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Main St. |
A Sad City friend and reader (
the same reader who navigated the Park River) sent us this awesome collection of Hartford photos from the
CT State Library. The photos were all taken between 1903-1906 by William H Thompson.
The CT Library's Flicker describes Thompson;
"William H. Thompson was a professional
photo-engraver with the Hartford
Engraving Company in Hartford from about
1901-1917. Thompson from 1903-1906 took
photographs of street scenes, river
scenes, architecture, statues, and parks
of central Hartford. He took these
photographs, according to a memo to
State Librarian George Godard, because
“he thought [they] would later be of
historic interest.” In 1918 due to ill
health he sold his photograph collection
to the State Library."
"Addresses for buildings were obtained
from the Sanborn Insurance Maps of
Hartford, 1900 and Geer’s Hartford City
Directory, 1904-1906. Addresses from
1903-1906 may not corroborate with
matching addresses today as names of
streets in Hartford have changed. For
example, what is known as Columbus
Boulevard in 2012 was Front Street
during the period of 1903-1906. What is
in 2012 known as Front Street did not
exist from 1903-1906."
Sounds like our sort of things. Let's take a look at some highlights. As our friend said when he sent them, "I noticed there's no heavyset people." As morbid as it is, we can't help but note that everyone in these photos would now be dead.
Just serves as a reminder to us, that we all too shall pass and that it is all very, very temporary.
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Main St |
Here we see Hartford's first lowrider.
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Main St south of Sheldon |
What were the traffic rules between horse carriage and cars in these days? Did they use different lanes? Did the carriages have to get out of the way for the cars? Did the cars wheels ever fling horse dung up onto pedestrians? Such turbulent times.
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St. Johns Episcopal |
Whoa whoa whoa! Stop the clock!! What do we see in the lower right of this photo? Is it possible?!!?!? Could it be?!?!? YES!!! It appears that we have an over 100 year old
mattress colony sighting! You know what they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Main St south of Wells
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On the left we can see the black clock that is still outside City Steam to this day. It's a real cool artifact that gets passed by many every day. It's worth taking a minute to stop and check it out.
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Market St south of Temple
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A few interesting things to note here. The trolley tracks for one. Today rail of some sort remains a dream for most Hartford residents. Odd they were able to figure it out a century ago. The ad in the back right referencing Manchester and Aetna is cool. The street lamp looks extremely dangerous. The old school mailbox in the lower left is cool, there's still a few of those left around town. Finally what is that lady in the left between the two poles doing?
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State St west of Front St |
The blurry people make this photo very cool. Not to mention the creepy fact that all these kids would be like 108 today.
WAIT.
Don't you see the blurry guy crossing the street has an iPhone!?!?!! It's totally there! WTF!?!?! Is this some sort of conspiracy promulgated by Obama and the lizard folk?!!?
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North Side of Main St at State St |
How awesome is that Wilson High Ball ad? Do you think there's any chance an intact on of those still exists somewhere? Speaking of, we could really go for a high ball right now.
Seeing as how whisk(e)y is all the rage these days, isn't it time we bring the high ball back into vogue? And smoking. It's definitely time smoking made a bit of a comeback.
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Front St north of Ferry |
Is there any doubt that Sad City would be hanging out at this fine establishment if we were blogging back in 1903? Looks like Hartford's own
Gem Saloon. No doubt we would have to go out onto the thoroughfare and settle some scores!
Note the
Manhattan reference on top of the establishment.
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Temple east of Market |
Uneeda Biscuit is just an awesome product name. Classic. Sadly Uneeda Biscuit was discontinued by Nabisco in 2009. Uneedto ClickonmoreSadCitylinks.
This is so cool! So little is left, though ....
ReplyDeleteCrazy to see areas that I know so well but look so different.
ReplyDeleteVery cool. But how could miss the photo with the Hungarian Boys Band (on the left). This intersection still exists with the old G-Fox parking lot on the right and the back of Capital Community College on the left. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctarchives/6754845715/in/set-72157629011956367/
ReplyDeleteWe're really glad you and your readers are enjoying the Thompson Collection. You can also see them on our Historypin Channel at http://www.historypin.com/channels/view/2662022. You can view all these sights superimposed on modern day Google street views! It gives you a real sense of place.
ReplyDeleteI love this!
ReplyDeleteThe photos seem like still-lifes. We do not see faces or movement although people are moving. Hartford appears very tidy and clean. I do not sense an area of poverty. Just a quiet town on a quiet Saturday morning perhaps.
ReplyDelete