast. Thank you Dave. More please? Bassett's Ice CreamStill in business at (and one of the original merchants still in) the Reading Terminal Market. That Thar horsea pullin' that ice cream wagon is wearing a chapeau I wonder who wonthe man or the horse at the bootum of the picture. Just above that wagon is a horse with a nice chapeau. Horses do have hats!Personal pet dress up or some other reason? Only John WanamkerThe fanciest rig in the scene, drawn by a pair of white horses, is from Wanamaker's department store. No Philadelphian would have expected it to be otherwise. My grandfather drove deliveries for Lit Brothers, a good department store but a few rungs below Wanamaker's (Strawbridge & Clothier was also below Wanamaker but above Lits*). He bore the mark of a horse kick he sustained on the job for the rest of his life. *Gimbel's operated a store in Philadelphia but they were from New York, ninety-six rail miles from the center of everything, so they can't be properly placed within this spectrum. Stone AgeMan, that's a lot of paving stone! All of them laid by hand. What a backbreaking job! I'm guessing they just paved over them, as they did here in NYC. Laying Paving StonesI watched a guy laying paving stones by hand outside the main train station in Pisa, Italy in 1987. He would pick up a stone, put it into place, and set it with one hit from a mallet. Although he was laying a curved pattern he could set up about 1 stone every 4 to 5 seconds. It was amazing how fast he could lay them. A quick count shows there are about 3 x 7 stones in an area about 1 square yard (I counted the stones around the manhole cover which is probably about 36 inches across). The square is about 40 yards wide and say 600 yards long in the picture (I'm lousy at estimating distance, so pick your own numbers). That's 24,000 square yards or about 500,000 paving stones. At 12 stones/minute (my Italian guy) that's 70 man-days (10 hour days) to lay this many stones. So a team of 10 guys could do it in a week, if each had a helper to fetch stones. Of course you have to prepare the ground, haul the stones, etc. Still with less than 50 people it wouldn't take more than a summer to do. That's just a back of an envelope calculation, but it's not hard to see that in a city of this size, the labor to make it happen could easily be hired. CobblestonesShips from the New World crossed the Atlantic laden with goods for trade. Most ships required ballast when they made the return crossing because they didn't bring equal tonnage back with them. The off-loaded ballast stones became paving stones for Philadelphia's early streets. Disgruntled equineSaw the hat and wants one. Not moving till he gets one like his friend has. Stony BallastI grew up in Philadelphia and lived in the Frankford neighborhood when I went to college. I believe this elevated "stub" became part of the Frankford Elevated which was completed about 1925 and connects to the Market St subway. I rode the El everyday for several years. The cobbletones are said to have come from Europe as ballast in sailing ships. The primary cargo flow was natural resources from America to Europe and ballast was needed for ship stability on the trip from Europe to America. No idea how they were originally made. A lot of cobbletone areas remain in Phila, they serve to keep traffic speeds down. Shadow curveAs has been noted, the El originally terminated at the ferries to Camden, with the elevated track doing a 180 degree turn before going into the subway. This curve can be seen in shadow at image left. The track continues behind and left of the camera, terminating at South Street. This branch stayed in operation into the 1940s. Men in HatsNot just for horses. All the men are sporting a variety of hats from straw boaters to caps. I like the boater on the man to the right pushing a handcart. Harry Kyriakodis has a book on the Philadelphia waterfront full of interesting info. My ancestor had a sailmaking loft on Del Ave in the 1890s McGinnis & Fitzgerald. (The Gallery, DPC, Philadelphia, Railroads, Stores & Markets)
Sailing Tailors: 1896
Aboard the U.S.S. New York circa 1896. "Ship's tailor." The dog is Nick. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit ... men are not permitted to keep pets in barracks or aboard ship. Unit mascots are slso a thing of the past. I understand the ... Some atmosphere has been lost. Rates/Ranks The ship's tailor is a Boatswain's Mate 3rd class (BM3/E4 in today's Navy) and the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/25/2012 - 6:51pm -

Aboard the U.S.S. New York circa 1896. "Ship's tailor." The dog is Nick. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. You can sit where they satIf you are a certified diver and find yourself in Subic Bay. This incarnation of the USS New York (this is the 4th), is sitting in about 70 feet of water. Its a popular dive training location. No More PetsUnfortunately, modern military men are not permitted to keep pets in barracks or aboard ship. Unit mascots are slso a thing of the past. I understand the practicalities, but it's a shame. Some atmosphere has been lost. Rates/RanksThe ship's tailor is a Boatswain's Mate 3rd class (BM3/E4 in today's Navy) and the sailor leaning against the cannon is a Gunners Mate 2nd class (GMG2/E5 today). The other two with jumpers on are seamen (SN/E3 today). Don't know about the sailor on the right as he's obviously out of uniform. I do find it odd the sailor with the bosun's pipe in his pocket in only a seaman but has over four years in judging by the longevity stripe on his left sleeve. Maybe achieving rank was a bit harder back in those days. Mend thy selfThe tailor's shirt might need a little work. UnfairThe dog's name will be known forever (more or less) but the cat shall be ever nameless. Bedroom EyesThe two guys on the left look could charm the birds from the trees. His Master's VoiceI think Nick is not a real dog but a prototype of future Nippers. At last!A cat is welcomed to a Shorpy picture, instead of having to sneak in. Cat discriminationThe dog may be Nick, but who is the cat? They should have put that on the photo as well! [We know the dog's name because "Nick" is engraved on his collar. - Dave] And the catis toast. Man the sewing machines!Full speed ahead! I'm just going out for a momentAt least they didn't have to take the cat for walkies. Spoiled animalsThose are probably some of the best cared for animals in the history of pets! Look how fat the dog is. It's too bad that animals like that are not allowed today, for they would be great for morale. Pets or pest control?Don't forget that rats and other pests were problems on ships. These animals were probably pets, but their main function was doubtless pest control. Like most kittiesthis one is obviously NOT pleased at being forced to pose for the camera. Probably why the lack of kats captured for posterity on Shorpy. [Click the "cats" tag above the photo. - Dave] Here, Puss!Call a cat whatever you like but it still thinks it's called Puss. Brothers?I wonder if the two men closest to the dog are related. They look like brothers, perhaps even twins. Really UnfairI find it amusing that we know the name of the dog, and some of the commenters find it unfair that we don't know the cat's name, but nobody's mentioned that we don't know the names of the sailors. ArtilleryAnyone have an idea why an artillery piece mounted on an apparently land based gun carriage is sitting on a ship's deck? Looks a little big for a salute or signaling gun. Unit MascotsSome squadrons still have mascots. I've heard of Army units having a dog. My Squadron is the "Strikin' Snakes." We have a ball python named "Trouser." Dog's nameThis is my second attempt to correct the ID of the dog mascot. Last time I posted another photo of this mascot with his master and the dog's name was clearly written on the photo as "Mike." ["Nick" is on the collar of the dog in our photo. -tterrace] (The Gallery, Cats, Dogs, DPC)
Buffalo: 1905
... NORTH LAND, Launched in Cleveland. A Sister Ship to the NORTH WEST and Similar in Construction and Equipment. ... of America: "All that has been said of this fine ocean ship on the Great Lakes is not exaggerated." "North Land" operated between ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/20/2012 - 7:17pm -

Buffalo, New York, circa 1905. "Looking up Main Street. Steamer North Land at Long Wharf." 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Splendid New SteamshipBuffalo Enquirer. January 5, 1895 SAFELY LAUNCHED. The New Northern Steamship, NORTH LAND, Launched in Cleveland. A Sister Ship to the NORTH WEST and Similar in Construction and Equipment.         Cleveland Jan. 5. -- The splendid new steamship NORTH LAND was successfully launched at 2:30 this afternoon at the shipyards of the Globe Iron Works.         As the launching signal was given by Miss Gertrude Hanna, daughter of President M. H. Hanna, cheers went up from the thousands who had gathered to watch the great vessel slide into the water. The christening ceremony over this magnificent steel vessel, now the finest on the lakes, was performed by Mrs. F. P. Gordon, wife of the Assistant General Manager of the Northern Steamship Company. For the purpose a large platform had been built under the bow of the big vessel, and here the traditional bottle of wine was broken by Mrs. Gordon. The boat was launched sidewise, room being insufficient for a direct plunge.         The new vessel, which, both the Globe Company and the steamship people say is the finest that ever left these yards, dropped gracefully into the water amid repeated cheers of the crowd. The launching was carried out successfully, and now the Northern Steamship Company has two exclusive steel passenger steamboats, the best constructed and speediest vessels on the lakes.         The NORTH LAND is quite similar in beauty of design and in elegance of interior construction to the NORTH WEST. The Globe Company had the advantage of the experience gained in the building of the sister vessel, the NORTH WEST, and have made some improvements over what was last year supposed to be pretty nearly perfect in the way of construction. As one of the representatives of the steamship company said, the builder made improvements just as an architect is able to do when he builds a second house. He can learn to perfect his work after the first production. This experience has assisted the company in another way; it has enabled them to have the new steamer ready for launching 30 days earlier than last year.         This morning the Globe Iron Works were inspected by the officials of the Northern Steamship Company and the representatives of the Buffalo, Cleveland and Detroit newspapers, guests of the steamship company. At these works are built a great many vessels for lake traffic, and the facilities for the purpose are unexcelled. The works are among the largest industries in Cleveland, and employ a large number of men.         The NORTH LAND, which was launched today, is built of steel throughout, and its hull has been strengthened and subdivided through transverse and longitudinal bulkheads into numerous water-tight compartments. Strength and safety were as much requisites in building the vessel as are speed and comfort. The hull is of novel design, and is constructed around the shafts, giving as little resistance as possible, and also great strength.         In general the dimensions of the NORTH LAND is 383 feet over all, 360 feet between perpendiculars, the molded breadth is 44 feet, and depth 26 feet.         The interior arrangements of the boat are as fine as money and excellent taste can make them. Electricity is used in lighting, and one might fancy he was in the parlor of some elegant private residence on terra firma. Mahogany has been largely used in the wood work. I love the SteamerI admire the photo and I love the "North Land" at first sight. As i read about the steamer a little bit and I know she has an interesting story. The steamer was built in 1895 by (as we all see) the Northern Steamship Company. Mark Tawin wrote about her, whilst travelling on his own tour of America: "All that has been said of this fine ocean ship on the Great Lakes is not exaggerated." "North Land" operated between Chicago and Buffalo, from June through late September. In 1919 she was sold and cut into two pieces at Buffalo and was towed to Montreal, Quebec. Plans to convert and operate her as an ocean liner or troop ship never materialized. She lay in her dock until 1921, when she was dismantled and scrapped. Unfortunately. Admirably Appointed The United States with an Excursion into Mexico, Handbook for Travellers, by Karl Baedeker. 1904. 46. From Buffalo to Chicago. e. By Steamer. It is possible to go the whole way from Buffalo to Chicago by water, through Lakes Erie, Huron, and Michigan, without change of steamer. — The ‘North Land’ and ‘North West’, the two magnificent steamers of the Northern Steamship Co. (each 386 ft. long, of 5000 tons burden, and accommodating 500 passengers), leave Buffalo (wharf at foot of Main St.) every Wed. and Sat. in summer at 8 p.m. (central time). The — The ‘North Land’ goes through to Chicago, which it reaches on Sat. at 1 p.m.; the ‘North West’ goes to (3 days) Duluth (comp. p. 372), and Chicago passengers must change at (1½ day) Mackinac Island. Through-fare to Chicago $13.50, berths extra (to Mackinac from $3 up). Luggage up to 150 lbs. is free. Fares to Cleveland, $2.00: to Detroit, $4.75; to Mackinac Island, $8.50; to Sault-Ste-Marie, $10.75; to Duluth $17.00. These steamers are admirably appointed in every way and afford most comfortable quarters. BeautifulAmazing view of Buffalo in its prime. You can see several landmarks that are still standing, including the Ellicott Square Building, and the old post office (now ECC city campus). Looking forward to more photographs of Buffalo! She's YarHow beautiful she is. It's a shame old ships and old buildings don't live forever. 1895-1921Built in 1895 by Globe Iron Works of Cleveland, Ohio for the Northern Steamship Company. One of two sister-ships. Originally built with three funnels. By 1910 she had new boilers and two funnels as shown in this picture. In 1905 was running a passenger service between Buffalo and Chicago. The North Land had been built to undertake the round voyage between Buffalo and Duluth in a week and her owners, the Northern Steamship Company, became the first to introduce seven day cruises. Scrapped in 1921. ElegantGrowing up in Western New York State, I passed through Buffalo many times. I've always loved the graceful lines of those Lake steamers. They had to be a little narrow to get through the Welland Canal, which enabled them to bypass Niagara Falls (the direct trip was a little precipitous). Just about all gone now. Like ghosts. Sherwin WilliamsI didn't realize the Sherwin Williams logo was that old. I figured maybe 1940's or 1950's. It's changed in 100 yearsI live in buffalo and looking at this is a bit odd. Most of what you see there was torn down to make room for RT5 and the I190. First, that's not Main Street anymore, it's looking east down Church Street. The new Main Street would start around were the tall flagpole is, I think. The large white building to the right of the street looks like the Ellicott Square building (completed 1896, the largest office building at the time). The large tower to the right of that is the old post office, now Erie Community Collage. The problem is it should be closer to the Ellicott Square building. The steeple to the left of the street is Asbury Delaware Methodist Church. Now it's the home of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center. The clock tower left of that is the old town hall. SpiresSadly, I've never been to Buffalo. There are a number of interesting church spires in this photo. Do any of them still exist? Map linkThe street centered in this photograph is indeed Main Street. A map from 1894, depicting the buildings along the left side of the photograph and along Main Street up to Seneca can be found here. The trapezoid shaped building with the large overhangs is the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western passenger station. It is Main streetTo David_T It looks strange to you because it is in fact Main Street. Then the location of the landmarks make sense. For example, the Ellicott Square building is on Main street. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Buffalo NY)
River City: 1910
... had that layout. Then it would be a much longer, bigger ship entirely than it appears in the photo, its bow extending way to the left ... station (with a 3-inch on top of it that could fit our ship), not aft as is clearly shown in the photo. They also did NOT have a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/12/2022 - 1:45pm -

Circa 1910. "Jacksonville, Florida, and St. Johns River." Note the sign for the Dixieland Park ferry. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. looks like a M.C. Escher drawing!the chute connects with the warehouse side walkway...Odd! I dare to say this framing was made on purpose. The BarrowsI'm thinking they were used to carry coal for refueling ships. There appears to be some sort of conveyer leading up to the trestle to supply the barrows. BridgeThe bridge in view is the old Florida East Coast Railway - St. Johns River Bridge. It was a single-track, Pratt through-truss swing bridge built in 1889-90. It was replaced by a double-track, through-truss, Strauss Trunnion Bascule lift span bridge in 1925 and is still in use (See: New FEC - St. Johns River Bridge). It runs adjacent to the Acosta Bridge which carries SR 13 over the St. Johns River. I believe The Jacksonville Landing and the entrance to the John T Alsop, Jr. bridge now occupy the foreground. TugInteresting tug side-lashed to a single barge. Approaching the swing bridge. Efficient use of resourcesWhile tall ships classed as fully rigged or square-rigged might have a larger crew, these four-masted schooners might have a crew of just ten to twelve - good ratio of cost of manpower to payload, and practically zero carbon footprint. Upside down barrowsSomething to do with that adjacent chute and unloading, no doubt, but I'm not really getting it. (At first I thought they were wagons but I see only one axle per device and I think I see some handles.) Tall shipsI'm always surprised to see big & tall sailing ships around as late as 1910 -- or even WWII. DD 15 or 16?I think I might have identified the warship at left foreground. It seems a lot heavier than a torpedo boat -- surely the weapon on top of the aft conning station is larger than the 6-pounder identified by SouthBendModel34. Even the existence of an aft conning station suggests it is a destroyer, but the date says it must be an early one. The funnels being so close to the conning station (mostly concealed under an awning) can be explained if it's one of the destroyers that had boiler rooms fore and aft and engine rooms amidships; DD 1, USS Bainbridge, had that layout. Then it would be a much longer, bigger ship entirely than it appears in the photo, its bow extending way to the left of the photo's edge, and explaining why Adam thought it might be a torpedo boat -- we're seeing only a small part of a 4-funneled craft. However, Bainbridge class DD's had their 6-pdrs forward of the conning station (with a 3-inch on top of it that could fit our ship), not aft as is clearly shown in the photo. They also did NOT have a propeller guard, and we can see a little piece of one if we look carefully. Also, Bainbridge class ships had blowoff tubes running up the two aft funnels, which this ship lacks. Looking further down the helpful list of destroyer photos in Navsource (http://www.navsource.org/archives/05idx.htm), I found that USS Worden and Whipple (DD 16 and 15) had plain funnels, 6-pdrs aft of the conning station, and propeller guards. The images in Navsource of these relatively obscure destroyers don't show them clearly enough that I could see any differences between them, so I'm leaving the identification at that. An annoying discrepancy is that photos of Worden and Whipple don't show the small mainmast with battle gaff that appears on the Shorpy photo immediately forward (left) of the 3-inch gun on top of the conning station. However, photos of other early destroyers show masts changing position and size during their careers so it's still, I think, very likely our ship is one of those two. Four-Masted SchoonersThe two "tall ships" are four-masted schooners. The schooner rig lasted longer in commercial service than the square rigger because a schooner requires a smaller crew. The whole crew of a 4-mast schooner might be only 10 or 11 men, all up. The last 4-master sailing in the Atlantic was carrying cargos as late as 1949. (The Schr. Herbert L. Rawding.) These schooners in Jacksonville are likely carrying coal from Norfolk VA. Other possible cargoes for them would be cypress lumber, which was in demand for furniture and door making, or phosphate rock mined in FL for conversion into agricultural fertilizer. Just as interesting as the schooners are the steam yacht and the partially obscured vessel at the coaling wharf. The near vessel is unquestionably Naval - one can see two pedestal-mounted "quick-firing" guns, 6-pounders I think, on either side near the stern. At the very stern is what appears to be a small torpedo tube. The stern itself has a rounded counter. Surely the class of this vessel could be identified by one of our Shorpy Sleuths. It's either a steam torpedo boat or an early Destroyer. (DD) Torpedo boatI was wondering if it might be one like the USS MacKenzie (TB-17)? Coaling in those daysI guess having access to a coaling wharf was a boon in those days. Even with a wharf there was still enough manhandling to do in order to get that coal down below. Not to mention to get it from stowage to the fireholes later on. Just look at USS Texas BB-35: 1900 tons of coal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Texas_%28BB-35%29)! No wharf at Scapa Flow, though. Yuck! Oil is that much more convenient. Just pass the hose, and start the pump. For the birdsGreat birdhouse on nearest warehouse! (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Florida, Jacksonville, Railroads)
Titanic Survivors: 1912
... of the Titanic disaster whose father went down with the ship. View full size. Lolo, the last remaining male survivor of the Titanic ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 02/29/2008 - 5:07pm -

April 22, 1912. Our second look at Lolo (Michel) and Edmond Navratil, survivors of the Titanic disaster whose father went down with the ship. View full size. Lolo, the last remaining male survivor of the Titanic sinking, died in 2001. Titanic TotsSo cute! They look like Cabbage Patch dolls! Lolo and MomonInteresting article on the brothers at Encyclopedia Titanica. Imagining what they've seenI am deeply touched by this photo. The way the youngest one is holding his toy-cat makes the photo for me. What they had been through. Thanks for posting it. ToysThe little stuffed cat is amazing--the detail shows you every bit of fuzz and hair! But what is the bigger boy holding? At first I thought it was just a ball, or maybe a snow globe. Gotta love that curly hair! The brothersWow, that's quite a story -- thanks for posting the link. Those poor boys, caught up in family drama and then this disaster. I wonder how hard it was for them to go back to Europe on another ocean liner... The older boyMichel is holding what looks to be a glass paperweight, probably of the millifiori type. T-TotsWow. So much to be read between the lines of their parents' story. Wow. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Fires, Floods etc., G.G. Bain)
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