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Circa 1909. "Toledo, Ohio, waterfront on Maumee River." Humongous 40,000-pixel-wide panorama made from five 8x10 glass negatives, downsized here to a still-hefty 11,000 pixels. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Those are interesting vessels on the river's far side, just left of panorama center. They look like they must have engines on board; I wonder if they ever got under sail using those masts, or were they formerly sailing barges that got converted?
I see by my desktop copy of "Once Famous Brands Now Forgotten" (I made that up) Hand Sapolio was the Ivory of its day, possibly the most famous soap there was around the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, I just checked in Volumes 27 and 28 of Nursing World for 1901, and found on page 391: “Hand Sapolio equals a mild Turkish bath in many of its advantages. It demands no extreme or heat or cold, but removes all scurf (sic), casts off the constantly dying outer skin, and gives the inner skin…..” Well, you get the idea. Here's a typical ad:
I wonder if the early marketing folks at Coca-Cola were influenced by Fletcher's Castoria ads. The logos are similar in style and the signs are everywhere.
[I think Spencerian script was generally in vogue. - Dave]
Several weeks ago we had lunch at a restaurant along the river with the same great view of the river. This view fills in the details that I imagined.
Thought I had seen this ship before. Sure enough, one of the plates from this set is here.
[That's a different plate. -Dave]
Lyttle Weeman Saddlery & Hardware.
In the distance, behind the Jefferson Hotel and in the upper center area of the photo, we can see the Holmes Snowflake Laundry building. See below for a different view.
The Holmes Snowflake Building was the first Toledo location for the Champion Spark Plug Company, attracted to the city by the Willys Overland Company. Willys agreed to buy spark plugs from Robert and Frank Stranahan, if they would relocate their company to Toledo (ca. 1910).
According to Google Maps, the Acme Quality Paint Store no longer exists at 420 Summit Street. Where should I buy my paint?
Looking at the coal cars in the foreground, Toledo & Ohio Central, Zanesville & Western and Kanawha & Michigan eventually became part of NYC System. Hocking Valley Ry. became part of Chesapeake & Ohio.
In the tall structure in front left, a K&M car is about to be turned over to empty its contents. The middle foreground finds an immaculate T&OC switch engine with no lack of work, going about its duties.
My mouse is tired after studying this pic. I will come back to this one and find some more stuff to look up. Already found that there is still a Hocking Valley Railway. Located in Southeast Ohio, it is a scenic railway offering rides on restored cars.
Now THAT'S a Picture. Worth every minute (hour?) it took to do the merge.
T&OC was the Toledo & Ohio Central, a railroad originating in the West Virginia coal fields that ran northwest from Charleston up to Columbus and thence to Toledo. At this time it was still independent, but was later absorbed into the New York Central system.
Hocking Valley collected coal on network of feeder lines in southeast Ohio, assembled the cars at a main yard in Columbus and ran them up their main to Toledo. C&O absorbed the HV in 1925, a strategic move that gave the C&O an outlet in the lucrative lakes coal trade.
Kanawha & Michigan was a short line in West Virginia.
Another Fletcher's Castoria sign!! Great picture!
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