Shorpy | Old Photos - Comments

Telephone distribution rings

Maniak Productions — Mon, 29 Jun 2026 11:51:00 +0000

In reply to Minneapolis: 1907:

It has been a while since I've seen a distribution ring for telephone circuits on Shorpy. It's hard to spot unless you do the big view, but it's behind the Northern Machine Company. I'd love to see what kind of insulators are being used on it. (Click to enlarge)

Eye in the sky

Jimmy Longshanks — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 19:16:00 +0000

In reply to Minneapolis: 1907:

The camera is in the clock tower of City Hall, at Third Avenue and Fourth Street South. The view is to the northwest. Fourth Street is below, and takes a jog to the right about four blocks out at Hennepin Avenue.

Camera Location and 1907 Date

bobstothfang — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:50:00 +0000

In reply to Minneapolis: 1907:

As a followup to "fanheads" Shades of the 50s post above concerning the more modern appearance to some of the buildings.

Was there an even taller building or a hill for the photographer to use to make this three image panorama? A bulky 8x10 view camera using glass plate negatives in a 1907 vintage airplane is a bit unrealistic.

[This is just half of a six-plate panorama. -- Dave]

I thought that too, at first

swa — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 07:14:00 +0000

In reply to Minneapolis: 1907:

After enlarging the image, which is really spectacular in its breadth and detail, I looked down into the streets. And there, the city looks like 1907.

Another thing that struck me was the few if any automobiles. Pedestrians, horses and wagons, and carriages aplently. I think I spotted a car or two, but in such deep shadows I couldn't be sure. In any case, it's quite a contrast to recent images here of New York City in 1905, where there was lots of cars.

Maybe automobiles were more in evidence in other parts of Minneapolis in 1907.

Shades of the '50s

fanhead — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 21:42:00 +0000

In reply to Minneapolis: 1907:

With the exception of the Metro building the rest of the town looks rather modern for the times.

Navy Blue

Angus J — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:02:29 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

Since several people seem interested in the bathing costumes I thought I would have Gemini make a colour version of the black and white photo.

After 1906

mgolden — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 04:19:00 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

I just noticed that Wikipedia states that Young's Million Dollar Pier was built in 1906 and opened on July 26, 1906. Pretty quick work if the dates are right.

[Young's Ocean Pier was built around 1891. His Million Dollar Pier came a million dollars later. -- Dave ]

getting the fish-eye by the seaside

crazyanglo — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 13:05:13 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

That girl looking at the camera does NOT like having her personal beach space invaded.

Monoculture

mgolden — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 02:50:18 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

These pictures of beach scenes from the early 1900s are striking because of the extent to which the attire is a monoculture. Everyone in dark colors - I am guessing navy. The kids all wearing sailor suits with white stripes or stars, the men with a white color around their necks and pants down to the knees. Women (but not men) wearing giant hats.

In that crowd, the two kids in light colors stand out: the one in the right foreground and the one in just above and to the left of the center of the frame. I wonder, were they being punished for something?

In the Navy

Ceejay — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 10:44:25 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

blue swimming outfits that is for everyone except for a couple of those kids.

My Beach....My Sand

Donovan Nuera — Tue, 23 Jun 2026 06:12:11 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

"Where the heck did all these Kooks come from???!!!" Viola, the Girl with the 1000 Yard Stare

Frankly Cross

archfan — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 08:07:51 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

I wonder if they quote Buddy from Scrooged: "Why am I beset by these sea urchins!"

You Said There Would Be Ice Cream

Wholehog — Mon, 22 Jun 2026 04:22:24 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

She is definitely not delighted.

Big, widow mansion

jsmakbkr — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 23:16:10 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

The grand mansion that takes up most of the view of buildings on the right (west) side of Fifth Avenue was (at the time) occupied by Alice Claypoole Vanderbilt, the widow of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. Her late husband (sometimes called "Corneil") had been the president and chairman of the New York Central Railroad during the Gilded Age before suffering a stroke and dying in 1899 at age 55. She never remarried, and lived by herself in the mansion (with the support of three dozen servants) until it was sold in 1926 to developers who had bought up the land underneath it. She moved ten blocks further up Fifth Avenue, where she died in 1934.

Delight??? Really?

louJudson — Sun, 21 Jun 2026 20:25:00 +0000

In reply to Sea Urchins: 1905:

None of those children looks the slightest bit happy, much less delighted. Perhaps the person who titled the photo was very cynical, or didn't know or like children ...

Ah well.

re: Why a reading circle?

JeffK — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 23:51:58 +0000

In reply to Hot Daily: 1943:

My dad was hired as a copy editor at the Grand Rapids [MI] Press in 1968. His team had a circle of desks.

It was a brand-new very-briefly state-of-the-art building where reporters pinned their typewritten copy to a conveyor which zipped it to the copy editors. The fine-tuned content was sent as paper via the rails to the Linotype operators.

Computers made the process immensely more efficient within a few years.

They don't Vanderbilt them like they used to ...

Donovan Nuera — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 19:56:00 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

The French Chateauesque "home" in right fore/mid ground is the mansion built by Cornelius Vanderbilt II in 1883 with 134 rooms and a forecourt surrounded by wrought-iron fences occupying 57th and 58th Street part of Fifth Avenue. He was the eldest grandson of the Commodore. George Post and Richard Morris Hunt were the architects. The largest private home ever built in New York City. It was demolished in 1926. The gate is now a public gate on the west side of Central Park at 105th street. The 5-story entrance hall of stone from Caen is at the Museum of Art. It had a 2-story ballroom and dining room, a gallery, and moorish smoking room. The Bergdorf Goodman building now occupies the site. It also had a mantel designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The Vanderbilts' summer cottage was The Breakers. Vanderbilt was hobbled by a stroke and then died of a brain bleed in 1899. He then set up his wife Alice Claypool Gwynne with a trust but she tried to keep the homes as best she could before a developer bought it and demolished it.

My Kitchen

Schmthaus — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 18:37:34 +0000

In reply to The Salmon Kitchen: 1964:

Except for the salmon pink color and the vintage appliances, that could pass for my current kitchen.

Choosing Style Over Comfort

glynis37 — Thu, 11 Jun 2026 02:29:48 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

Probably unable to bend at the waist due to her stiff corset.

Scared Stiff

Rhino — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:20:00 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

It looks like the woman in the back seat of the car pulling away from the curb at the left is absolutely petrified of being in such a contraption while her two companions appear to be laughing it up!

Automobiles

gilmore — Tue, 09 Jun 2026 16:17:00 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

It's amazing how quickly they took over the streets.

Bumper cars

scalar — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 01:16:53 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

Can you imagine driving in any lane in any direction anywhere in Manhattan? The traffic police must've sometimes felt helpless.

NY Steam

Timz — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 23:30:49 +0000

In reply to Downtown: 1962:

The smokestack at left is on the New York Steam Company plant on the west corner of Water St and Burling Slip/John St. The original Edison plant was on the west side of Pearl St, a block away; the plaque is now at the corner of Pearl and Fulton.

In the lower left corner, Pearl St has recently been cut through to a widened Water St. The bus is pointed at old Pearl St.

Just coming into view left of center: must be 60 Broad St under construction.

Steering wheels

copyboy — Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:51:59 +0000

In reply to Modern Manhattan: 1911:

Looks like some steering wheels were on the right, but some were on the left

Stuck In Time

ErikDavid — Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:26:28 +0000

In reply to B&O Depot: 1959:

If not for the cars, this photo looks as if it could have been taken in the 1910's.

No longer standing

Marchbanks — Sun, 31 May 2026 20:36:52 +0000

In reply to B&O Depot: 1959:

After the B&O ceased passenger service at Philadelphia in 1958, the station suffered a catastrophic fire in 1962 and was demolished as a consequence in 1963.

The Disappearing Railroad Blues

jsmakbkr — Sun, 31 May 2026 20:27:57 +0000

In reply to B&O Depot: 1959:

This 1959 picture would have been taken from the edge of the Chestnut Street Bridge over the Schuylkill River. While the main intercity rail tracks are on the western side of that river, the B&O's own lines were on the eastern side. The need for the station arose from the B&O's extension of its own rails from Baltimore to Philly, and its obsolescence (in 1958) was caused by the end of the company's passenger service north of Baltimore.

What's new?

Sgt McG — Fri, 29 May 2026 14:06:00 +0000

In reply to Welcome Truckers: 1959:

What were these buildings replaced with?

[Check the Street View below -- it was replaced with nothing. -- Dave]

Starting with a bang

GrahamClayton — Mon, 25 May 2026 10:54:06 +0000

In reply to Six and the City: 1928:

Total DeSoto sales for the first year of production, which commences in mid-1928, was just over 81,000, which eclipsed the previous marks set by Graham-Paige (1928), Pontiac (1926) and Chrysler (1924). By the end of 1928, DeSoto had a dealer network of 1,500.

The Series K was powered by an inline 6-cylinder engine producing 55hp, and remained unchanged for 1930. It was replaced in May 1930 by the Series CK.

Companion car

GrahamClayton — Mon, 25 May 2026 10:20:52 +0000

In reply to Ready for Takeoff: 1927:

The Falcon-Knight was created to fill the marketing gap between the Whippet and the Willys-Knight, with prices around the $1,000 mark - the pictured coupe sold for $995. Production began in early 1927 and ended in late 1928, although it is believed that a few remaining cars were assembled from parts on hand in January 1929, making a grand total of just over 11,000 Falcon-Knights built. Falcon Motors Corporation was quietly absorbed back into Willys-Overland, with the plant producing Willys bodies.