Rochester, Michigan

Here are some real-photo postcards of Rochester, Michigan.

In case you're wondering what makes a real-photo postcard different from any other postcard, here's an explanation:

In 1903, Kodak introduced a camera that took postcard size photographs. Shortly thereafter, they started offering a service called Real-Photo Postcards that enabled anyone to create a postcard from any photograph they took. These cards allowed for rare and candid views that you wouldn't get with a commercial postcard. There are other postcards that resemble real-photo postcards, but you can generally tell the difference by looking for the tiny dots on the mass-produced ones. Real-photo cards, on the other hand, will be smooth.

Thanks to Rod Wilson, President of the Rochester-Avon Historical Society for information on these cards.

The picture shows the Homecoming crowd on Main Street in Rochester. This celebration took place on July 30 and 31, 1914. Main Street was paved with bricks two years later and a second set of tracks was added for the Detroit Union Railroad. According to Rod Wilson, the interurban railway met its demise in 1931.

The text of the card reads:

Dear Mother -  I arrived O.K. and have been busy for awhile and will tell you all when I see you

hope you are well + alright

ans soon,

daughter Emma

address Edith address

The second card shows some of the houses on North Main Street and the streetcar tracks. There is no text on the back. Rod Wilson tells me that these houses are still standing.

 

If you're interested in the history of Rochester, Michigan, be sure to check out the Remembering Rochester blog.

Cleveland Public Square- Cleveland, Ohio

The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) included the Cleveland Public Square in its Hall of Shame, because you have to take your life in your own hands to reach it across busy streets. Looking at old postcards, you can see that the streets have always been wide, although when there were just streetcars and very few automobiles, it was much easier to cross. Still, I think it's fair to say that the design was never great as a public square.

The square is actually a quadrant of squares, separated by busy streets. The original design was probably ideal for accommodating the various streetcar lines, but today it doesn't work very well. Recently there has been talk of consolidating the quadrants to make one square. PPS has also suggested slowing the traffic and narrowing the pedestrian crossings.

This is a picture of the Square in about 1906.

This card and the next one suggest very little traffic and relatively easy access to the Square.

Here you can see the quadrant and the streetcars.

Today, Cleveland's Public Square is a missed opportunity. I feel confident though, that the City of Cleveland will work to transform this square into the vibrant and lively center it should be.

Streetcar Sunday - Cleveland, Ohio

This week's installment of Streetcar Sunday takes us to Cleveland, Ohio.  Cleveland once had an extensive streetcar network. In 1904, when developers created a middle- and upper income community of Shaker Heights to the East of Cleveland, they also purchased right-of-way and installed a high-speed electric streetcar to connect Shaker Heights with downtown. The streetcar line was an important tool to guarantee their investment.

The last Cleveland streetcar ran in 1954, relatively late compared to many American cities. Some of the streetcar lines had already been converted to buses or trolley buses before World War II, but once the war started the conversions stopped until the war was over.

Recently there was a move to open a new streetcar museum in Cleveland near the Great Lakes Science Center, using the 31 streetcars inherited from the former Trolleyville USA Museum (also known as the Gerald E. Brookins Museum of Electric Railways.)  The plan also included operating historic streetcars on a short loop near the East Bank and through the Warehouse District. Instead, all but one of the cars were auctioned off. In late 2009, those cars were moved to various cities in the U.S. and Canada. The remaining car will be on display in front of the Children's Museum.

Come back tomorrow for another post on Cleveland. For a detailed history of streetcars in Cleveland, there is a book entitled Cleveland and Its Streetcars, by James Toman and James Spangler.

Please note that I added a few additional cards to previous Streetcar Sunday posts for Washington D.C. and Boston, in case you want to take another look.