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January 1909. "Augusta, Georgia. A typical street scene in Gregtown where the employees in King Mill live. The Secretary of Associated Charities said this is the most degraded part of Augusta." Photo by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Way back when, I spent my Army basic training and signal school at the old Camp (now Fort) Gordon. Really disliked visiting Augusta ... but anything to get off the post.
Looks a lot like paved Ellis Street today, down to the porches, which is across the canal from the King Mill.
The train car on the right says "C&WC" for the "Charleston and Western Carolina Railway". The one on the left, though harder to make out probably says "Charleston and Western Carolina Railway" (pretty illegible, but close) with the word "ventilated" underneath.
Add pavement and plumbing, subtract the train, and that would be a very desirable looking street today.
Those are wooden bollards in front of the faucets, to keep them from being knocked over.
well except for maybe the kid all the way to the right.
The kid on the left looks like she slid down the street face first!
Each house has a (newly installed?) city water spigot in front of it, doubtless to replace an old and polluted community well. These old wells were often open at the top and used a chain & bucket to draw water.
Although these water spigots now provide clean water to the residents, none of the homes appear to have indoor plumbing. We can imagine that each house has an outhouse of some description in the back.
Looks like none of these homes have running water since each one seems to have its own water pump at their curb.
But what is the object in front of each faucet?
They all have one, except the house at the far right of the frame.
There is so much to see in this picture -- the two people on the porch in the far left, the laundry hanging out to dry at the house next to them, the woman at the end of the block getting water, the writing on the train, the boys politely holding their hats, and whatever the girl behind them is carrying.
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