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Duquesne Incline: 1900
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1900-1910. "Duquesne Incline Railway." Mount Washington and ... knees can be seen on the bow. Probably used in the coal industry. Improvement! This is one of the few scenic photos on Shorpy ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/02/2012 - 4:15pm -

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1900-1910. "Duquesne Incline Railway." Mount Washington and the Ohio River feature in this view, which includes the Point Bridge, a paint and varnish factory, a riverboat and the Graham Nut Company. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. View of downtown from the Duquesne InclineTaken just a week and a half ago. After posting the photo on my facebook page a friend referenced this post by Dave. Shorpy is one of my favorite sites!! InterestingI'm wondering what is the white material that was used for sheathing the upper floor of that industrial building on the left. Looks like fabric. Not there anymoreis the Lawrence paint building. It had stood abandoned for many years and was finally torn down 2 or 3 years ago. Also not there any more are the barren hillsides lining the shores of Pittsburgh's three rivers. I believe this is a direct result of the closure of all but a few steel mills and the pollution abatement efforts for those that remain. Hoppin' TomThe Tom Dodsworth was a 182', 500 ton steamer built in Pittsburgh in 1871. She was called the "Hoppin' Tom" after setting a record time for the round trip between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. On Dec 2 1900 she was involved in a collision with the steamer "Volunteer" near Swan Creek, Ohio resulting in the the sinking of 22 coal barges. Perhaps the photo was taken during repairs after the wreck. Dismantled circa 1924, her boilers were repurposed to construct road culverts in Pleasant County, W.Va. Reports of the Department of Commerce and Labor, 1909 March 24 (1907).—Steamer Tom Dodsworth, while ascending the Ohio River near Moundsville, W. Va., with an empty tow of coal boats and barges, broke her port wrist in crank, after cylinder head, bent piston rod close to piston head, and threw pitman crosshead and piston overboard. No other damage done, and no one hurt. Estimated damage, $500. Coal Age, Vol 7., 1915 The steamers "Thomas Dodsworth" and "F. M. Wallace," of the Monongahela River Consolidated Coal & Coke Co. cleared for Louisville Feb. 27 with tows of coal totaling about 1,200,000 bushels, also two freight barges each carrying 1400 tons of manufactured iron and steel. IronsidesI'm pretty sure that the white top floor is sheathed in sheet metal. Gone Green I'm amazed at the desert like conditions on the hillside. Maybe clear cutting to make it easier for development? Isn't this also referred to as a vernacular railway? Or is that part of someone's vernacular? [Maybe you're thinking of "funicular." - Dave] Car safetyWere these cars pretty safe as far as reliable brakes and/or safety brakes? Was there ever a incident of them failing, to anyone's knowledge? Lost opportunity I lived in Pittsburgh for nearly two years, and never made time to go up one of the inclines. And I was as close as that bridge. On weekends I'd unwind by driving around the city in my Civic, crossing back and forth on the bridges and checking out the odd little neighborhoods. Really cool picture, Kilroy. I'm pretty sure that those buildings up top weren't there in 1997. Especially that modern one at top right. I bet the great big empty expanses that lined the south shore of the Monongahela have been built up since then. Up the creek... without a paddlewheel. Maybe removed to replace the paddles. The antlers on the pilot house indicate that the Tom Dodsworth won a steamboat race. This is an Ohio River sternwheel tow boat, small towing knees can be seen on the bow. Probably used in the coal industry. Improvement!This is one of the few scenic photos on Shorpy where the view has markedly improved since it was taken. In fact, Pittsburgh is a much more beautiful city now, too. A lot of this is still thereIncluding the incline itself, and Lawrence paint & varnish. In fact I remember the lettering was readable the last time I paid any attention to it. The odd-shaped building (a grain elevator, maybe for the brewery?) is gone, but I think the Nuts building is still there, too. Of course this is one of the two inclines preserved in Pittsburgh, and it's a great trip. SafetyI don't know about incidents at the Pittsburgh inclines, but there were a few accidents on the ones in Cincinnati. Since the two cars counterbalanced each other, if the cables snapped then both cars would fall to the bottom. That happened on the Main Street Incline in Cincinnati, when one car reached the top the cable pulled out of the front of the car and it plummeted to the bottom, killing many patrons. Since the other car was already at the bottom it was mostly unscathed. That said, extra cables and other safety measure were installed, and they tended to operate very safely and quietly overall. The 19 inclinesHere are the locations of the 19 inclines of Pittsburgh. Click on them to see they names. Zoom to see the exact location of their tracks. Lawrence Paint BuildingThat beautiful building isn't there any longer? What a shame. Seems like it would be prime loft space nowadays with such a picturesque view. My first (and only) visit to the downtown area was in '95 and we took the incline. I was very impressed with all of Pittsburgh. +111Below is the same view from July of 2011. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Factories, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Plane No. 7: 1900
... 1824 and 1924 the Morris Canal served Boonton's iron industry between Phillipsburg and Jersey City. Iron crossed over the Jersey ... Hudson Canal, roughly the same time period, running from Pennsylvania coalfields to the Hudson River. Coal then moved on barges down the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/15/2022 - 12:28am -

Boonton, New Jersey, circa 1900. "Top of plane, Morris and Essex Canal." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size. Read if so inclinedI didn't know this, so maybe others don't too: A [canal] inclined plane is a type of cable railway used on some canals for raising boats between different water levels. Boats may be conveyed afloat, in caissons, or may be carried in cradles or slings. This would be the long way roundAt least it would be today. Between 1824 and 1924 the Morris Canal served Boonton's iron industry between Phillipsburg and Jersey City. Iron crossed over the Jersey Hills by use of 23 lift locks and 23 inclined planes. Thank you, Kiwanis. Painting of the Boonton LockI am so very happy to see this image Shorpy-fied! My grandparents lived two blocks from the Boonton lock and plane. He, F. C. Wells, was a Manhattan architect and painter. In the 1940s (or maybe '50s) he created a rather surreal image of the "guard lock" at Boonton (attached). I don't know for certain, but I think he painted this collage of imagery over another painting -- as suggested by the church turrets in the background and the forested mountain on the right. D&H CanalVery cool. I remember my father mentioning it a few times, he was born in 1917 in Irvington. Up here in Ulster County there are a couple of museums celebrating the Delaware and Hudson Canal, roughly the same time period, running from Pennsylvania coalfields to the Hudson River. Coal then moved on barges down the Hudson. It was built in ten years. There's an inland town along it’s its length called Summitville because it was the highest point on the canal. This being a more rural area, there are lots of parts remaining. +120 YearsThe building on the left with the bay windows is still standing: The inclined plane started by the intersection of Main Street and School Road. You can see where the canal and inclined plane were on this old map of Boonton. Lots of great then-and-now photos (including another view of the top of the plane) at Boonton.org. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Railroads)
Scenic Petoskey: 1908
... - thanks Dave. Park it in Petoskey It looks like Pennsylvania Station, now at one end of Pennsylvania Park; the tracks still run ... stone. Petoskey and Me Many years ago at an industry convention I met an appliance dealer from Petoskey. I don't remember ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 6:12pm -

Circa 1908. "R.R. station at Petoskey, Michigan." Not just a city, Petoskey is also the official state stone. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Publishing. View full size. The Tank Engineon the nearest train has an interesting collection of bits and pieces on the tank top - fire irons, brake hoses and what look like grate sections - and some really ordinary-looking coal in the bunker. It hasn't yet been fitted with gauge glasses, so the poor old crew have to get by with try-cocks to see how much water they have in the boiler. Glad I don't have to fire the thing. I also like the oil or acetylene headlight, with its roller blind to cover it during meets. Passenger PigeonsThis is also the city in Michigan where, when this was taken, it had been 30 years since the last large stand of roosting passenger pigeons had been decimated (with only smaller flocks to survive until the end of the century). There is a plaque to commemorate the event. Petoskey StoneAn unusual material. It is a fossil stone used in jewelry. Why did it take so long?I wondered as I looked over the baggage cart and noticed of course, there were no wheels on luggage back then. Why did it take so long to invent them? One source says a guy named Ali came up with removable wheels between 1914 and 1920 but there is no proof and no patent listed. Best bet is Bernard Sadow in 1970 with a patent in 1972. Manufacturers still do not pay him any licensing fees. Great triple train photo - thanks Dave. Park it in PetoskeyIt looks like Pennsylvania Station, now at one end of Pennsylvania Park; the tracks still run through but the train doesn't. View Larger Map Still around.The train station still exists and is still involved in travel. It's at the corner of Bay and Lewis and, unfortunately, has been converted to office space and is currently the home of Andrew Kan Travel. The covered concourse has been enclosed but the station looks largely intact. Michigan State StonePetoskey stone is actually fossilized coral from the time when Michigan was inundated with a saltwater sea. When it is polished it makes for a lovely semiprecious stone. Petoskey and MeMany years ago at an industry convention I met an appliance dealer from Petoskey. I don't remember the fellow's name but the store, I believe, was called Puff or Puffs. We had an advertising session and I remember all his ads had their logo, a train with smoke rising from the engine forming the letters P-U-F-F in each cloud of smoke. We hit it off and talked for quite a while. He said they didn't sell a lot of room air conditioners because it really never got that hot on the Upper Peninsula (I wonder if that has changed?). However they put the advertising emphasis on food freezers because of the predominance of their hunting population and that helped them get through the summer. That I still remember this after 40 or so years shows that the guy impressed me. Old switcherFrom the looks of the larger engine (Likely a 4-6-0) on the main with the standing train, I'd have to say that the nearer locomotive is probably an aging 4-4-0, or 2-6-0 that is living out its life having been sidelined to switcher use. Contrary to what Mark said though, there are sight glasses visible at the very top edge of the firebox, suggesting that there has been a rebuild at some point to bring her up to more "modern" standards. By the look of that ungraded coalI wouldn't want to be shoveling those larger chunks into the firebox. Hand firing a steam locomotive was a horribly hot filthy job at the best of times, but in the heat of summer: no thank-you! However, I can't recall any hoggers who didn't have to serve as fireman before 'moving to the right side of the cab'. Not the Upper PeninsulaPetoskey is not in the Upper Peninsula. Those of us who are in the UP are noticing some pretty darn warmer winters and hotter summers than we care for. Lake Superior seldom freezes over anymore, which it did on a fairly regular basis from 1965 until the 90's; at least that's the way I remember it. (The Gallery, DPC, Petoskey, Railroads)
Westinghouse Air-Brake: 1905
Wilmerding, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Machine shop, Westinghouse Air-Brake Co." Company ... and was a rival of Thomas Edison in the early electrical industry. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 10:10am -

Wilmerding, Pennsylvania, circa 1905. "Machine shop, Westinghouse Air-Brake Co." Company namesake George Westinghouse invented the railway air brake in 1869 and was a rival of Thomas Edison in the early electrical industry. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Ivy LeagueWas someone commissioned to visit these industrial sites and plant vines? Magnificent MasonryWhat a gloriously-detailed brick and block design. So grand, not even those the rickety fire escapes can diminish it's its beauty. High at workIs there a photo from the turn of the century that DOESN'T include somebody doing something crazy unsafe for no apparent reason? I thought this one might be the one, but then spotted the dude on the catwalk roof! Hey, lunchtime! Anybody mind if I play on the roof for a while? WabtecThe building still exists. It appears to still house Wabtec, a descendant of the Westinghouse Air Brake Co. View Larger Map The Grass is Always GrayerThat is the finest lawn I have ever seen in any photos of this age. A century later, with all my chemicals, irrigation and fancy, powered equipment, I can't do any better. You over there!Don't just stand there looking at the photographer! Pick up an air brake that needs work and get to fixin'! Made in WilmerdingWabtec, the current corporate incarnation of Westinghouse Airbrake, is still located on Air Brake Avenue. What goes aroundNotice the Armstrong type of turntable, manually operated. Also the workmen in the second story windows, two are looking at the cameraman taking photo. Well kept factory grounds. Scale RailLove the picture. Looks like a model railroad layout. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Railroads)
Market Street: 1916
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, circa 1916. "Market Street." A highlight of this relatively ... Parthemore (1893 - 1960) who worked in the retail shoe industry for most of his life. The article and ad below are from the Harrisburg ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 4:34pm -

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, circa 1916. "Market Street." A highlight of this relatively recent Detroit Publishing street scene is the horse drinking fountain shown with a thirsty customer. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. Horsey GoodnessI live in Indianapolis, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in the middle of town still has working horse fountains, which get used by the police mounts and by the horses which draw the tourist carriages. There are four fountains around the Monument's perimeter, with the streams issuing forth from the mouths of beautiful cast-metal buffalo heads. "Certainly Not!"That's what Mom told me when I asked to get a drink from one of those "drinking fountains" as a little tyke. At the time, I didn't really understand. I must say I never really considered those drooling buffalo heads as beautiful. Interesting -- but not beautiful. Hemmed InThe second car from the left sure is jammed in. I guess it's interesting to see that common courtesy was no better at that time than it is today. Not Thirsty But CuriousLooks like a beautiful, brand new 1916 Cadillac at the curb (third from left) which would not need a drinking fountain. But what's with the two large U S flags flying behind and partially concealed by columns? They appear to be the 46 star configuration, created in 1908 and rendered obsolete in 1912 with the admission of Arizona and New Mexico to the union. 200 Block of Market StreetSurely there's a Harrisburg-area Shorpy fan who can tell us if any of these buildings has survived these 94 years. I know the Whitaker Center is at 222 Market now, but don't remember what else. Where'd the People Go?I live in Lancaster, PA, but I'm in Harrisburg several times a week. This looks more like NYC. I don't think there's been that many people on Market Street at the same time since, well, 1916. Horse power to horsepowerNotice in the 1906 street scenes horse and buggies seem dominant and just ten years later Detroit iron is king.Of course I'm sure the transition varied from city to city. You Can't Roller Skate In A Buffalo HeadHere's the head in question at the Indianapolis monument. My question is "Are those bears going to relieve themselves on the buffalo heads or are they just kicking back"? >>>I forgot to mention the source: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/ Then and NowI hope someone will post a photo of what this street scene looks like now. Pinch me,I'm in Europe! That is until I look past the two leftmost buildings in the composition. Local Merchants Boher. Drugs, Soda. C.R. Boas. Jeweler, Silversmith Clark's. Cut Rate Medicine Store. Rothert Company. The House of Quality. Cash or Credit. The Globe The Lenox The New Store of Wm Strouse Theatre Walk-Over Stars & stripesThat flag looks to have been hanging there a long time; not many stars on it. So much to see, so much to comment onOnly one horse visible in downtown Harrisburg in 1916. Note the scarcity of horse apples on the street. The three guys on the steps of what I assume is a bank, scoping out the chicks. The mother apparently correcting her small daughter. The right hand drive car parked so close to a fire plug. Thanks to delworthio for the picture of the Indianapolis Soldier and Sailors Memorial Monument Fountain Buffalos. I looked at Google Street View to see what they looked like, but the view was not anywhere near as good as his picture. No modern views look as good as the old photos. Thank you Shorpy for letting us view the old days in their true glory before progress ruined it. Fat Man's WheelThe third car in line on the lower left appears to have a fat man's steering wheel, which swings up out of the way for ease of entry and exit. The pic here looks like the same style. For Buffalo horsesI tried a "timeandagain" myself today, of the fountain picture that delworthio posted. Maybe I should have put something in the member gallery instead of committing a bit of thread hijacking here. Cherub ChariotMy mom had a wicker baby carriage like the one in the lower right. When she got a little older, she had a small-scale replica for her dolls. Not much remainsI live outside Harrisburg and was able to identify where this is. Unfortunately only a couple of the smaller of these buildings remain (the building that says "Clark's" and the small one next to it). The commenter who mentioned the Whitaker Center hit the nail right on the head. Basically everything from the building with the large columns to the building that says "Walk Over" are now the Whitaker Center, which is a beautiful building and facility (a museum,etc.) but is very modern and not at all in keeping with the buildings it replaced. Walk-over?Can't figure out what kind of business this would be. Still In BusinessWalk-Over is a brand name of shoes. The shoe company roots go back to 1758, but the brand name didn't come along until 1899. The company history is here. The manager of this store was Herbert Parthemore (1893 - 1960) who worked in the retail shoe industry for most of his life. The article and ad below are from the Harrisburg Telegraph of April 22, 1916, Page 2. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, DPC, Horses, Streetcars)
Transit: 1906
... steamboat pushing a barge full of coal up (down?) river. Industry!! The Grim Reaper standing up there on the left embankment! ... the left. The Transit Built in 1889 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Spent most of its career in the Louisville harbor switching ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/01/2012 - 1:36pm -

The Ohio River circa 1906. "Canal locks at Louisville, Kentucky." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Planes, trains and automobiles... are spectacular here on Shorpy, but the steamboats, ah, the steamboats. How they beckon me. Grandma would have been 9My grandmother was born in Louisville in 1897; she would have been familiar with sights like this. So, Shorpy shows us what our ancestors saw. Love Shorpy! Then and nowPuzzling abotu this O went to google maps and forunt: So it is a curve in the river where it dropa a bit, possiy once was rapids, and the locks alow boats to get around the drops. I bever knew! Someone will probably post when they got rebuilt into the modern version... Thanks! SteamboatsSic Transit gloria. [Bever forunt! - Dave] ModernityEarly 20th Century. The horrors and depradations of the Civil War finally beginning to recede into memory. America in the midst of the industrial revolution and poised on the brink of international dominance. How wonderfully sleek and bustling and modern this scene must have looked to a Kentuckian in 1906! That soaring steel bridge spanning the Ohio River in the background. The fine, solid stonework of the locks. The hissing, wheezing energy of the steamboat pushing a barge full of coal up (down?) river. Industry!! The Grim Reaperstanding up there on the left embankment! Jedi Knightpracticing on the walkway on the left. The TransitBuilt in 1889 at Brownsville, Pennsylvania. Spent most of its career in the Louisville harbor switching barges. Sank in 1901 and was raised. Rebuilt in 1920 at Paducah, Kentucky, and renamed the A.W. Armstrong. Early open type arc lamp The arc lamp in this photo is a very early open carbon type that was dominant in the 1880s and '90s, requiring very frequent maintenance. A single set of carbons lasted only a few hours before needing to be replaced. These were rendered obsolete by the late 1890s by enclosed double globe arc lamps, which could burn a single set of carbons for a week. The lamp shown here is a slightly modified version of an open lamp having two carbon rod sets instead of the usual one. When one set burned up the second set was energized. This lamp may have remained in service later (1906) as it was likely switched on only when the locks were being operated at night to allow boats to pass. These early open lamps are extremely rare. Very few survive today. (The Gallery, Boats & Bridges, DPC, Louisville)
Underground Railroad: 1942
November 1942. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (vicinity). Montour No. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. Mine car ... in a state ripe with coal mining history and continued industry. Nearby is Collier Township, yet I never looked up the word! Thanks ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 09/13/2011 - 10:53am -

November 1942. "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (vicinity). Montour No. 4 mine of the Pittsburgh Coal Co. Mine car operating off a trolley cable." Medium-format nitrate negative by John Collier for the Office of War Information. View full size. Dress for the job you want.This boy gets bonus style points for wearing a necktie in a coal mine. Don't lean backI hope that trolley wire is a safe low voltage, as it's just the right height to brush against or even use as a handrail. Clean Cut GuyWWII has been on for almost a year. The mines must have been considered essential work places and that would bring with it deferment from the draft. I just get the feeling he's management and not labor. AptonymicalThe photographer has a perfect last name for this job. I wonder how many mine shoots he was assigned to. What Dad was talking about...Now I know. Office GuyMaybe he's in administration or perhaps a safety inspector - when it's time to go into the "field" he opens the trunk, retrieves a helmet and steps into his coveralls. I would schedule my visits to the job site toward the end of the day so I could go straight home and into the shower. [Or maybe he's the guy who drove the train. - Dave] Aptonymical? Yes!I read your comment because I was intrigued by the word "aptonymical". Though I haven't found a real definition for that term, I sense its meaning and when I looked up the word "Collier" I was amazed. I live in a suburb of Pittsburgh, in a state ripe with coal mining history and continued industry. Nearby is Collier Township, yet I never looked up the word! Thanks for pointing out the photographer's name. Simply amazing. (The Gallery, John Collier, Mining, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Hotel Henry: 1908
Circa 1908. "Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Plenty of free parking for the automobilists among us. 8x10 inch ... heart of Pittsburgh, that glowing metropolis of untiring industry, stands a pre-eminent contribution to the city's greatness. It is a ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/30/2012 - 4:37pm -

Circa 1908. "Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania." Plenty of free parking for the automobilists among us. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size. The Spiral StaircaseGives me vertigo! Down and aroundThat circular stairway fire escape on the left looks great but I think it would be unsafe. Interesting carCar looks like a Welch, about 1906 or 1907. If so, it is a very interesting car with overhead valves. Rare in its day and even rarer now. I think only three survive. Ralph Stein had one, Harrah had one and i think one is in the Petersen Museum in LA. Tried to find a picture of one, but haven't succeeded yet. Anybody have a picture? More than a mere hotel"Upon a commanding site in the very heart of Pittsburgh, that glowing metropolis of untiring industry, stands a pre-eminent contribution to the city's greatness. It is a massive structure, eleven stories in height, of indestructible steel, stone and terra cotta, and bears the title of the Hotel Henry. Monumental, though unpretentious, in the solidity of its exterior elevation, it contains within its walls a wealth of architectural design, artistic embellishment, and the acme of perfection in the vehicles of service. Strong though the statement may appear, yet it is boldly made, that under no other roof in the world can be found a more comprehensive contribution to ease, comfort, convenience and utility. From sub-cellar to roof, science, mechanism and human endeavor are made subservient to the beck and call of mortal desire." From: http://www.archive.org/details/hotelhenrypittsb00henr The hotel dick?Notice the window, third floor on right of photo - William J. Tanney Detective Agency. If the old movies are to be believed, every large hotel had their own detective on duty (probably to keep un-marrieds out of the same room). The slang name "hotel dick" probably came in later with Dick Tracy. I wonder if Mr. Tanney hired out a detective for the Hotel Henry. Looked up Mr. Tanney and he was apparently quite an upstanding citizen. Here's a quick bio - born Elk County, PA 1865, 1890 appointed Pittsburgh patrolman, 1893 made lieutenant of police in First district, for meritorious service made Captain of Police in 1896, resigned in 1900 to enter hotel business on South Side, 1906 granted a license to conduct a detective agency. He may have died in 1918. +103Below is the same view from July of 2011. is that a colapsed facade? looks like the facade has slipped just above the Hotel sign. Doubt it was that old too. Loving the website over here in the UK, Dave. (The Gallery, DPC, Pittsburgh)
Par Avion: 1918
... Shorpy. Although there was already a burgeoning aircraft industry in San Diego when Fleet moved here in 1935 (Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. ... about early air mail and its pilots, featuring the central Pennsylvania town of Bellefonte, the first refueling stop established for air ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/28/2012 - 1:41pm -

May 1918. Washington, D.C. "Air Mail, inauguration of service, polo grounds. Maj. R.H. Fleet beside Curtiss JN46H plane." Note the map tied to the major's leg. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Reuben H. FleetThe pilot is Reuben H. Fleet who went on to found the Consolidated Aircraft company. The Science Museum and planetarium in San Diego's Balboa Park is named in his honor. Same plane as Lindbergh's!Hard to imagine now, with all the airports and navigational ads and what not, but it was a real challenge to fly from one city to another back then. No radio, no radar, almost no onboard instruments other than a compass, a level indicator and a clock... having to rely on visual references, and praying that there wouldn't be fog or rain in your route... wow. Those early pilots really had to be brave and a bit of daredavils, and the demeanor of this guy clearly shows those traits. Love that leatherMaj. Fleet appears to be well dressed for the cold in his leather flying suit. This outfit would make quite a statement today in Haute Couture society. Fleet's FactoryHow startling to see such a familiar San Diego face on Shorpy. Although there was already a burgeoning aircraft industry in San Diego when Fleet moved here in 1935 (Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" was built by Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego), the vast Consolidated Vultee Aircraft factory he built here and its output during World War II and the Cold War permanently transformed San Diego. The Convair aircraft factory stretched almost continuously for more than two miles along Pacific Highway, adjacent to Lindbergh Field, our airport on San Diego Bay and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. Just one portion of the plant's Building One is visible in the 1943 photo below. Most of the factory is now long gone, but Building Two now houses the U.S. Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR). The San Diego Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park houses the Convair/General Dynamics company papers and photo archives. www.aerospacemuseum.org/library/convair.html 1918 Navaids Back in those days they all flew IFR - as in 'I Follow Roads' (or Rails). Cold up there...One of our neighbours where I grew up had been a gunner on 2-seater WWI fighter/bomber aircraft, and he told me that it got to be -20 F "up there". They were dressed for bitter cold: even their faces were smeared with axle grease to prevent frostbite. As soon as I saw this picture, I remembered my neighbour's words. &*$#!I guess road-maps have always been tough to refold. Plenty of DangerIt was said that the early days of flying the mail was almost as bad as flying in combat. So many pilots were lost that the government had to suspend the program for a time. It sure was dangerous!Lindbergh himself crashed his mail plane twice between October 1925 and February 1927 due to bad situations he got into flying into Chicago. He fortunately bailed out each time. That first day had its adventuresThis was May 15 and until the U.S. Post Office hired its own pilots who took over on August 12, Fleet and six other army pilots carried the load, so to speak. The trips that day were to Philly and continuing on to NYC. Other flights left from New York for Washington. One pilot was Lieutenant George Boyle, chosen not because of his experience (he had fewer than 60 hours) but because his fiancee was the daughter of Interstate Commerce Commissioner Charles McChord. With President Wilson, other high level politicos and, I’d imagine, his admiring girl friend in the crowd, Boyle couldn’t get his Jenny started. Someone forgot to fuel it. That was a minor snag for the young aviator, though, because he got lost en route to Philadelphia and crashed in Maryland about 25 miles from takeoff. Another account says he got lost twice trying to fly from Washington to Philadelphia. “The Atlantic Ocean and lack of gas prevent him going further,” Fleet said. Fleet’s trip that day and the other pilots’ were completed. I wonder if the leaf hanging on the wire or cable held on all the way. He’s got his map folded exactly as I did on long car trips for years before GPS. He's drawn a straight line down to his first destination. Making a folded point at the one end contains the rest of the map underneath. Strangely, his map outline looks quite a lot like an overhead view of the SR-71 Blackbird (Los Angeles to Dulles in 58 minutes). Here is an excellent story about early air mail and its pilots, featuring the central Pennsylvania town of Bellefonte, the first refueling stop established for air mail flights. Lindbergh knew the field quite well; Wiley Post, Amelia Earhart, Eddie Rickenbacker, Will Rogers, Admiral Richard Byrd had reasons to land there, too. Many early air mail aviators were something special, including colorful pilot Harold “Slim” Lewis, of whom an admirer said, “He was the which than which there was no whicher.” http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/Slim_Lewis_Slept_Here.html?... The Air & Space site itself is terrific. (The Gallery, Aviation, D.C., Harris + Ewing)
20,000 Volts: 1942
... My grandparents bought their first home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, in 1941, a purchase made possible by Grandpa's job with Standard ... - Dave] Very cool! I love the sciency/industry pictures here, and this one's a peach. Thanks. Under pressure ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/23/2012 - 10:54am -

July 1942. Melrose Park, Illinois. "Production of aircraft engines. Buick plant. Foreman F.I. Bowman shows Marietta Morgan how to operate this bomb-test machine used to test reconditioned spark plugs. A young Negro girl, Marietta had been a clerk in a meat market. Her lack of industrial experience, however, has been no handicap for her present war job in a large Midwest airplane plant. She's rapidly becoming a skilled and efficient machine operator." Medium format safety negative by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information. View full size. The Birth of OpportunityWorld War II was a crisis that also generated unprecedented opportunities across America. For individuals like Ms. Morgan, it was more than access to jobs. It was a means for accumulating the base of wealth needed for household formation. My grandparents bought their first home in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, in 1941, a purchase made possible by Grandpa's job with Standard Steel Spring Company, where he made armor plate, and Grandma's job with the American Bridge company, where she welded the hulls of LST ships. Prior to the war, their opportunities were limited to domestic work which paid them only enough to live on the premises of their employer. By the end of the war, they had furnished a home in which they would raise their daughters, send them to college, and ... well, you get the idea. Little known side-effect20,000V does create an electric field that prompts excessive axillary discharge, referred to in common parlance as "pit stains". I think the guy ...Is one of the Pep Boys. Which one, I'm not sure. So easy a Negro girl can do it!Amazing how we used to talk and think we were making perfect sense. Bomb tester?Yeah, ummmmm, do you have any other jobs available? "Young Negro Girl"It's typical of the era that they chose a girl with a very White appearance. [That might be a mistaken assumption. - Dave] Thank you for posting thisLike the Anon Tipster of the "Birth of Opportunity" post, my great-aunt and great uncles also found opportunity during WWII. Both of my grandfathers served in segregated units during WWII (my maternal grandfather served in New Guinea). Opportunities in shipyards and migration away from the South led to college and graduate school educations, and the achievement of personal goals. I learned much from these older family members while growing up (I'm an African-American woman who was born in 1968). They were hard-working, patriotic people who believed deeply in education, civic engagement, and solid family values. The young lady in the photo and the people in the screen grab from the Library of Congress would have been their contemporaries. So often I log in to Shorpy and see images of people who feel familiar to me. They aren't always Black, but they tend to be the rural folk & working class strivers I knew and loved. Thank you, Dave. Never, ever... would I allow bomb testing at my home. 20,000 VoltsThe machine is called a "Hi-Pot" for high potential. Its purpose is to expose a component under test with a very high voltage and very low current to determine at what level the tested component will break down and begin to conduct electricity. At that time, they used a step-up transformer to achieve high voltage, and a mercury vapor rectifier tube to convert it to DC. These are still in common use today, with solid state rectification. The plant is still thereBut it's no longer owned by Buick; it now makes truck engines for International Harvester. I live about a half mile away and my home along with many others in my subdivision were built for wartime workers at this facility. View Larger Map Re: So easy a Negro girl can do it!Regarding the comment on the description being insulting to the black girl pictured, I actually didn't gather this at all. Save for use of the then-contemporary term "negro," I didn't feel the description was disparaging the young lady with regard to her race at all. The description reads, "her lack of industrial experience has been no handicap for her present war job in a large Midwest airplane plant." Remember, her prior job was as a meat market clerk, so one would naturally wonder if the transition was an easy one. ["Negro" is "disparaging"? - Dave] Very cool!I love the sciency/industry pictures here, and this one's a peach. Thanks. Under pressureMachines like this exist because a spark plug can fire just fine in free air, but fail to fire in compressed air. You can also check for air leakage around the body of the spark plug. This machine would have probably used air pressures around 6 to 8 times atmospheric, or about 90 to 120 psig. Spark plugs can still be tested in machines like this, although the plugs are cheap enough now that they usually just get replaced. I wonder why an aircraft engine factory was using used plugs, though? Maybe the engines were built with a set of plugs, broken in, and then got a new set. During break-in, the piston rings wouldn't seal as well, so the plugs would tend to get fouled with oil - cleaning and testing them would let them be used to break in another engine. "Bomb" here means "container that can hold pressure", a somewhat obscure usage of the word. Sometimes older people will refer to an aerosol can as a "spray bomb". (Technology, The Gallery, Ann Rosener, WW2)
City Sidewalks: 1938
... love that '37 Ford flatback sedan. Ford built some of the industry's greatest body shapes in the 1930s. Driver Arms I really like ... changed much, but the traffic patterns have. That's Pennsylvania Avenue in the upper right corner, a portion which has since been ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/17/2012 - 10:25pm -

Washington, D.C., circa 1938. "Street scene, U.S. Treasury, Fifteenth Street." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size. Phaeton in the snowNice to see a touring car (the '35 Ford Phaeton behind the taxi) in adverse weather. These cars had no side glass, so they were inexpensive, lightweight and stylish, but breezy! The side curtains were so cumbersome that I imagine sometimes they weren't worth the trouble, even in a car that could hit 80 mph. I also love that '37 Ford flatback sedan. Ford built some of the industry's greatest body shapes in the 1930s. Driver ArmsI really like the "slow/Stop" arm positions of the drivers of the delivery van and taxi cab while waiting for the '37 Ford to pull away and the lady to cross the street. Most young drivers today most likely not know the meaning of this signal! Common signal then as were the arm positions for left and right turns, too. That's not a PCCThe streetcar looks like a PCC car, but it's actually a pre-PCC built in the mid 1930s before the PCC design was finalized. Switch HittersThat's a cool looking bus. It looks like it goes both ways, like the streetcar, but the seats are all facing the front, and a bidirectional bus would be silly. Back of the Ten-Dollar BillUntil late 1990s, the reverse of the U.S. $10 bill featured a streetscape very similar to this image. The buildings haven't changed much, but the traffic patterns have. That's Pennsylvania Avenue in the upper right corner, a portion which has since been closed to vehicular traffic in our post 9-11 world [Actually closed since 1996 - Dave]. The "streamlined" streetcar is one of the first of its kind anywhere, built in Philadelphia in 1935 by the J.G. Brill Company and is part of a batch serialed somewhere between 1001 and 1010. This is a close forerunner to the PCC streetcar featured in an earlier post. Today's City SidewalksView Larger Map My GrandmotherMy grandmother might very well be in this photo. She worked at the treasury dept for several years, including 1938. I wish there were some way to zoom in on this in a clear way to make out more details. It would be incredible to see! [You can download a much larger version here. (Right-click link, choose "save file/target/link as.") - Dave] (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, D.C., Harris + Ewing, Streetcars)
National Tube Works: 1910
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Furnaces, National Tube Works." 8x10 inch dry plate ... River of Sweat, 1999. McKeesport became a heavy-industry town. It was home to the largest producer of steel pipe and tubing in ... cities that suffered because of the decline of the steel industry. For a long while after U.S. Steel closed the plant in 1984, the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 07/29/2012 - 1:32pm -

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, circa 1910. "Furnaces, National Tube Works." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Tube City King's Handbook of New York City, 1892. The National Tube Works Company, the New-York office of which is at 160 Broadway, conducts one of the gigantic industries of the country. It was originally a Boston institution, and the office of its Treasurer remains there. The New-York office is that of its General Manager. Its principal works are at McKeesport, Pa. The establishment there covers forty acres, thirty being occupied by buildings. The product includes every variety of wrought-iron pipe, boiler-tubes, pipes or tubes used for artesian, salt, oil or gas wells, rods and columns used in mining, grate-bars, hand-rails, telegraph poles, gas and air-brake cylinders, drill-rods, Converse patent lock-joint, wrought iron kalameined and asphalted pipe for water and gas works mains and trunk lines, and locomotive and stationary injectors. An important branch of manufacture is that of sap pan iron, kalaineined and galvanized sheet iron, cold rolled iron and steel sheets, and corrugated and curved sheets, for roofs and ceilings. Another speciality is the celebrated "Monongahela" brand of Bessemer, mill and foundry pig-iron. The company finds a market for its goods not only in the United States but also in Central and South America, Mexico, Europe, Australia, and Africa. The works have a capacity of 250,000 tons of tubes and pipe yearly. The company was one of the first to use natural gas as fuel in the manufacture of iron. The gas is brought from its own wells, through twenty miles of pipe, to the works. The Monongahela: River of Dreams, River of Sweat, 1999. McKeesport became a heavy-industry town. It was home to the largest producer of steel pipe and tubing in America, National Tube Company, which opened in 1852. The city's nickname was Tube City. … Mckeesport is one of the small cities that suffered because of the decline of the steel industry. For a long while after U.S. Steel closed the plant in 1984, the riverside complex was a mass of rubble, grass, trees, and unused buildings. Now much of the old plant has been razed. A mini-mill and a couple small companies have moved into the area, but there is still much vacant land. The former docking facility, from which a bargeload of pipe was shipped every day for so many years, is still idle. Glazier Wantedfor large Tube and Pipe Factory. Must have own tools and access to large quantities of glass. Estimated replacement of 200 panes of glass. All inquiries to Mckeesport Factory site. LS & MSI've often hoped to stumble across a railroad car marked LS/MFT, but here we see a couple rather new looking Lake Shore and Michigan Southern hopper cars in the company of the Baltimore and Ohio units. I wonder what track arrangement got that solitary LS & MS car snugged against the bumper? Hardly looks like room for a turnout and a turntable seems unlikely. Those new coal ''gons''belong to the Lake Shore & Michigan Railway which was mostly owned by Cornelius Vanderbilt and was absorbed into the New York Central in 1914, the LS&MS logo seems to be a large (mail sack) with a lock. Note the small NYC logo before the NYC amalgamation. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
The Happy Wanderer: 1918
... who adopted it, it was the Heisman Trophy of the auto industry! Re: Warner Lenses I believe there may be just the tiniest ... were making trackless trolley coaches for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Rte. 66 on Frankford Ave. in 1955. Long ago, I think that they ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 03/11/2016 - 10:56am -

"Marmon touring car, San Francisco, 1918." Latest entry in the Shorpy Index of Ill-Fated Phaetons. 5x7 glass negative by Christopher Helin. View full size. Interesting headlight lensesI wonder what purpose was served by the designs in the glass. [They're Warner headlight lenses. Click to enlarge. -tterrace] Warner DangerThe Warner-Lenz may have been "resistless", but judging by the list of car makers who adopted it, it was the Heisman Trophy of the auto industry! Re: Warner LensesI believe there may be just the tiniest bit of exaggeration in the maker's claims. New Car, Used (?) TiresCurious - the car appears to be new - dealer plates, clean undercarriage, shiny paint, with tires totally scraped and scuffed. Were new tires optional? Amazing finishAlways amazed and the amazing paint finish and body panel fit on these early cars. Maypop tiresThose tires look old and have messed up sidewalls. Why are they on this new-looking dealer car? tterrace's advert for the headlight lenses lists the car companies carrying them as standard equipment. It is, in retrospect, not a promising list. White Sidewall TiresThis is the first time I have noticed the tires had white sidewalls on both sides. Today, white sidewalls are only on one side. When did that change and why? Headlight lensesI have a 1914 Hudson with Warner Lenz headlight lenses. I just like the looks of them. One of America’s bestI read a magazine article several years ago about the five greatest cars ever produced in America, and the 1931 Marmon was one of them (I think it was Brock Yates who wrote the article). They consistently made excellent automobiles until the Great Depression forced them to go out of business (just like Duesenberg and Stutz). Anyway, that stuck in my mind because I had never heard of Marmon before I read that article. Marmon BusinessMarmon did get back into the transportation business, they were making trackless trolley coaches for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's Rte. 66 on Frankford Ave. in 1955. Long ago, I think that they also made side cars for motorcycles. (The Gallery, Cars, Trucks, Buses, Chris Helin, San Francisco)
Lever of Power: 1942
August 1942. "Women in industry. Aircraft motor workers. A million-dollar baby, not in terms of money ... I could find was a Eunice Hancock Jobe, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1921, and died in Pa. in 2008. Her obituary, though, says Mrs. ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 04/27/2015 - 7:22am -

August 1942. "Women in industry. Aircraft motor workers. A million-dollar baby, not in terms of money but in her value to Uncle Sam, 21-year-old Eunice Hancock, erstwhile five-and-ten-cent store employee, operates a compressed-air grinder in a Midwest aircraft motor plant. With no previous experience, Eunice quickly mastered the techniques of her war job and today is turning out motor parts with speed and skill. Note protective mask and visor, two vital safety accessories." Photo by Ann Rosener for the Office of War Information. View full size. Why we fightThe safety gear can't hide it, & her ID badge confirms it. Eunice is a looker. Think I found herIf so Hancock is her married name. Unice Hancock age 19 found in the 1940 US Census in Detroit MI with husband John, an auto worker. N.A. Woodworth Co.Eunice is working at the N.A. Woodworth Co. (later ITW Workholding) in Ferndale, Michigan. A short article about Woodworth and the 50 "girls" that worked there appeared in the July, 1942 issue of Popular Mechanics. Woodworth also won an Army-Navy pennant in 1942, for outstanding performance in war production. Maybe someone else can find background on Miss Hancock. I did some searching, but the closest I could find was a Eunice Hancock Jobe, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1921, and died in Pa. in 2008. Her obituary, though, says Mrs. Jobe worked as a clerk at Ingersoll-Rand from 1941-1982. Good to seeFinally see a more-or-less candid picture of how war workers looked. They too a lot of carefully posed pictures of over-dressed women in immaculate conditions. This gal looks like she really did work all day! A bit dirty herself, not obviously posed, lit with a single flash on or near the camera, and the environment looks like lots of grinding was done - a gritty, filthy job. (The Gallery, Ann Rosener, Factories, WW2)
Billet Chutes: 1908
Homestead, Pennsylvania, circa 1908. "Billet chutes, Homestead Steel Works." 8x10 inch dry ... as ear protection in 1908. I guess it kept the ear horn industry alive. Steel steel and more steel Looks like the chutes use old ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 08/08/2012 - 7:37pm -

Homestead, Pennsylvania, circa 1908. "Billet chutes, Homestead Steel Works." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size. Look Sharp!The C-section rail on all three chutes in the front of our field of view look like they've taken a beating, something tells me that was a very lively work area when they were pushing the volume. Plug your ears!Imagine the noise as these billets landed in the steel hoppers for transport. The man descaling the fresh steel could probably hear it above his air hammer. I'm sure there was no such thing as ear protection in 1908. I guess it kept the ear horn industry alive. Steel steel and more steelLooks like the chutes use old RR tracks (inverted). Waste not want not. (The Gallery, DPC, Factories)
Jones & Laughlin: 1941
... of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, waiting for a bus to go home at the end of the afternoon shift." ... in Pittsburgh. Steel and Football Aliquippa's main industry today is football. "Playing Through the Whistle: Steel, Football, and ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 10/24/2019 - 3:23pm -

January 1941. "Steelworkers of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, waiting for a bus to go home at the end of the afternoon shift." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano. View full size. RavagedGiven the vicissitudes of working in a steel plant back in the day, these guys are probably in their early 40s at most. Next-door to AmbridgeMany photos of Ambridge (named for the American Bridge Company) have appeared on Shorpy. J&L closed in the mid-‘80s, and the city has lost about two-thirds of its population. My connection: I used to ride the 16A Ambridge bus to my job in Pittsburgh. Steel and FootballAliquippa's main industry today is football. "Playing Through the Whistle: Steel, Football, and an American Town" is the engaging story of how steel built the town and how football has sustained it since the 1980s. Good dressersThe crazy thing here is that coming away from a job like that, they're dressed as well or better than most people going to church these days. Gridiron greatsI never hear Aliquippa without thinking of Tony Dorsett and Mike Ditka. (The Gallery, Factories, Jack Delano)
City Terminal: 1941
June 1941. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Carloads of fruits and vegetables at city terminal." Medium ... out - tag out" safety rules for machinery in all American industry, the railroads created a similar rule protecting workers on and around ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/31/2020 - 9:25pm -

June 1941. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. "Carloads of fruits and vegetables at city terminal." Medium format negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Gulf TowerSo prominent then at 44 stories, lost in a sea of taller brothers now. Which boxcar goes where?How did they ever figure it out. Either people were a lot smarter or they had more fingers and toes back then. Each boxcar has a number and paperworkRailroads "group" freight cars in trains by destination. Each car had (and has) a multi-digit car number. Each loaded car has paperwork called a waybill. Freight train conductors and the switching foremen get copies. A buddy of mine used to work for NY Central and check car numbers of loads placed at an A&P warehouse. The car numbers were six and seven digits long and he said, "Typos mess everything up." So every evening he would get the switch list and trudge through the warehouse sidings "checking numbers." Once in a while he found a mistake but not too often. Nowadays they use computers, computer-generated car lists and scanners in the big freight yards. Good question! Blue FlagThat metal flag clipped to the rail at the lower center of the photo is a "blue flag", so named because, yeah you guessed it, it's blue. Decades before OSHA was invented and created "lock out - tag out" safety rules for machinery in all American industry, the railroads created a similar rule protecting workers on and around locomotives and cars from unintentional movement while servicing this equipment. A blue flag is placed on the approach track, and/or at the controls of a locomotive attached to such cars, to forbid entering that track, or coupling to or moving cars on that track. The switch stand controlling entrance to that track is further locked with a blue painted padlock. Note the track switch is aligned to prohibit entrance to the flagged track. At night, a blue lantern serves the same purpose as the flag. Only the person, or foreman of a group of workers, may remove such as flag or lock. Lots of ChangesAnyone familiar with the current configuration of Pittsburgh's famous Strip District may find this photo pretty confusing. It took me a while but I think I have it figured out. The row of fairly tall industrial buildings are on the south side of what is now Smallman Street. The White Terminal building and the building just to the left still stand today between 17th and 18th streets, although the White Terminal building has been chopped up a bit. The long two-story building that extends along the north side of Smallman has to be the famous produce terminal (currently being converted into luxury condos). But that building now extends all the way to 21st Street (just out of the picture on the left) and was somehow reduced to a single story. This is what confused me, and I couldn't find anything on the web that talked about a major change. But a Google Earth view clearly shows that there is a splice in the building right around 18th. So there must have been a major modification after the war when they removed the railroad yard and the terminal switched to purely truck distribution. (The Gallery, John Vachon, Pittsburgh, Railroads)
Happy Thought: 1940
... My family were from the anthracite region in northeastern Pennsylvania. My aunt had a coal stove. It had to be kept burning all year ... with 25 patents, designed a duplex grate, which became an industry standard. The company shipped $175,000 worth of stoves in 1917, ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 12/19/2018 - 12:41pm -

September 1940. "Mrs. Garland and her little boy. Family lives in the submarginal farm area of Rumsey Hill, near Erin, New York." Medium format acetate negative by Jack Delano for the Farm Security Administration. View full size. Lots of PotsThat stove looks huge and can accommodate so many pots but I guess once you made the fire, you had to cook everything at once instead of making things one after another. Perhaps she had a large family (or planned to) and this was a wise purchase. Another thought -- during harvest season my grandparents would hire threshers to come in and harvest everything in a short period of time. The farm wife was responsible for feeding them. This probably came in handy if used for those times too. Shoe problemMr. Delano must have shown up when no one was ready. Maybe scurrying around to get their shoes on. The little boy either didn’t get both shoe on on decided he didn’t want to wear two shoes. Mother simply didn’t have time to tie her shoes, I suppose. Anyway, that is quite a remarkable stove! [That's a baby shoe. Our young lad has both shoes on. - Dave] Threshing, heat, and canningThat big stove is probably for a bunch of reasons, starting with the fact it was probably a main source of heat for the home. It also would come in handy for not only threshing season, but also canning, preserving, boiling down maple syrup, baking bread & pies, and even heating water for doing laundry. It's impressive how much oven you can use when you're doing all that. Close your mouth, you'll catch a fly.That's what my old dad would tell me when my mouth was hanging open like this young lad's. Give me gas (stove that is)The stove was a critical appliance. My family were from the anthracite region in northeastern Pennsylvania. My aunt had a coal stove. It had to be kept burning all year round. It was a pain to re-light so extended trips from home were few. In addition to cooking, it was the primary source of heat and hot water. There were metal grates in the floors upstairs to let the heat rise up in the winter. For really cold days she had a second coal heater in the "parlor," as she called it. She had this setup until she had to move into a "home." Maybe the result of living through the Depression, but my family never updated anything without good reason. Things were used until they broke and couldn't be repaired. Shorpy StoveNice placement. The Stove That Made Pittston FamousFounded in 1869, the Pittston Stove Company's business took off after 1873, when Samuel Smythe, an engineering pioneer with 25 patents, designed a duplex grate, which became an industry standard. The company shipped $175,000 worth of stoves in 1917, the equivalent of $3.2 million today. The one shown in this ad has much fancier ironwork but the components are similar the Garland family's version. Re: Give me gas (stove that is) I have had many conversations as a curious teen, and even more curious adult with my grandparents, as well as my husband's Indiana farmer grandparents of German farm family roots over the last 40 years. In those conversations, I discovered that due to not only the Great Depression, but general farm family economics, combining a lifetime of thrifty farming ways, plus the aforementioned Depression, AND WWII, they just lived that way, because that's the way things were. While "the men" - meaning the grandfather and any uncles that remained to follow in their father's footsteps - ruled the roost regarding not only farm operations, but economic ones as well. Grandmothers - mothers at that time, of course - ruled the home, and all operations taking place inside it, but only to the point where the economy would allow. The furnishing of the kitchen, the sewing room, the canning storage, water supply, and other utilities were ruled by the amount of money available coming from the economies of the farm operations, which always came first. If electricity were to be furnished to the property, it came to benefit the running of the farm first, and then the house IF there was enough left over to do so. So, the harder the men worked, and the more money that came from those efforts, the more everyone would benefit. Updating the features of the farm home was practically impossible not only during depression times, as there was no money to do so, until the Federal government and the FSA began getting involved in helping farm families pull themselves out of the Great mire they found themselves buried in during the very late thirties. But, it all came to a halt during the War years, because even though there was more money in the bank finally, there was little to nothing to buy! Restrictions, rationing and priorities on metals reduced new farm equipment to absolute minimums, if not down to nothing to be had at all. Even repair parts were almost impossible to come by. Same for tractor tires, truck tires, wagon tires, even bicycle tires! So many farm families lived miles and miles "from town" they had difficulty getting there to buy anything, if there was anything to buy. Going to the local co-op for seed, feed, and fertilizers - also difficult to get in needed quantities - was about as close to shopping as many farmers or their wives would get for years. My husband's grandmother never learned to drive, and she was relegated to sending a list with grandpa to get the things she needed, so she had to depend on him entirely for several years to get her shopping done. The only time she left the house for years was to go to church down the road about two miles on Sunday mornings. Sometimes she would be able to send mail orders in from her Sears catalogs, if they had what she wanted for the money she had to spend. She had three sons and one daughter, born in a period of 36 months from the birth of the first to the last, all by C-sections, in the mid-30's, so those trips to the hospital were also rare outings! And extended rests, with other local church acquaintance farm wives coming to help her out for the first few weeks after each one came. Cloth diapers were washed daily in a bucket, rinsed twice in the wash tub, run through the wringer, and hung on the line in the sun to dry. Laundry wasn't just a Monday only job, with farmer's overalls getting filthy on a daily basis. Nobody had a week's worth of clothing to get from Monday to Sunday. Gasoline restrictions and rationing certainly didn't help that, as you didn't get far on three gallons per week. Gasoline meant for farm equipment only had been colored with a red dye, and if you were found to be running farm gas in your automobile, there was severe fines that could be levied. So, keeping things running, and fixing instead of replacing were the rules of the day all during the War years as well. Once all those restrictions, rationing, priorities, etc., were over with, it wasn't so easy to just start throwing things out and buying new. Not when you had been doing things that way practically all your life. Mrs. Helen Struble Garland, age 31This is most likely Helen Garland and her 3-year old son Chauncey. Per the 1940 census, Helen lived with her husband Clarence and five young sons in Van Etten, NY, where her husband worked as a woodcutter. Helen and Clarence both lived into their eighties. (The Gallery, Jack Delano, Kids, Kitchens etc., Rural America)
The Ice Wagon: 1923
... where the ice came from? I remember in the Northwestern Pennsylvania town of Stoneboro, harvesting ice from near-by Sandy Lake was a major industry. It was cut out in large blocks and stored on layers of straw in the ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 01/22/2014 - 11:36am -

New Orleans circa 1923. "Upper stories of buildings with wrought iron balconies." 4x5 nitrate negative by Arnold Genthe. View full size. Real (ICE) Men!My paternal grandfather was an iceman. Born in 1890, he lived in the "Hell's Kitchen" area of NYC at 39th Street and 11th Avenue. He plied his trade in this same area, and believe me, the buildings were a lot higher than the ones in this photo, and most had NO elevators back then, so he carried the ice up on his back. Even after moving to Astoria, Queens, he worked long exhausting days, and well past his 65th birthday. I remember, as a small child, that after working all day, he would bounce me on his knee, and play with me, sometimes for hours. As I sit typing this in my soft, cushy office, I can't help thinking that I wish I had half the character and strength this man had. RIP Grandpa! Cast not wroughtGiven the detail of the uprights and arched overheads, the railing system is most likely cast iron not forged wrought iron. By the late 1800's and into the early 1900's cast iron railings, and even whole building facades, were possible. Indeed, they took off in popularity primarily because they allowed for intricate designs that were too difficult to produce via forge work. Looks like a little Theft.. Looks like there is a home made "tap" of the utility going on (top center wires)Some one has thrown a weighted wire over the open wire and run it along the roof top. Still a common means of getting power south of the border and other poorer parts for the world. Wonder where?Wonder where the ice came from? I remember in the Northwestern Pennsylvania town of Stoneboro, harvesting ice from near-by Sandy Lake was a major industry. It was cut out in large blocks and stored on layers of straw in the town's ice house, to last often into the summer! I suppose they and other enterprising northern towns exported some as well. [It would have been made locally in a commercial ice plant, the first of which opened in New Orleans in 1868. -tterrace] Looks just the same todayExcept for the the ice wagon and above ground wires, this part of Royal St looks just the same today. View is of 1127, 1133, and 1135 Royal St photographed from the second floor balcony of the Lalaurie mansion (aka "the haunted house on Royal St"). (The Gallery, Arnold Genthe, New Orleans)
The Lady in Red
... M. Archer, owners of the Archer Camera Shop in Titusville, Pennsylvania, seen here earlier . Scan from an early kodachrome stereo slide ... purchased for a new war job, or replaced for your war industry (or farm?) job. Towards the end of the war, everyone was down to two ... 
 
Posted by ceraurus - 10/19/2018 - 7:24pm -

Actually my aunt, Shirley Archer, daughter of Ralph E. and Mildred M. Archer, owners of the Archer Camera Shop in Titusville, Pennsylvania, seen here earlier. Scan from an early kodachrome stereo slide taken by her father circa 1945-47 in their apartment above the camera store. View full size. So rare! What a wonderful use to put color film stock to when it was so rare! And those are not only peep-toe shoes, but platform sole, high heel, peep-toe, sling backs, in cardinal red! A beautiful match to the red dress and the requisite red lipstick as well. Bet those were well-cared-for peep toes, as at a point fairly early in the War, high heels like these were impossible to come by, due to the requirement for steel shanks inside the soles that kept them from collapsing when worn! Not so much from the weight of the wearer as just the design of the sole of the shoe. The steel shank maintained the shape of the sole from the height at the top of the heel to the bottom under the toes, and kept it from collapsing at the arch under the weight of even the most delicate wearer. And of course, steel being classified as critical war materiel, meant it wasn't available for the production of such an unimportant item as milady's footwear to dress up her tootsies! This is what created the introduction and popularity of wedge heeled and wedge soles shoes, and cork soled shoes, as well as shoes with fabric covered outer soles of both varieties. Carved wooden soles and heels of very artistic designs also made appearances, and were quite popular for a while. And certain dyes became unavailable as well, as they required certain chemicals in short supply. Which is why certain colors, such as black, brown, navy blue, and green seemed to dominate shoe colors for a while. Particular other colors seemed to be in definite short supply! Leather also fell under early rationing for civilian use, particularly for shoes, no matter why they were needed. For a while, civilians were limited to three pair of leather shoes per year, with a few exceptions, such as if you could prove to your local ration board that a pair of leather work boots had to be either newly purchased for a new war job, or replaced for your war industry (or farm?) job. Towards the end of the war, everyone was down to two pairs of leather shoes per year! Lovely girl. Great photo. I like the way the girls of this era dressed. Lovely girl and a pretty dress! Love those peep-toe pumps! The 1940s had the best fashion! 15+ years earlierAt age 5 posing with both her brother (Ralph H. Archer) and the camera shop advertisement on the family car. More like 1947 or laterThis and the other Kodachome images from this set are all but certainly a few years more recent than 1945. Film was severely rationed during the war and color film was generally only available to those working for the war effort. Normal availability for civilian use didn't begin until very late '45 with many things not available until as late as '47-'48. Also, the David White Co. didn't actually begin producing the Stereo Realist, which introduced the "standard" 35mm stereo slide format, until early 1947. Stereo cameras existed before the war, but none used the Realist slide mount format. Other manufactures introduced competition to the Stereo Realist, but most of their offerings didn't appear until 1950 or later. Kodak's didn't appear until 1954. Given that a camera store owner/manager would very likely "test" any new product as soon as he got his hands on one, I think that this was very likely shot in early to mid 1947. (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
America's Last Small City Streetcar: 1959
... practically rendered a ghost town, having lost its steel industry and suffered a devastating flood. Car 350 is today preserved at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum at Arden, PA. A subsequent submission will ... 
 
Posted by prrvet - 06/27/2020 - 11:10am -

I took this scene of Main Street in Johnstown, PA on the afternoon of September 6, 1959. The event was a part of the 1959 annual convention of the National Railway Historical Society that included a tour of the city's remaining five streetcar lines. All were slated for conversion to trolley bus the following June. Main Street at the time appeared to be prosperous, but in the ensuing 60 years, Johnstown has been practically rendered a ghost town, having lost its steel industry and suffered a devastating flood. Car 350 is today preserved at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum at Arden, PA. A subsequent submission will depict the closing day ceremonies held June 11, 1960. 35mm Kodachrome slide by William D. Volkmer (ShorpyBlog, Member Gallery)
Flatcar Follies: 1920
... stationary boilers and steam engines for the oil industry. "Locomotive Style" Boiler for Stationary Use This is ... one F&T boiler, on display in various places in the Pennsylvania oil country. There are several F&T engines at Coolspring ... 
 
Posted by Dave - 05/21/2018 - 11:40am -

Washington, D.C., circa 1920. "Washington Times -- Oil Co." is all it says on this glass negative showing a rusty coal-fired boiler, a crate on skids and a guy holding a beer bottle. National Photo Company Collection. View full size. Boiler TypeI'm at a loss on this one. My guess is that it is a water-tube stationary boiler perhaps for marine use or heating a building. It is certainly not a locomotive fire-tube boiler; the massive steam dome rules that out. F&TThis is a Farrar & Trefts boiler used to power an oil pump. The name plate at top front says "F&T", with a buffalo in between, as the company was located in Buffalo, NY. The article below notes the company's connection with the NY Central RR -- the same company whose logo is on this freight car. Better picture of a similar boiler, and some oil field usage history here: https://scvhistory.com/gif/galleries/lw2762/ F&T history and view of the Buffalo plant here: http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2258 Excerpt: " Chilion M. Farrar , inventor of a reversible steam engine, much used in boring oil and artesian wells, formed a partnership, in 1864, with John Trefts, and Theodore C. Knight, and the firm established a modest plant that year, on Perry Street, for the manufacture of engines and boilers and for general machine work. Mr. Knight retired from the firm in 1869, and the business, grown large with the years, has continued ever since under the name of Farrar & Trefts. In conjunction with Rood & Brown, manufacturers of car wheels, the firm established also the general foundry business of the East Buffalo Iron Works, on the New York Central Belt Line, near Broadway. In 1869 Knight left the company at which time it became known as Farrar & Trefts. They had seen great potential in the oil business and wanted to build a superior steam engine that would run for 25 years with very little care for the engine. During the course of the buisness many patents were aquired including a patent for the palm link. In 1900, the company was taken over by the Erie Pump & Engine Co. At some point in time a boiler shop was opened to supply boilers for their engines. They were able to produce any European or American boiler design and they were of utmost quality. According to The Derrick's Handbook of Petroleum published in 1898 over 25,000 engines and boilers had been produced, sold, and delivered. An account of Chilion Farrar's life states that he was born in Detroit, MI in 1829. He married Almira Siver of Buffalo in 1845. At the age of seventeen he moved to Buffalo and started to work as a machinist at the Shepard Iron Works later known as the King Iron Works. He later became a Superintendent. After the death of both the partners, George M. Trefts , John Trefts son, has carried on the business." F and TThe plate on the boiler reads F&T, which stands for Farrar & Trefts. The company manufactured stationary boilers and steam engines for the oil industry. "Locomotive Style" Boiler for Stationary UseThis is a "Locomotive Style" firetube boiler designed for stationary use. The large steam dome over the firebox is consistent with this identification. In use, it would be mounted on a brickwork "setting." I don't think it's "rusty", rather it looks to be brand new with a "shop coat" of red lead paint which is now peeling in some places. The maker's plate says "F&T", which a correspondent identifies as "Farrar & Trefts" There are parts visible on that flat car which may be components of a steam-powered cable-driven oil well drill. The crane hook is said to have something written on it, but I can't see it. There is also lettering on a part resting on the flat car to the left of the firebox. There are two horse drawn freight wagons on the other side of the flatcar. In one case, the feet of the horse are visible. BoilerFor what little I know, this is what's called a donkey boiler that is usually mounted on a wheeled frame. They are used to steam winches, drills and other portable equipment on docks, mine sites and the like. The examples I've seen like this were at the Quincy Mine museum in Hancock, MI. Morgan EngineeringThe hook block is marked: Morgan Engineering Alliance Ohio -- still very much in business in Alliance, building newer versions of this crane. There are quite a few Farrar & Trefts engines, and at least one F&T boiler, on display in various places in the Pennsylvania oil country. There are several F&T engines at Coolspring Power Museum, including one that runs, powering an oil pump jack. Long life was partly due to a tapered rotary valve that was easily adjusted for wear. (The Gallery, D.C., Natl Photo, Railroads)
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