Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Helena, Montana

Here's a lovely turn-of-the-century view of downtown Helena, Montana. I tried to figure out what's going on in the middle of the street and wondered if maybe it was some sort of early street sweeper. If you double-click on the picture, you can take a closer look and maybe you can tell what's going on. The message reads:
Thanks for your pretty card. Hoping to hear from you soon.
Your Friend,
Daniel E. Fowler
For more information and historic pictures of Helena, click here.
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2 comments:

  1. MrCachetOctober 20, 2009 at 7:28 PM

    It is indeed a street sweeper. I have seen this view before. If you are interested in more real photo views of Helena, I would suggest Kennon Baird's site "Helena As She Was" :: http://www.helenahistory.org/

    The buildings in the downtown area, including the portion shown in this view burned at least twice, despite the majority of them being of stone construction.

    You'll also notice there are trolley tracks in this view. They were horse-drawn and later electric. A number of rather beautiful buildings were torn down in the name of Urban 'Renewal' in the late 60's and 70's, a decision the city has regretted ever since.

    You can probably match up the view on this card with some of the building views on Kennon's site.

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  2. Christine H.October 20, 2009 at 8:32 PM

    Wow, what a treat! Thanks so much. I haven't found that particular view yet, but that's only because there are so many views to look at on the site that I haven't gotten through them yet. Many thanks to Kennon Baird too. I am going to try to edit the post to include the link. What a great history.

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