MAY CONTAIN NUTS
HOME

Search Shorpy

SEARCH TIP: Click the tags above a photo to find more of same:
Mandatory field.

Search results -- 30 results per page


The Elms of Academe: 1911
... Illinois, where I grew up, had most streets lined with elms. All gone now. About those Elms ... American Elms in the good times. I grew up on a street in Detroit ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/15/2021 - 1:20pm -

Circa 1911. "The College Green -- Burlington, Vermont." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Dutch Elm diseaseAh, the days before Dutch elm disease ravaged the majority of trees in the eastern half of the U.S. Moline, Illinois, where I grew up, had most streets lined with elms. All gone now.
About those Elms ...American Elms in the good times.  I grew up on a street in Detroit lined with those magnificent trees.  Sadly, not many left now thanks to the Dutch Elm Disease introduced to the US in the early 1930s.
110 years laterThe ivy is gone from the buildings, but the trees are even more abundant.  This view is from University Place, where the earlier picture was taken from Prospect Street.

For every old picture of an elm tree… someone has to start the Dutch-bashing.  Can we please stop?
Ivy Not A Good NeighborIvy will play hell with red brick construction over time.  It will eat into the mortar and weaken the brick structure. 
I'll say it againDon't know how many posts I've made about how amazing large format photography was. This 10x8 plate glass negative is no exception. Literally takes your breath away (well mine anyway). Ill informed people today can't work out how 'old photos/motion pictures could look so good' Well they looked so good because they WERE good. That technology - from the source capture (glass plate or large format film), to the type of lenses, to the usually slow speed, fine grain emulsion mostly with a high silver content, and photographer's and developing skills,  produced these stunning results.
(The Gallery, DPC, Education, Schools, Landscapes)

Hanover Under the Elms: 1900
... Company. View full size. Tree bands Majority of elms in the US were destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease shortly after this photo was ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/05/2016 - 3:55pm -

Hanover, New Hampshire, circa 1900. "North Main Street, Dartmouth College." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Tree bandsMajority of elms in the US were destroyed by Dutch Elm Disease shortly after this photo was taken.  I notice the ghost marks of tree bands; a futile attempt to save the trees?  
We do a similar thing with our oaks to protect them from cankerworms here in the South.  Tanglefoot has been around for over a century for such purposes, but sadly, the parent company went out of business a year or so ago, so we're all left to experiment with alternatives.  I hope we have more success than those who tried in vain to stop Dutch Elm.
Barrier BandsThe elm trees appear to have been treated with the same treatment we used when we had a gypsy moth invasion in Pennsylvania in the early 1980s, rings of gum to prevent caterpillar movement from one tree to the next. Gypsy moths introduced near Boston and causing heavy infestaton by 1880s.
http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/morgantown/4557/gmoth/trouvelot/
Banding togetherThe trees seem to be marked with bands.  Why, I wonder?
[Insecticide against borers and similar bugs. - Dave]
First Church of Christ and Butterfield HallThis photo is of the First Church of Christ (the white church in the Shorpy photo) as it was burning in May of 1931. To the right in the photo of the burning church is Webster Hall, renovated in recent years thanks to the current Illinois governor's largesse to house special collections. Butterfield Hall is the brick structure to the right of the church in the Shorpy photo, which stood for I think less than three decades before being torn down after the construction of Baker Library in the late 1920s. There are still many beautiful Dutch Elm survivors dotting the Dartmouth College campus.
(The Gallery, DPC, Education, Schools)

Inn by the Elms: 1908
Circa 1908. "Broadway and Grand Union Hotel, Saratoga Springs, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. A Genius Lived Here When the hotel was demolished in 1953, a mural by French painter Ad ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/14/2014 - 12:20pm -

Circa 1908. "Broadway and Grand Union Hotel, Saratoga Springs, N.Y." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
A Genius Lived HereWhen the hotel was demolished in 1953, a mural by French painter Adolphe Yvon, "The Genius of America," was moved to Chancellor's Hall in the State Education Building in Albany. It was concealed behind draperies for several years because of its controversial depiction of slavery, and once again put on public view in 2012.
GoneThey were wiped out by Dutch Elm Disease and Dutch Hotel Disease.
Ugliness Beneath the BeautyScene of one of the most publicized antisemitic incidents in US history (at least to that point) when Judge Henry Hilton denied entry to Joseph Seligman and his family because they were Jewish. As reported in the Adirondack Almanack.    
View in 1939....Beautiful hotel, even with cars....
What an elegant picture.Makes you wish you could step back into that time for a visit.
I still live hereThey are re-building the last grand hotel downtown, to make it appear much as this picture. There's a Starbucks on the far corner. The area behind the hotel will be used for meetings and receptions. LOVE MY TOWN!!!
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC)

American Idyll: 1905
... in his mind and then painting it as is. Under the Elms This picture just breaks my heart. The elms are gone, the canoes are gone but I do notice that the littering had ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 3:17pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1905. "Bridge in the woods, Belle Isle Park." 8x10 dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The fashions Are fun to look at but I'm amazed at how much clothing people had to wear back then, even in warm weather.
Pretty place.A few trash barrels would help the scenery even more.
FLOAnother gem designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.
RockwellianIf you look closely, perhaps you can see little Norman on the bank perfecting the scene in his mind and then painting it as is.
Under the ElmsThis picture just breaks my heart. The elms are gone, the canoes are gone but I do notice that the littering had already begun.
Postcards from the PastPicture perfect.
La Grande JatteBeautiful. This instantly reminded me of Seurat's Grande Jatte:

Seurat IndeedSame thought, Dahlia. In fact, I had just mentioned that on Shorpy's Facebook Wall.
Bad habitsWhat stands out is the litter and here I thought society of the past was more respectful of their surroundings.  Guess not!
Postcard croppageYou assume that the editing was done for "racist" reasons. But if the kid had been left in, the result would have been a disembodied head at the bottom of the card -- certainly not appealing to any buyer no matter what the race.  In addition, the two black kids on the opposite bank were not edited out.
Not Quite Picture Perfect ...The post card is from the very SAME photograph, but notice the little black boy, right front, has been retouched out! Too late to bring it to the attention of the folks back in the day!
PowerlinesSo they already had power poles and power lines running in the woods in 1905? Who knew?
[Believe it or not, people had telephones, telegraphs and electric power in 1905. Also in 1900, 1895, 1890 ... - Dave]
Wonderful period pieceI love the hats everyone is wearing, and they are all dressed to the nines! thanks for the opportunity to look in on this time out of time.
Sunday in...My first thought when seeing this was also of La Grande Jatte, and as our theater just produced "Sunday in the Park With George," I had a few images that seemed almost to fit: 

(The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, Detroit Photos, DPC)

Leafy Keene: 1905
... the middle of the dirt road. Mission accomplished. Elms Those are elm trees. Dutch elm disease made them disappear or we'd ... to have borne witness in the mid-20th century to American Elms' decline and near elimination by Dutch Elm disease. Only a few, small ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/14/2017 - 8:15pm -

Keene, New Hampshire, circa 1905. "West Street." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
InfrastructureNowadays it costs millions of dollars per mile to install tracks for light rail. Back then they just went out and installed them down the middle of the dirt road. Mission accomplished.
ElmsThose are elm trees.  Dutch elm disease made them disappear or we'd have those streets today.
Arches: Made in the ShadeAs another viewer pointed out, the stone arch at the entry of St. James Episcopal is seen peeking out from the foliage on the left. However, I wonder if the photographer was cleverly capturing another arch in this photographic composition: the arching, leafy canopy that grew up and over West Street.
Most of the trees forming this canopy appear to be American Elm (Ulmus americana). That high-arching canopy and the fan-shaped form of the branches are normally dead give-aways in identifying this once-prevalent species.  Occasionally, individual hackberry or silver maple specimens mimic this fan-shaped form and are subject to misidentification; but that distinctive leafy arch over the length of the street, in my mind, belongs only to American Elm.
These wonderful shade trees once graced thousands of streets and avenues throughout the eastern United States.  How sad it must have been for millions of Americans to have borne witness in the mid-20th century to American Elms' decline and near elimination by Dutch Elm disease.  Only a few, small populations - and in some cases, only single specimens - of American Elms remain today.  
+112Not so leafy now, unfortunately. The building on the far left is St. James Episcopal, which appears to be about the only building left standing after a more than a century of urban renewal.
Ice StormBeautiful but I can imagine that this was a telephone linemans' nightmare after an ice storm or big snow storm. 
St. James Episcopal ChurchLooks like St. James' church has been transported to a different planet.
(The Gallery, DPC, Small Towns)

Upper Genesee: 1905
... "Upper Genesee Street, Utica, N.Y." A scene framed by elms, hitching posts and streetcars. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, ... Photographic Company. View full size. All gone Elms, hitching posts and streetcars. House Numbers There is a partial ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/07/2022 - 11:21am -

Circa 1905. "Upper Genesee Street, Utica, N.Y." A scene framed by elms, hitching posts and streetcars. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
All goneElms, hitching posts and streetcars.
House NumbersThere is a partial number on the mailbox on the right of the photo, 10? Going by its position it could be an early number in the one hundreds and it might be possible to ascertain the location as the house appears to be on the corner of road T functioning with Genesee. I leave it to Shorpy's band of detectives to follow the clues further.
[That's a public letter box. No "10." - Dave]
Genesee St.I wish we could see house numbers, most of these stately homes still exist, although many have been converted to offices and apartments.  The elms in some places made a complete canopy over the street.  It's unfortunate that Utica and a lot of other cities lost those beautiful trees.
Roads are all dirt but ...Look how huge the roads are. 2 or 3 times the width of today's roads.
[This street is paved. - Dave]
It wasn't all a bed of roses... but looking at that scene in 1905 I think that, in some ways, it has all gone downhill since.
Maybe a former neighbor?I believe this idyllic stretch of street is unrecognizable today.  I cannot identify what was once called Upper Genesee, so that is of limited help.  The only house you can see any appreciable part of is at far right, on a corner.  I could not find that house, but I found this one.  It is very similar to the house in the c1905 photo, if you compare the size of the front yard, porch style, arched panels over the windows, and the brick and brick quoins.  I'm guessing this surviving house was somewhere in the neighborhood.

Not to be confused with ...West Genesee. If you want to see even more elms and elms streets: try Search Shorpy for "Elms". You will even find a Chestnut Street with elms. As a Dutchman I am quite embarassed that the vast majority of elms, all over the world, has been wiped out by ... the Dutch elm disease. Although I was happy to read that the name stems, not from the country where to the disease was native, but from the country where it has been indentified. Nevertheless, the introduction in the U.S. seems to have had its source with the beetles believed to have arrived in a shipment of logs from ... The Netherlands, destined for use as veneer in the Ohio furniture industry. Nowadays two cities in The Netherlands have again vast amounts of elms. In 2005, Amsterdam was declared the "Elm City of Europe": the city’s streets and canals are lined with at least 75,000 elms.
(The Gallery, DPC, Streetcars, Utica)

West Genesee: 1900
... relaxed like sipping lemonade on a Sunday afternoon. Elms Back in the days of elm trees too. Ogive The workhorse arch of ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 06/22/2017 - 9:46am -

Syracuse, N.Y., circa 1900. "West Genesee Street." A postcard from the bygone days of hitching posts and mounting blocks. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Don't forgetWith the hitching posts and mounting blocks comes the horse poop all over the street. Did the fellows in white clothes and rolling ash cans sweep these streets?
Great pictureThis picture makes me feel relaxed like sipping lemonade on a Sunday afternoon.
ElmsBack in the days of elm trees too.
OgiveThe workhorse arch of Gothic architecture.
Syracuse societyWest Genesee Street was the Syracuse gold coast during the late 19th century and well into the 20th century. My husband's great great grandfather, Pieter John Brummelkamp, started a men's furnishings store in Syracuse during the 1860s and subsequently built a home on West Genesee. They went to Saranac Lake in the summertime. It was a great life.  
Be Still And Know That I Am GodAside from the beauty of this place and time, sounds would be heard that would be impossible in later years, thanks to the industrial age.  Imagine being in a doze on your porch, hearing the sounds of children playing a block away.  The droning of a honey bee.  The slam of a screen door.  Voices from next door.  The clop-clop of horses as they pranced down the street.  All of this interspersed with absolute quietness!  No wonder many folks are too tense today!
(The Gallery, DPC, Syracuse)

Neighborhood Watch: 1942
... Nice camera work given the angle of the sun. Elms Before the Blight Previously the street tree of choice for their quick ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/13/2015 - 12:04pm -

May 1942. Southington, Connecticut. "A street scene." Medium format negative by Fenno Jacobs for the Office of War Information. View full size.
The Vertical HouseLooks just like a cookie jar I once had.  What a lovely and peaceful neighborhood scene this depicts on a balmy New England Spring day.  "I was walking down the street one day, in the merry, merry month of May."  Wish I was there.
1 SurvivorHorace H Holcomb House at 75 Main Street, barely visible through a street fair. It is the one at the right enter in the original.

Waiting for someone to identify the carLooks to my non-expert eyes like a relative of the unfortunate Chrysler Royal.
[1937 Oldsmobile. -tterrace]
Great ExposureNice camera work given the angle of the sun.
Elms Before the BlightPreviously the street tree of choice for their quick growth and elegant vase shape that shaded streets and sidewalks.
(The Gallery, Fenno Jacobs)

Dead End: 1905
... the Dead The historic entry drive . The Majestic Elms must have all been victims of Dutch Elm disease. I'm thinking the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/08/2018 - 7:50am -

Circa 1905. "Cemetery Avenue, Springfield, Mass." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
A less grand entrance. Or, uh... exit, as the case may be. 
There is a building there to the left that mimics the appearance of the now missing portal:

WhitewashedIt appears that all the tree trunks have a whitewash applied to them. To see better at night?
[Once commonly done in an attempt to control insects or "sun scald." -tterrace]
City of the DeadThe historic entry drive.
The Majestic Elmsmust have all been victims of Dutch Elm disease.  I'm thinking the whitewash is indeed an attempt to battle the scourge that wiped out the American Elm.
[Dutch elm disease wasn't discovered in Europe until 1910 and not found in North America until 1928. - tterrace]
Lost New EnglandThere's an alternate view here.
(The Gallery, DPC)

Shady Saratoga: 1915
... that someone will please colorize this one. Majestic Elms What strikes me most about this photo and hardly seen in present day are the elms that line the street. Such a sad thing and unique thing to have left us. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2018 - 10:40am -

Saratoga Springs, New York, circa 1915. "Broadway at the United States Hotel." Looking more than a little like one of those idealized Disney "Main Streets." 5x7 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Everything I loveThis photo in particular just struck me and it has all the elements that keep bringing me back to Shorpy every day.
I love the wonderful buildings, horse drawn carriages, early automobiles and well-dressed folks strolling down the sidewalk under stately trees.  It could not get much more picturesque.
It is a time and place I would trade almost anything for to see with my own eyes.
But I am glad there are photos and that we have Shorpy, Dave and the other members sharing them with us.  Keep up the great work!
Main Street USAIt's interesting to note that when Walt Disney was creating Disneyland, his relationship to the historic period portrayed in his Main Street (approx. 50 years past) would be like ours to the 1950s and 60s.
Street lights!I just noticed those wonderful street lights, that look like a little girl holding balloons. Disneyland needs to reproduce those right now!
Lewis Hine AlertNewsies at the center. Of course, something tells me that being a newsboy in Saratoga Springs probably wasn't as bad as doing the same job in, let's say, Buffalo or NYC. 
Yet another awesome image for the colorizers out there!
TodayI'll venture a guess that this street view today has virtually nothing remaining from 97 years ago, especially the trees! Can anybody provide a modern view?
View Larger Map
At the racesA timely photo, as this year's Saratoga race meeting starts in a few days.  Some winners of the prestigious stakes from 1915:
Alabama Stakes: Waterblossom
Hopeful Stakes: Dominant
Sanford Stakes: Bulse
Spinaway Stakes: Jacoby
Travers Stakes: Lady Rotha (A filly in a race usually dominated by males)
I dabble in racing history, and have never heard of any of these horses.  1915 was a pretty lame year at the Spa!
SpectacularWhat a glorious image; visual poetry. It is filled with so many priceless details. We have lost so much....
It would be an epic job but I hope that someone will please colorize this one. 
Majestic ElmsWhat strikes me most about this photo and hardly seen in present day are the elms that line the street. Such a sad thing and unique thing to have left us.
Quite a bit remainsThey've done a great job of keeping this vantage particularly pretty much the same. There's been some fires and other changes but the "Adelphi" is still there and open (only in the summer). It's worth a visit for a cocktail in the garden. 1906 & today:
Great American Main StreetMy apologies to "History Lover", but I do not have a photo of Saratoga's current Broadway to share.  However, I can state that a great majority of what is visible in the photo does, in fact, still remain.  Yes, much has changed and the Elms succumbed to disease many years ago, but it is a vibrant and rich downtown.  Travel and Leisure named it as "One of America's Greatest Main Streets" and the National Trust for Historic Preservation awarded it one of five "Great American Main Street" awards.  The United States Hotel opened in 1874 and had 768 rooms and 65 suites.  It was, however, surpassed in size by the Grand Union Hotel, which in its day was the largest hotel in the world, covering some seven acres.  "Lost World" is right - opening day for Saratoga's 144th year of thoroughbred racing commences on Friday, July 20th!
Lots of kids, butLove, love, LOVE this image, but where are the babies? The baby carriages?  So many people and no little ones?
[These are vacationing wealthy people. The babies would be with their nannies. - tterrace]
Looks the same to meThe Saratoga Planning  Departments should be commended. It still has amazing charm. These were taken in 2010.
(The Gallery, DPC, Saratoga Springs)

Fair Warning: 1911
... in the courtroom at the Lee Town Hall." All Those Elms One of the reason these turn-of-the-century photos of Northeastern ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/10/2019 - 2:02pm -

        We missed it, and we regret it.
Fall 1911. "The village street -- Lee, Massachusetts." Our title comes from the handbill posted at left. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
It's still thereWish I knew how to embed an interactive image like the smart people do!
Open Google Maps.
    Go to the Street View image you'd like to embed.
    In the top left, click Menu (the three dots).
    Click Share or Embed Map.
    Click Embed Map.
    To the left of the text box, pick the size you want by clicking the Down arrow.
    Copy the text in the box. Paste it into the HTML of your website.

Great Barrington FairDon't miss it, or else.
The bank is gone.. but the Municipal building remains along with some of the others.

I Got There Before GoogleLong before Google Earth came around I had a similar photo of downtown Lee, Mass. in my historic trolley photo collection that I thought had been taken about 1902 when the trolley line first opened to Great Barrington.
During a chance visit to Lee in 1982 I snapped the attached photo and was pleasantly surprised when I returned home and found that I had nailed the photo angle pretty accurately.
In retrospect, based on the size of the trees, I'm guessing my photo was taken a few months after the Shorpy image.
First read the comments ...before you intend to comment. [Or, click the links in the caption. - Dave]
Below, a postcard of the Great Barrington Fair racetrack & judges' stand.
Lee factoidFrom the Wikipedia article on the town: "Arlo Guthrie's court appearance before the blind judge and his seeing-eye dog for dumping garbage as described in the song 'Alice's Restaurant' took place in the courtroom at the Lee Town Hall."
All Those ElmsOne of the reason these turn-of-the-century photos of Northeastern towns are so appealing is the presence of elm trees, which make that cathedral arch shape over the street.  Even when none of the buildings are removed, the trees are now inevitably gone, as a result of the decimation caused by Dutch elm disease.  Here's a picture from the Wikipedia Elm page showing an example from Salem, Mass., in 1910.
(The Gallery, DPC, Small Towns)

Chestnut Street: 1906
... church. It has not changed in all those years. Elms on Chestnut The trees appear to be elms, not chestnuts. Perhaps the street was named after the trees that ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/05/2012 - 4:23pm -

Salem, Massachusetts, circa 1906. "Chestnut Street." Continuing the chestnut theme. 8x10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Gone, but coming back?These and 4 billion other American chestnuts were killed by the blight that was spreading across the tree's native range at the time this photo was taken.  But the good news is there's a way to bring them back!  The American Chestnut Foundation is working to make their return a reality.  http://www.acf.org/  
WrappedNote the burlap bands, similar to those we currently use to trap gypsy moth caterpillars.  I wonder what the blight was in 1906.  Also, not a car in sight - beautiful.
Ouch!I doubt anyone whose ever picked chestnuts before would ever want to walk down that street barefooted.
SO SADWITHIN 40 YEARS THESE AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREES ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER AMERICAN CHESTNUT TREES ACCOUNTING FOR APPROXIMATELY 25 PERCENT OF OUR HARDWOOD FORESTS WOULD BE GONE, KILLED OFF BY THE ASIAN CHESNUT BLIGHT.THEY WERE A BEAUTIFUL TREE SOMETIMES ATTAINING 100 FEET IN HIGHT AND STRAIGHT AND STRONG AS OAK.THE (MAST) NUTS FED A HUGE POPULATION OF DEER AND OTHER FOREST CREATURES.
Re: WrappedWondering also what those bands were for. Thing that confused me was that not all of the trees were wrapped. I even thought the trees might have been marked for removal because of their encroachment to the street.
Obnoxious ads!I am terribly allergic to advertising, and moving images on my computer screen while trying to read or examine an image make me sick and angry. THIS page has a really offensive movie ad with fire and violence (I can't look at it long enough to read the name, and won't try) and this makes me leave the page very quickly.
I will  continue to remind you that you should not put up with this and no matter how rich it makes you it reflects badly on your entire operation. You need to exercise a bit of editorial control before you lose some of us out here!
Lou Judson 415-883-XXXX
Bird's eye viewThe white house at the end of the street is still there, as are many of these same houses!
Fences and chestnut treesThis picture reminds me a lot of the photos of Samuel Chamberlain.  He made shots of New England for the Travelers Insurance Company calendars for many years from the 1930s through the 50s, and made many wonderful images of Salem.  He was a big fan of Samuel McIntyre, a Salem woodcarver and architect.  McIntyre designed many of the finest houses on Chestnut Street, but he also specialized in magnificent wooden fences with elaborate details, as well as the elaborately carved moldings and fireplaces in the houses.  Chestnut Street is one of the most magnificent streets in America.
When I was a kid in the early 1950s the stumps of the last remaining chestnut trees were still visible in the woods.  They were the true kings of the forest.  One hollowed out stump could hold three or four little kids hiding out.
ClassicGreat Colonial era hipped roof homes here.  Many historic buildings in Massachusetts have been preserved.  I hope that these are among them.
Get a gripThe person who is allergic to moving images and "obnoxious ads" needs to be reminded that this is a FREE site that doesn't cost him a thing. I also don't see anything that could in any way be described as violent. Where is this ad containing fire?
One thing I did notice was that way up at the top it says "May contain nuts." Truer words were never printed.
Dave, these photos are wonderful and if I haven't done so already, I want to thank you for a job well done.
SPEAKING OF NUTSI SEE WHERE A COUPLE OF THEM HAVE LANDED DOWN BELOW.
Yikes!
No Matter How Rich?Lou Judson wrote: "I will continue to remind you that you should not put up with this and no matter how rich it makes you it reflects badly on your entire operation. You need to exercise a bit of editorial control before you lose some of us out here!"
Take it from someone who knows, no one ever got rich - or even adequately paid in most cases - for hosting ads on their sites. We do it because it can defray a bit of the cost of running the website, and I suspect that Dave's costs are infinitely greater than mine on my little blog. 
I too object to one of the ads that sometimes runs on this site - the one for the "electronic cigarette" but that's because I'm down on cigarettes, real and electronic. But I'm not going to demand that Dave drops advertising because of I object to it. Others might not, and more importantly when the choice is between having the ads and not having the blog (or not having as many posts in the blog) I'll suffer through the advertising.
[Hosting for this site runs around $3,300 a year; ad revenue is in the five figures. - Dave]
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote:Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands, etc. etc.  Nice poem, look it up.  Thats about all I know about chestnuts, except they are delicious boiled or baked, in turkey stuffing or alone, freshly roasted, on the streets of NYC in the winter.  Good day.
Turning the cornerI can remember taking a tour of Salem, my big interest being all the Salem Witch Trials stuff.  The first stop on the tour was this street, which was home to all the captains, both sea and commerce back in the 1840s. Turning the corner and not expecting what I saw, is the one thing I can remember. You don’t expect a beautiful street like this one in the same town that has a witch museum in an old church.
It has not changed in all those years. 
Elms on ChestnutThe trees appear to be elms, not chestnuts.  Perhaps the street was named after the trees that dominated here in the 17th or 18th century.
The tree wrapping was probably to slow the climb of gypsy moths, first released in the U.S. at Medford, Massachusetts in the late 1800s.
Speaking of AdsI notice a variety of "outside" ads, ever-changing, some with "dancing baloney" to catch the eye, but they are well contained within strictly defined spaces. I regard this as a very reasonable price for a free and very rewarding web site. Please continue along your current path.  
No Matter How Rich?But that doesn't include the cost, even if it's only opportunity cost, of collecting and fixing the pictures. I see the pictures LOC puts up on Flickr, and what you do with them is unreal. I don't imagine the big ones you get are any better than the ones they post. Must be a lot of work involved in making them look like they were taken yesterday.
[The only "collecting" we do is downloading the image files from the LOC website. Then I adjust them in Photoshop. - Dave]
Still looks pretty much like thisI walked down this street yesterday afternoon, and it's fun to see how little has changed. It's paved now, but still amazingly wide (for a one-way street)!
(The Gallery, DPC, Salem)

Shady Pretty: 1941
... way up the street cutting down the remains of all the dead elms. Like Elm Streets everywhere Take the elms out of Elm St. and you have sad reality. Ideal That's about as ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/29/2020 - 9:31pm -

June 1941. "Residential section. Milwaukee, Wisconsin." Take the "tree" out of Elm Street and you're left with Elm St. Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon. View full size.
Alas, poor old stickCan you grieve the loss of something you never experienced?
Yes, yes you can.
Still rememberMy grandparents lived on a street very much like this in Milwaukee.  I was very young, but remember the crews working their way up the street cutting down the remains of all the dead elms.
Like Elm Streets everywhereTake the elms out of Elm St. and you have sad reality.
IdealThat's about as "ideal America" as it gets. 
A Vague MemoryI was born in 1952 and do remember trees like this along the main street in my Ohio hometown. Was still pretty young so I don't remember too much about them going away. Just know that they are now long gone.
Dutch elm diseaseAll over the northeast, elm trees were killed by this disease.  when I was in elementary school in the 1940s, there was extensive spraying to kill the bark beetle that carried the disease fungus, but it was futile.  Scenes like this do not exist today.  Occasionally, in rural areas one will see a beautiful "fountain elm" standing, only because it's too far for the elm bark beetle to reach.  Many of my generation remember the elms and miss them.
Elm StreetMy hometown looked like that picture but by the mid 70's all of the elms were dead or dying thanks to Dutch Elm disease.  
Before the Dutch Elm virusBefore Dutch Elm disease ravaged them, all Midwestern cities had streets like this lined with elms, including my home town, Moline, Illinois. By 1980, most of the elms were gone.
My point was not that Dutch elm disease was caused by a virus; I know it's a fungus. The fungus blocks the 'veins' of the tree that deliver water and nutrients. I was comparing it to the corona virus. I'm sorry I wasn't clear.
[D.E.D. is caused by a fungus, not a virus. - Dave]
BandsMost of these trees have a dark band a couple of inches wide, about 6 feet above ground-level.  Not all are the same height, but it looks like they are all the same height at any one home.  Anyone have any idea what these are?
[Insect barrier. - Dave]
Pre-emptive measuresWhen I was a kid, in the sixties, the local authorities in the cottage community where we spent our summers decided to cut down every elm in an over-zealous bid to nip this Dutch Elm thing in the bud, so to speak.  All the elms on all the boulevards were cut down, leaving behind vacant vistas and strange weirdness.  My mom was a tough bird brought up in the Depression, and I was surprised and not a little afraid at how upset she got.
The Old College TreeOne of the things I've cherished about my 40 year stay in Hanover, NH, is the grandeur of the disease resistant elms that remain in remarkable numbers on the Dartmouth College campus. You don't have them in rows like in this picture anymore, but you have some amazing samples dotted around campus. I stop and admire them almost every day. There's something about the interweave of the branches in the canopy that fascinates me.
(The Gallery, John Vachon, Milwaukee)

State Street: 1907
... Company. View full size. Aw! Bring back those elms. Gorgeous trees. Modern. It's interesting to note that there is ... And Now [Except for the cars and the vanished elms, it looks pretty much the same. - Dave] View Larger Map ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 2:51pm -

Portland, Maine, circa 1907. "State Street, looking toward Longfellow monument." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Aw!Bring back those elms. Gorgeous trees. 
Modern.It's interesting to note that there is only one man-made object in this photo from 104 years ago that would fit in to a modern cityscape. The mail box. Maybe its designer never got enough (or any) credit. If it still works, why redesign it?  
And Now[Except for the cars and the vanished elms, it looks pretty much the same. - Dave]
View Larger Map
Serene streetsElms were the tree of choice to line most streets. Dutch Elm disease, sadly, was the cause of many city streets all over North America becoming less serene. When I was a kid, were beautiful, tree-lined boulevards, even in the inner city, are now treeless, unattractive wastelands.
The mailbox is still thereand sitting in about the same place.  It looks the same.  Wonder if ... no, it couldn't be!
SighIt looks so serene I want to take a stroll down the street.
The serenityis missing without the big trees.
(The Gallery, DPC)

Chicago: 1920s
... brick or limestone. The saplings in the picture were elms. Over the years, they grew into lovely shade trees, forming a cathedral ... 
 
Posted by globalpillage - 09/14/2011 - 6:23pm -

Taken from the old elevated Union Pacific/North Line track looking due east up West Arthur Avenue toward North Clark in the Rogers Park neighborhood of northeast Chicago (Thanks TD for figuring that out). View full size.
Gasoline AlleyAlthough he lived in an apartment on the Southside and then later in the country, this is the type of Chicago neighborhood that inspired Frank O. King when he created the long-running (1918 to date) "Gasoline Alley" comic strip.  The homes he depicted were built before the automobile was prevalent and so did not have garages.  If you owned your own home you could have added a garage with an alley entrance at the back of the property just as Noelani suggested.  If you rented rather than owned, you could rent a garage from entrepreneurs who built them in the alleys behind their commercial property.  These rows of garages were called Gasoline Alleys.  Sometimes these rented garages were blocks away from where the car owner lived.  Often, if you took public transportation to work, you would visit your car in its rented garage only on the weekends.  Since there were many others renting in your alley that were not from your neighborhood, the garage communities were like a second home neighborhood for the weekend and days off, creating another whole set of friends.
The still running Gasoline Alley strip had the distinction of being the first comic in which the characters aged in real time, with babies being born and growing up and old folks dying.  The panel below, which shows the main character Walt coming home to a house much like those in the picture above, is from the May 25, 1921 comic strip.
About the AuthorThis is our first post from Pete Mauney, proprietor of Global Pillage. More about his collection here.
Still there, bigger treesView Larger Map
A bit olderLooking at the cars and the ad for Schaeffer beer, I would say this is the 1910's. Just my 2 cents.
[Schaeffer is a storage warehouse, not a beer. Also consider the format. This was imaged from a film negative, not a glass plate. - Dave]
My Old HoodLived near here while going to graduate school at NU. I loved Rogers Park.  Less expensive than most neighborhoods, but still pretty nice overall. Most diverse hood in the city for many years, may still be.
After 91 YearsSame house, one way, new street lights and (probably) newer trees.  Nice to see that, for the most part, the character of this quiet street has remained the same.
Rogers ParkThe steeple in the distance of the upper left (visible if the photo is enlarged) is that of St. Ignatius Catholic Church.
Welcome... to suburbia? 
At least they put in decent sidewalks. In spite of the 1927 15 millionth Model T, carmania was still in check, or so it seems.
LOVE THIS SITEFeels like the best kind of time travel.
Siebold and Schaeffer StorageThe 1923 City Directory gives the location, 6542 N Clark St. The building is now the home of Burrows Moving and Storage.
View Larger Map
Union Pacific (ex- Chicago & North Western)For true-blue Chicagoans, the three Union Pacific commuter rail lines will always belong to the Chicago & North Western Railway, which was "absorbed" by the UPRR on October 1, 1995. Just as the elevated lines of the Chicago Transit Authority will always be known by their old route names, and not by their newer "color" names (Red Line, Blue Line, etc.) ... 
Frozen in timeSeeing that little girl running enthusiastically toward the man sitting casually on the fence rail in the lower right of the photo highlights for me that it is truly like a frozen moment in time. Is that her mother walking fifty paces behind her with groceries? 
NowadaysNot only have the trees gotten bigger, the Model Ts have morphed into Hondas and SUVs!
So few carsIs it a weekday and most of the cars are someone else, or did most people not yet have cars? Or, maybe there are alleys in the back of the houses where more of the cars are parked. 
The treesUndoubtedly the best part for me is seeing how young the trees were. You were alble to see the entire block without much difficulty. Now, the old trees block much of the view.
William Wallen addition to Rogers ParkI live in Rogers Park, and have always loved this section of Arthur Avenue, as it's the closest thing Chicago has to a "bungalow court".  The land these houses were built on (as well as that on which my own house was built) is called the William Wallen addition.  The Chicago & Northwestern Railway purchased this land, which runs parallel to the tracks (now Metra), to build housing for railway employees.  The first owner of my house was a CNW rail conductor!  Wallen was an early settler of what later became Rogers Park, and he's honored by the naming of Wallen Avenue.
It Looks Like 1921I magnified the picture to 400% and looked at the car facing the camera.  The logo on the radiator looks like the Chevy bowtie.  From there I pulled out my Sixty Years of Chevrolet book and narrowed the car down to 1920 - 1922 based on fenders, radiator, body style, lights and other characteristics.
Illinois used a dash or dot separator between the digits (like 22-222 or 111-111) on a five or six digit plate between 1922 and 1937.  Since this plate does not have a separator the license plate must be from before 1922.
Illinois license plates had black lettering on an orange background in 1920 and white lettering on a black background in 1921. This plate has white lettering. 
Therefore, this appears to be a photograph from 1921.
I Grew Up HereI grew up on this street, in the house at 1773 Arthur. It's rightmost house that's shown in full, the one with three vertical windows on the second floor.
My father's family moved into the house shortly after this photo was taken - my dad was 11 at the time - and my grandfather added dormers on the second floor, to make a separate apartment in the house.
Just south of this street were the barns for the city street cars. One of my earliest memories is of watching the streetcars rattle down Ravenwood Avenue and pull into the barns. After the streetcars were replaced with buses in the late 1950s, the city parked garbage trucks and snowplows on the site; now, it's a large police station.
The street is largely unchanged from when this photo was taken. The houses were built around the time of WWI, and all at the same time: if you walk up the street, you'll see the same three designs repeated in sequence. The houses also had the usual flourishes of homes built back then, including stained glass windows and oak floors. The houses were unusual for Chicago, though, in that they were built of firebrick covered with stucco, instead of being faced with brick or limestone.
The saplings in the picture were elms. Over the years, they grew into lovely shade trees, forming a cathedral arch over the street. However, the Dutch elm disease killed them all, and they were cut down in the late 1960s. The trees now on the street are maples and locusts that were planted in the 1970s.
The area just west of where the photo was taken was all truck farms in the 1920s. Later, it was developed and became a flourishing Jewish neighborhood. Nowadays, the Jewish people have moved on and their place has been taken by Indian and Pakistani immigrants. If you like Indian food, the intersection of Devon and Western, a short walk from where this photo was taken, is *the* place to go in Chicago - it also has the only halal KFC I've seen anywhere.
Many thanks to the poster, for bringing back so many memories.
The Old NeighborhoodMy grandparents purchased a building two blocks east of the position of this photo back in the late 1930s at the intersection of Wallen Ave and Clark. Our entire family resided in a bungalow home much like those in the pic in the adjacent neighborhood a mile to the west (West Rogers Park/ Westridge)from the early 50s through the late 70s. This community was an extremely prosperous area during that time period anchored by the Devon Ave business corridor.
Great picture, great comments.I enjoyed taking long looks at this picture, and the great comments too. I grew up, in the seventies, on Sheridan and Glenlake. I was always jealous of kids who grew up in houses like these. I grew up in a highrise. 
(ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery, GlobalPillage)

Speed Demon: 1904
... on horseback in a city. Elm trees! And American Elms lining the street. Even from 106 years and 2,000 miles away I can ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/10/2012 - 12:14am -

Buffalo, New York, circa 1904. "Delaware Avenue." Hitching posts, mounting blocks, ice wagons and gaslight at the dawn of the automobile age. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Mark Twain and Buffalo wintersThe story of all the millionaires on this street reminds me that Mark Twain married and retired to Buffalo.  After digging for gold in California, Twain became a gold digger and married into money.
I wonder what this street looked like during the next winter.  How on earth did they clear the streets, or did all the millionaires go to Florida?  I will always remember visiting Buffalo in May and seeing huge, melting mounds of plowed snow.  Puts their winter into perspective.
I would love to be thereFinally horseback riders! I would love to ride a horse around the city streets with no cars. Nice houses too. Those people were so lucky.
Two ladies?I suspect the man is adjusting the lady's stirrup. Remember that even an ankle showing during this time was shocking, so I seriously doubt he was doing anything even slightly inappropriate.
What is truly odd is that the sorrel horse is wearing a sidesaddle as well. Men didn't ride sidesaddle.  I wonder if the dark horse threw a shoe and the man was allowing the lady to ride his horse home? Or is there another lady we can't see?
[Count the legs -- there are three horses in this group. - Dave]
Clop-clopAnd the rare rider on horseback in a city.
Elm trees!And American Elms lining the street.
Even from 106 years and 2,000 miles awayI can hear those horses flipping out, and the riders screaming, "Slow down, you whippersnapper!"
Can't help but noticeThe woman riding sidesaddle. Her gentleman friend seems extra helpful.
Uh-ohI suspect that we'll soon see a Google Street View that shows this lovely tree-lined street of serenity has been replaced by one choked with automobiles, strip malls and gas stations. I hope I'm wrong.
So civilized!Wow. Such a quiet, peaceful street scene!  
It's hard to imagine such a civilized world.
Time TravelI have a new favorite.  Full size, zoom in, and walk back in time.  Well done, Dave.
Grew up hereThank you for showing this elegant street in its prime. I grew up in Buffalo and you could always catch a hint of what once was when driving down Delaware Avenue.
Delaware AvenueIn 1901, President William McKinley was shot at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo and brought to the home of Expo head John Milburn at 1168 Delaware Avenue. (The house was later, unbelievably, torn down and paved over for a parking lot -- with schoolchildren watching.) 
When McKinley took a turn for the worse, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt made his famous dash from Mount Marcy in the Adirondacks to Buffalo -- the trail is still there today. Feeling it was inappropriate to swear in at Mr. Milburn's house, where McKinley was being autopsied, Roosevelt moved his inauguration to his friend Ansley Wilcox's mansion, a away  at 641 Delaware Avenue. Today, it is the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site.
VroomMust be a crazed teenage driver.  I bet he has that thing up to 15, maybe 20 mph!
Oh my!I was more than a little shocked when I saw the man on the left with his hand under the skirt of the lady on the white horse. Even if it is her husband, I believe that show of affection in public was more than a little risque. I have to admit though, I do think it's very romantic.
Beautiful HomesI walk this stretch of Delaware Avenue every day at lunch.  This was the address to have in Buffalo at the turn of the 20th century. I have heard it said that more millionaires lived in Buffalo than any other American city at the time.
Many of these homes are still standing but occupied by businesses.  I can only imagine what it was like growing up in one of these places.
Those trees are no longer there, like the millions of others wiped out by Dutch Elm disease.
Delaware Avenue todayLooks pretty much the same.
View Larger Map
Beautiful BuffaloThank you for another gorgeous shot of beautiful Buffalo! I grew up in Buffalo and although some of this beauty is lost, we still have quite a bit.
(The Gallery, Buffalo NY, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Horses)

Fountain Service: 1940
... those swell cars are long gone. [As are the stately elms. - Dave] Ignored Not a word about Miss Veronica! Poor baby. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/03/2013 - 12:01pm -

November 1940. Taftville, Connecticut. An uncaptioned shot by Jack Delano taken from the grounds of the Penomah Mills factory. Note the Coke sign. Archie and Betty no doubt somewhere nearby. 35mm nitrate negative. View full size.
Also still thereFrom Google Streetview: http://goo.gl/maps/DW9QG
Sadly, those swell cars are long gone.
[As are the stately elms. - Dave]
Ignored Not a word about Miss Veronica! Poor baby.  
PonemahDelano got the company's name wrong: it should be Ponemah. Most monumental mills in Connecticut.
AwakeningIt wasn't until these recent Jack Delano photos that I realized he used a 35mm machine at times. I have always been so blown away by his spectacular 4x5s I guess I just didn't notice this fact. Makes me wonder what camera he used? Somehow I get the feeling it was a Contex with Carl Zeiss lenses.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Jack Delano)

The Heart of Copper Country: 1905
... it into the metal as strongly as he can. Because one uses elms or young oaks from four to six inches in diameter which have been freshly ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/28/2012 - 4:49pm -

Calumet, Michigan, circa 1905. "The heart of the copper country." Panorama made from four 8x10 glass negatives. This doesn't look like much until you click View full size, whence you are transported into a wondrous cuprous panorama.
Future two by foursI spend a couple of weeks a year in the UP (Upper Peninsula for you non-Michiganders) near Calumet, and train cars carrying lumber south are still a common sight.
Is it roofing season?This is puzzling. Can anyone explain why there are so many ladders up to and across the rooftops? Perhaps the first day of clear weather for repairs?
[What's more likely is that most of those ladders are always there, or there for months at a time. The reason might have something to do with snow. - Dave]
Stacked oddsI can only imagine what the houses would look like if those logs decided to tumble down upon them   there does not appear to be anything holding them back other than gravity. 
What's upwith all the ladders on so many of the houses?
Scene from an imaginary movieProbably arthouse, maybe Scandinavian?
Ladders + Chimneys = SweepingsThe reason for the roof ladders is to access the chimneys.  You will notice that almost every roof ladder is placed along side a chimney, which in the day of constant use required frequent sweeping to prevent flue fires.
300 inches of snowCalumet is on the Keweenaw Peninsula -- the Upper Peninsula's upper peninsula.
U.P. snows are legendary, especially in the Keweenaw Peninsula, where 300-inch winters aren't that unusual. (Sticking far out into Lake Superior, it really gets nailed with Lake Effect snows.) Ladders nailed to roofs are there for a reason. When accumulated snows threaten to collapse the roof, the ladders give a foothold from which to clear off the stuff.
PitchesThe steep roof pitches also help prevent snow from piling up too quickly, but with the amounts alluded to you couldn't be too careful  The houses shown set me to remembering the Pete Seeger ditty about all the houses that look alike, but, the name escapes me. The breadth of coverage is breathtaking, amazing.  But that snowfall amount is staggering; we had 67 inches over three storms a short time back and thought that was bad.
Spectacular, one of the best on ShorpySo much going on in this view I can look at it for hours.
It almost looks like it was all CGI work done by some FX studio.
Thank YouDue to that 8,461px × 2,000px picture I now have the perfect reason to explain to my wife why I need a new monitor with a resolution of at least 9000 x 2400 so I can use that fantastic panorama work as a background.
She is an artist at heart and has a love of olden times and things so I believe I do have a shot.
Ticky-TackyIt was Malvina Reynolds who wrote "Little Boxes." Pete Seeger covered the song, but always gave credit to Malvina.
STUNNINGThis picture is a real gift. A panoramic moment in time. I agree with RoccoB. One of the best ever in the Shorpy Collection and one that could easily take up a couple of hours of close examination. Thanks, Dave.
DioramaThis is a superb reference point for anyone wanting to create a prototypical, period, industry-representative model railroad layout. Fabulous detail, and all authentic.
I found Waldo!Standing by the garden. Man, it's even tougher in black & white.
Dizzy.The changing shadows across the photo are surreal, but somehow make it seem more physical. I can almost feel myself turning about on top of the hill, the warm breeze carrying the scents of fresh cut lumber and copper mill smoke.
Sears housesI attended Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan back in the 1980s and took a class called something like "Social Geography". We traveled all over the Copper Country figuring out why towns were laid out in certain ways. 
I do remember going through Calumet and finding rows of nearly identical houses like those shown in the photos above. 
Turns out many of them were bulk-ordered straight from the Sears catalog!
What are the trees forWhen the scorification is coming to an end, enough coal dust is thrown on to sufficiently coat the surface of the metal. Then the refiner shoves a tree in the furnace and  presses it into the metal as strongly as he can. Because one uses elms or young oaks from four to six inches in diameter which have been freshly cut or left to lie in water to keep them damp, a violent bubbling occurs in the copper when one pushes the tree into it. This is allowed to continue for several minutes. Then one throws coal dust over the copper again and the bubbling recurs. This process continues until the copper has reached the requisite degree of purity.  One ascertains. This passage was taken from a English copper smelting manual from the late 1700's , from what I have read the purification process using wood was still in use in the early 20th century.
Ghost ImageI got interested in this picture when I noticed that the image I use as a computer background had a double exposed plate and this picture was the ghosted image.  I hadn't imagined that I would actually find the source of my desktop background let alone the source of the double exposed image.
Now that I have, I was curious about the actual place.  Reading the description here I was able to find the approximate location of where the photo was actually taken on a modern map (Google Maps).
The coordinates are: 47°14'43.2"N 88°27'47.2"W, facing north and at some elevation above ground level (http://goo.gl/maps/xYctZ).  The intersection that is front and center on the photo is the current intersection of Oak St & Spruce St.  The duplex home at the bend in that intersection, where the woman is walking in front, is still there, though clearly it's seen better days (http://goo.gl/maps/BSkFj).  
A couple of the other houses on the curving 2nd street are also still there and between these houses I was able to confirm the rough spot that the photo was taken from.  Anyway, this web site helped me a great deal in figuring out the mystery so I thought I'd at least contribute that info back.  Cheers!
(Panoramas, DPC, Factories, Mining, Railroads)

The Girl Next Door: 1904
... for many of the surrounding homes. Gone are the majestic elms that lined the streets of Saratoga but the Union Avenue Historic District ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/24/2012 - 7:19pm -

Saratoga Springs, New York, circa 1904. "Union Avenue." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Then and nowView Larger Map
MagicalI love this photo. I wish I could spend an afternoon in 1904 strolling this street.
A happier place from a happier time.I always enjoy seeing such pictures.  They are relics of a happier and more innocent time.
Pining for the past (or is it maple-ing or elm-ing?)Ahhhh... homes that looked like small castles, trees that lined both sides of the street (and all the way down), and no fast traffic; all things that contribute to this being a safe place for a little girl to take a stroll.
Blessed be those momentsWhere has all that charm disappeared? It must have felt like one of those long summer days, when time stopped and happiness seemed to last for ever.
Still thereThe home immediately on the left in the photo is still there, largely preserved and lovely, and is now condos.  The same is true for many of the surrounding homes.  Gone are the majestic elms that lined the streets of Saratoga but the Union Avenue Historic District still makes for a nice stroll.  Less that a half mile east of this photo (which is looking west) is the famous and historic Saratoga Racecourse, considered by many to be the most beautiful in the country, yours truly included.
Close-up surpriseWhat really caught my attention (which some might think unusual for a woman) was to take special notice of the sidewalk, driveway, steps and curbs -- just how professional and modern all that cement work is. Somehow I wouldn't think they could have made such nice clean smooth cement back then and laid it all in so nicely.
[Some of that might be quarried stonework. - Dave]
ObservationsThe fact that everything looked so neat and tidy is mind boggling considering that pretty much *everything* was done by hand.  No motorized lawn mowers or weed wackers; no electric mixers for the concrete curbs, yet everything is picture perfect. 
Yes, but --It's idyllic, but let's hope she survives the 1918 Flu Epidemic, and she doesn't get polio, and she doesn't get some infection that require antibiotics, etc. 
Oh, and she appears to be the right age to have her brothers go off to fight the Kaiser and her sons go off to fight the Axis, that might be a bit nerve-wracking.
I love looking at these old pictures, but it wasn't all Grape Nehi and shooting marbles. Remember, the original Shorpy picture doesn't get taken for another 6 years.
TreesBeautiful picture. Everything looking so new, pristine and idyllic. Just wondering how old the street would have been when this was taken. Those trees were obviously planted specially to line the street and they aren't small. They must be 25+ years old?
(The Gallery, DPC, Kids, Saratoga Springs)

Chilly Chapel: 1936
... The three trees to the left of the church are most likely elms, with their characteristic vase shape. Few deciduous trees are so graceful ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/06/2012 - 10:33pm -

February 1936. "Church at Lancaster, New Hampshire." Medium-format negative by Arthur Rothstein for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.
Love it, fameworthyGreat shot. This would make a wonderful card, or with a frame a hanging picture. 
BeautifulThis picture jumped out at me as few have. It's a breathtaking beauty.
Still thereSt. Paul's Episcopal Church doesn't look all that different today.
Do I rememberscenes like this when living on the Saskatchewan prairies at 42 below zero and wondering what it would be like to live in this Christmas time scene, we could only dream.
Add a little color...and you've got the quintessential Christmas card.
Black, white, and everything in betweenThis may be the most perfectly balanced image I have ever seen. If I ever make a print this good, I am going to show it to everyone I meet.
Exactly!Btolley, you, like me, may have taken photography classes or the Ansel Adams course long ago and to us, that's exactly what jumps out when seeing this photo. I carried an 8"x10" gray card in my camera bags/cases for years and even used it!
The Church Stands AloneToo bad that mega-frame house behind the church is gone.
The Three GracesThe three trees to the left of the church are most likely elms, with their characteristic vase shape. Few deciduous trees are so graceful in the winter landscape, particularly when enhanced with new-fallen snow. Dutch Elm Disease has made this species a rare sight today. 
Beautiful exposure. Not sure if it was done by Dave and company but someone knew what they were doing when they made this print. As a long time photographer ( I got started in 1967) I have spent plenty of time in the darkroom. This is what we would shoot for when making a black and white print; nice clean whites and crisp blacks. I spent hours studying and working with the "zone system" developed (no pun intended) by Ansel Adams, trying to achieve the 'perfect print' These days I spend my time in Photoshop trying to perfect my images.
[The LOC file is a scan of the original negative; Dave adjusted it in Photoshop for this version. - tterrace]
Thanks Tterrace. 
Out of a dreamExactly as I imagine it. Do scenes such as this still exist in New England?  I can "hear" the stillness. 
(The Gallery, Arthur Rothstein)

Woodstock: 1920
... One of the notable losses would appear to be the American Elms on the boulevard. They likely succumbed to Dutch Elm disease, which ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/14/2012 - 4:59pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1920. "Woodstock Apartments." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
She still stands!However the neighborhood has changed a wee bit.
View Larger Map
Boulevard TreesMuch has changed in the 90 years since this photo was taken. One of the notable losses would appear to be the American Elms on the boulevard.  They likely succumbed to Dutch Elm disease, which reached Detroit in the 1950s, radically altering the streetscape.
I also note the remnants of a "tanglefoot" band on the tree, applied to keep flightless female geometer moths from reaching the canopy to lay eggs and spawn a new generation of ravenous canker worms.
412 Peterboro StreetThese old photos exude so much class and sophistication that is sadly lost by the time we get to the present.  It's amazing that this building has managed to survive Detroit's collapse, although it looks like it's had a pretty rough life.  I'm also surprised that it's a pretty dark red brick building.  From the B&W photo I expected it to be more of a buff color.
RelicMetal hitching post cast in the shape of a pine branch.
Great Pic of Better DaysI love this old picture for some reason, maybe because it was from Detroit's better days that are now long gone by.  It's interesting how the buildings on either side of the "twins" have been knocked down.  Notice the archway between the building still exists in the contemporary picture.
(The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Detroit Photos, DPC)

A Summer Place: 1910
... Under the Shade What a beautiful picture. American elms produce such a stately picture, to bad dutch elm disease got them. Some ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/18/2014 - 12:38am -

Circa 1910. "Trembleau Hall. Port Kent, N.Y." Old-school rockers. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Bored son"Ma, when are we gonna DO something?!?"
Looks like any typical kid today, one week into summer vacation!
Yep...That's where I would be if forced to wear Victorian attire in a house without air conditioning. Good thing this kiddo is wearing his knickers!
Interesting placement of electric lights.The lights are placed around the perimeter of the porch, rather than under the porch's roof.  Wonder if this helped keep bugs away from people on the porch.  Overall, a nice picture from a peaceful time.  One can just hear the quiet in the picture.
Dream houseThis is a bit bigger than I would need, but a scaled down version of this is the house I've always dreamed of having, complete with porch and rockers!
Well Son,from the looks of this Report Card you're going to be repeating the fifth grade!
Under the ShadeWhat a beautiful picture.
American elms produce such a stately picture, to bad dutch elm disease got them.  Some new types are now disease free producing much needed shade again.
Where is it now?Trembleau Hall was a luxury hotel and casino in the 30s, from what I can find.
I found a newspaper article from 1931 describing the hotel (SYracuse Herald, Morning Edition, August 2, 1931)
(The text is not completely readable, so I transcribed it as best I could):
Sports Hold Stage Center at Champlain
Trembleau Hall is Scene of Activities in Many Fields
Dividing line for two states and two nations, Lake Champlain is visited by thousands of Americans and Canadians during the summer months. It is one of the largest inland lakes, aside from the Great Lakes, on the continent.
One of the most popular and most elaborate places are the lake shores is Trembleau Hall, which stands on a high bluff 65 feet above the level of the lake, commanding an expansive view of the historic waters and some of the loftiest peaks in the Adirondack Mountains in Vermont. It is located at Port Kent on Lake Champlain.
An overnight ride from New York city and a day's trip from Albany and other points upstate, Trembleau Hall is but a five-minute walk from a steamboat landing, railroad station, post office and telegraph office.
In addition to the hotel itself, Trembleau Hall includes a cottage for guests in addition to the 125 or more than can be accommodated at the hotel, a casino for open-air dining and dancing, a summer house overlooking the lake, and private automobile and boat liveries.
The hotel sets back from the lake shore with a broad expanse of lawn and towering fir trees to provide ample shade and cooling breezes during the hottest hours of the day. The cottage, casino, and other outbuildings are located back of the hotel, surrounded by tennis courts, golf-putting course and other recreational facilities.
In addition, guests are provided bridle paths into the woods for horseback riding, and one of the best fresh water beaches in the country along the shoreline in front of the hotel and surf-board riding. The fishing in shoals a short distance out in the lake is reported the best around the lake.
(the last paragraph is unreadable...)
I also found an obit for a lady who worked as a waitress there before she married in 1947.  Based on her obit information, she came to the US after WWII, so the hotel was still around at least in ‘46 and early ‘47. Other than that, All I can find it a listing for it on this site (http://tupperlake.net/adkhotels.htm) of long gone Adirondack hotels.
Who Says There Was Nothing To DoThis ad will give you all the exciting details!
(The Gallery, DPC)

The Maples: 1904
... maybe? I see only one in the yard for sure. "The Elms" would have been appropriate, though. (Panoramas, DPC) ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/08/2021 - 2:56pm -

1904. Rutland, Vermont. "Dorr place (The Maples) & Dorr Road. Residence of Mrs. Julia C.R. Dorr." Noted author and poet. Composite of two 8x10 inch glass negatives. View full size.
Church of RutlandThis house on Dorr Road in Rutland was once the home of Julia Caroline Dorr, a 19th century American author known for both prose and poetry. She was born in South Carolina, but grew up in Vermont. Her husband was Seneca M. Dorr, a lawyer and politician originally from Vermont. The couple moved to Rutland in 1857, which was probably around the time this house, known as “The Maples,” was built. The Dorrs lived here for the rest of their lives; Seneca would practice law in Rutland and go on to serve as the President of the Vermont Senate, and Julia continued to publish her work.
Now converted to a church.

The Dorr is still open? Well, still there, anyway!

Still thereBut minus the porch, and with an addition on the right which is now used as a church.  I’ll take the original, thanks.
"The Maple" maybe? I see only one in the yard for sure. "The Elms" would have been appropriate, though. 
(Panoramas, DPC)

Paper Drivers: 1942
... Today, the nice porch has been removed and some of the elms have died. But the doors, window and roof of 1810 Ingleside are the same, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/23/2013 - 6:39pm -

May 1942. Washington, D.C. "Victory Program salvage drive. Schoolboy volunteers to go from house to home collecting scrap paper." Medium format nitrate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Was hoping someone would identify this street, butNever did I dream it would be Ingleside Terrace, the street my mother, as a teenager, lived on with her family, in the early 1940's. Their house was in the 1820's block, and she no doubt would have passed by the house pictured many times. Perhaps those boys even knocked on her door before or after this photo was taken in order to ask for paper. Thank you so much for identifying it, Alsatian!
Delivery WagonI used one of these to deliver the Evening Star in Glover Park DC from 1956-1961.  It was well used by the time I got it but the highlight of the week was riding it empty downhill after finishing my route on Sunday morning. I went through alleys and across streets with the steel wheels clattering at 6:30 AM usually causing some row house bedroom lights to be turned on. 
The 1942 scrap paper drives were very successful.Apparently so much scrap paper was collected no more was needed for quite some time.
Paper driveWhen I was in the Boy Scouts in the late 40s and early 50s we had an annual paper drive: our primary source of money.
People would have as much as a hundred newspaper bundles tied with string saved for us. It was a lot of fun and work.
Paper drivesI remember well when the boy Scouts used to go door to door asking for newspapers since they could be sold for recycling. My grandparents saved all the newspapers they read for years and they filled an entire room in a barn out in the country and then one day a Boy Scout and his father drove up and asked for papers so my grandma said "My boy YOU JUST HIT THE JACKPOT" The Boy Scout filled his dads truck 3 or 4 times before he got them all!!
Which explains why......comic books from this period are so rare and valuable!
Keep at it boys!The amount of paper these boys collected was probably just enough for the government to recycle into a single form (in triplicate), requisitioning more scrap paper.
Tins, paper and greaseIn Connecticut during WW2, we saved all of the above for the "drives" suitable for each.  Tin cans had to have both ends removed and be flattened with a heavy foot (mine) and put in burlap bags which were cumbersome to lift, all paper was tied in bundles and cooking grease was sealed in lidded containers until collected.  I believe the grease was used for making soap and other purposes, the tins for making alloys for weapons and the paper was reprocessed and reused.  Even kids' metal toys were collected and very little was dumped in the garbage.  Nothing was wasted for the war effort. An old New England jingle was "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." 
Enjoy it while you canThe house on the right with the nice porch is 1810 Ingleside Terrace NW in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. Today, the nice porch has been removed and some of the elms have died. But the doors, window and roof of 1810 Ingleside are the same, the curved downhill street is the same, the rear of 1801 Newton has changed a lot, but the heights of things are the same, and far in the background behind the street sign you can see the front elevation of 3369 18th Street which is still the same.
View Larger Map
(The Gallery, D.C., Kids, Marjory Collins, WW2)

On the Street Where You Live: 1900
... and developed, to get an idea of the age of the trees. Elms, besides having wonderful canopies, also are fast growers. [Building ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/15/2012 - 2:39pm -

Detroit, Michigan, circa 1900. "W.H. Jackson residence." Just out of view across 2nd Avenue in this two-part panorama was the residence of Detroit Publishing photographer William Henry Jackson. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.
PhotomergeJust thought I'd run both of these through Photoshop's Photomerge command and see what the resulting panorama would look like.
[I tried the same thing (click below to enlarge). A passable result with a couple of obvious flaws -- the cable running across the street, instead of meeting in the middle, diverges at two very different angles, and the curbs on the left side of the street don't line up. Your version (bottom pic) turned out better, curbwise. UPDATE: I took another stab at it and came up with something a tad more Euclidean. Click to embiggen. - Dave]

Cass Park in the backgroundI think this picture is a view of 2nd Avenue heading away from downtown where it runs into Cass Park. I don't think any of these buildings still stand.  And the park's fountain is sadly no more.  
Nice rackFor bikes!
Fast ShadeAny idea of the address?  I'd like to find out when this neighborhood was platted and developed, to get an idea of the age of the trees.  Elms, besides having wonderful canopies, also are fast growers.
[Building on the left is the Marlborough apartments at 419-421 Second Avenue. (Addresses have been renumbered since this photo was made.) At the end of the street we can see the fountain in Cass Park. - Dave]
LocationThis looks like the street, from a 1895 Detroit street map.
(The Gallery, Detroit Photos, DPC, W.H. Jackson)

Islington Street: 1907
... many of the trees in the 1907 photo appear to be American Elms. Dutch Elm disease wiped out most of that species starting in the 1940's. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/18/2013 - 5:11am -

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, circa 1907. "Islington Street." Not much happening at first glance, but close inspection reveals an action-packed scene in the myriad small details -- strolling! scrounging! -- afforded by this 8x10 glass negative. Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
Approximate addressThis is at the corner of Islington and Bridge Streets, approximately 16 Islington Street on Google.  Both houses on right are still standing.
PS. I've been a fan of your site for awhile but this is my first comment.  You do a fantastic job.
[Thanks! - Dave]
The dogseems to have found something very interesting in this leafy street with some very fine houses.  It is such a pity most of the trees seem to have gone.
A tree no longer grows in PortsmouthLooking at all the power cables winding through the trees shows they were obviously threaded through the trees.  Thing is, the trees are gone, but the utility poles on the left are still there..or at least in the same place :)
Dutch Elm diseaseFrom their vase-like shapes many of the trees in the 1907 photo appear to be American Elms.  Dutch Elm disease wiped out most of that species starting in the 1940's.
Buckminster HouseFirst on the right.



New Hampshire, A Guide to the Granite State,
Federal Writer's Project, 1938.

23. The Buckminster House (not open), 2 Islington St., is a two-story five-bay house with a gambrel roof pierced by three dormers. The house is surrounded by a low picket fence with massive posts topped by urn finials. The square portico of the front door is supported by Corinthian pillars, with a low railing. The door has a transom and sidelights. The door on the east wing is also flanked with Corinthian columns, and has a triangular pediment; this motif, somewhat varied, is repeated in the octagonal lookout set within the captain's walk on the roof. This house was built in 1720 by Daniel Warner.




The Portsmouth Guide Book, Sarah Foster, 1896.

Buckminster House, No. 2. (Islington Street.)



This handsome building was erected in 1720 by Daniel Warner, father of Jonathan, and of Nathaniel, who was engaged to Miss Lettice Mitchell, and for whom this house was designed. It afterwards passed through various hands, and in 1792 was purchased by Col. Eliphalet Ladd, who resided here until his death in 1806. In 1810 Dr. Buckminster married Col. Ladd's widow, and left the Parsonage house on Pleasant street, to reside in this mansion. Since then it has usually been called by his name, though his death occurred in 1812.




Rambles about Portsmouth, Charles W. Brewster, 1859.

Ramble XLVIII.


The house on Islington street, nearly opposite the Academy, where Mrs. Tompson has for several years kept a boarding-house, has recently been made a new house, by its present owner, George Tompson, who has shown excellent taste in carefully preserving its original exterior appearance. It was for many years the residence of Col. Eliphalet Ladd, and of his widow, afterwards the wife of Rev. Dr. Buckminster. Before Ladd's removal to this town it was at different times occupied by Clement Storer, Daniel R. Rogers and John Wendell, the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. About eighty years ago it was owned and occupied by Nathaniel Nichols, who then owned and improved the distillery which stood on the spot where the Concord depot is now located. He was the uncle of Rev. Dr. Nichols, late of Portland. The house was built in 1720 by Daniel Warner, who came from Ipswich, Mass. His son, Jonathan Warner, was born here in 1726.

What, no WiFi?I'm surprised by looking at the photo that a 1907 community seems to have been so wired for phones.
(The Gallery, Dogs, DPC)

York Village: 1908
... Elephantine Giants Wow, look at all the big American elms. When will we have a time machine to take a walk up that road? Nope, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 11/28/2013 - 8:20am -

Circa 1908. "Street in York Village, York, Maine." Where perambulating is encouraged and moseying is mandatory. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Elephantine GiantsWow, look at all the big American elms.  When will we have a time machine to take a walk up that road?
Nope, not the same spotMy hometown once again featured on Shorpy! ( I actually registered to this website because of another York picture that was posted a while ago).
That image is not the google street view you posted. There were either other troughs like that around town, or it was moved from here to its present location.
Judging by the houses and street curvature, I would think it's looking down Long Sands rd. from the "confederate" soldier, near where they built the new library.   How do I post google street views to show what I'm talking about?
Don't know what that thing is...or if it has been moved; but this seems to be the old part of town.
View Larger Map
A reminder of our past.My guess is that thing is a horse trough.  There are quite a few around New England usually made of granite and often with inscriptions. I have seen quite a few being used for flower displays usually by local garden groups.
When I see one it always invokes a  bit of our past into our present day.
Slippy is right.The house still stands! I think this is the pic Slippy would like to have posted. I just looked at the google map of the village and saw the streets still meet in much the same way. Street view revealed the house.
(The Gallery, DPC, Small Towns)
Syndicate content  Shorpy.com is a vintage photography site featuring thousands of high-definition images. The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago. Contact us | Privacy policy | Accessibility Statement | Site © 2024 Shorpy Inc.