history obscura
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Gallery

Dating Old Images - Lorain, Ohio Example

10/11/2016

1 Comment

 
It's pretty straight forward to most people how to guestimate when an image was taken.  And many examples out there showing the way things used to be are postcards.  One of the first things I do is turn the card over and read the message.  What is the postmark?  That gives you a definite timeline of when it was actually sent.  But is that everything there is to go by?  No, and frankly the postage cancel is just part of the puzzle.

Here's an example to look at.  The Erie Avenue Viaduct in Lorain, Ohio.  On the back is a message and a visible cancellation stamp.
Picture
Picture
It might be hard to read the third number, but this postmark is Sep 8 1920 at 5:00 p.m. from Lorain, Ohio.  So in the image we see there are automobiles on the bridge of the styling that would point to the 20s. We also see boats on the canal or river.
Picture
Picture
One funny thing I notice, isn't that ship pretty big for that canal or river?  A Google search tells me that a swing bridge was installed at the Black River on Erie Avenue in the 1870s.  But the scale of these ships look a little off to me.  So I go searching and here is an earlier example.
Picture
This is a photo of the same bridge.  It's an earlier timeframe -- circa 1907.  The horse drawn wagon with man walking beside is exactly the same as the 1920 image.  This photo was taken by Willis Leiter who established his photo studio in Lorain in 1901.  He produced postcards from 1905 through 1915. 

My image was added to and colorized by presumably Hamm Studios in Toledo.  All the houses in the background where added--the original image lacks those details.  Bridge traffic was added, the automobile and the people walking with the exception of those people seen along the edge of the bridge in the image above.  The tug and ship was added, I'm not certain that swing bridge would have accommodated that large a boat.  The 1920s image is an actual image of the area from 1907.

Photo studios that produced postcards added elements to those images to either update them or enhance them.  Those cars and ships where similar to clipart that we are familiar with.  I'm not sure how they did it, but it was added in the photo reproduction process. 

Today this area looks vastly different (image below).  The original bridge was replaced with a bascule (draw) bridge in 1988. 
Picture
1 Comment
Linda Jean Ellis
1/28/2022 01:16:17 am

Thank you for your post; it is quite enlightening about the differences in the post cards due to updating.

The Charles Berry Bascule Bridge in Lorain, Ohio located in the vicinity of where the old swing bridge was in the post card image was dedicated in 1940. Also, in 1940 in Lorain the Lofton Henderson High Level bridge was dedicated. Because of the date of dedication they are sometimes referred to as the "Twin Bridges" but they are not identical in design.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2016
    September 2016

    Categories

    All
    Advertising
    Al Capone
    Anthracite Coal Mine
    Buffalo
    California
    Chicago
    Child Labor
    Cincinnati
    Columbus Indiana
    Elkhart Indiana
    Florida
    Georgia
    Illinois
    Indiana
    Indianapolis
    Indianapolis Indiana
    Iowa
    Kentucky
    Louisiana
    Michigan
    Missouri
    Mystery Photo
    New Orleans
    NYC New York
    Ohio
    Oklahoma
    Oregon
    Pennsylvania
    Puzzle
    South Dakota
    Then/Now
    Tutorials
    Washington

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Gallery