The Historic District

So very cool! I have been on a quest to find pictures of my houses ever since I bought them, but so far I havent had any luck. I'm sure they exist, at least in the background of some picture. I found some close ones where only if the photograph had turned the camera a just a bit to the side

I have found few newspaper articles describing the interrior though. Apparently my house was a social club at some point:

1806 Colonial wrote:I found a few pictures of my house on the NYC library website. I believe they were taken in the 1880s. Joseph and Abigail (pictured) were the second owners. Joseph's father built the house around 1806

The stereoscope slides were big in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, so the 1880s is probably a good estimate of when that shot was taken. I've seen stereoscope views cover just about every subject out there, but this is the first time I've seen one of a private residence. Just think - your house was already historic when that picture was taken!

Manalto wrote:Judging by the hats and open vehicles, I'd guess the photo is from about the time your library was built, certainly before WWI.

I'm thinking the same thing.
Open touring cars ended around 1908-10 models and nearly all cars had doors by the 1912 models. But that doesn't mean these can't be 5 yr. old cars. The hats and, maybe, the sleeves on the dresses might be a better clue...but I don't know about such things.

Olson185 wrote:The hats and, maybe, the sleeves on the dresses might be a better clue...but I don't know about such things.

That's why you have the internet; you don't have to know. I looked up women's hat fashions; it gets confusing, but that large profile seems to fall within the dates.

I think closer to 1905 than 1910. Second car in appears to be a curved dash Olds with tiller steering.

Nothing of the cottage but some from the bungalow. The neighbor gave me these from the sixties





And the town had this one on file, I think it is from the fifties.

Olson185 wrote:

Manalto wrote:Judging by the hats and open vehicles, I'd guess the photo is from about the time your library was built, certainly before WWI.

I'm thinking the same thing.
Open touring cars ended around 1908-10 models and nearly all cars had doors by the 1912 models. But that doesn't mean these can't be 5 yr. old cars. The hats and, maybe, the sleeves on the dresses might be a better clue...but I don't know about such things.

Gosh, thanks to everyone who chimed in on the date of my photo. Every little bit of input helps us build the historical timeline of our house.

Gothichome wrote:I think closer to 1905 than 1910. Second car in appears to be a curved dash Olds with tiller steering.

Gothichome you must have secret decoder glasses to make out such detail from that dark, grainy photo.

Manalto wrote:

Olson185 wrote:The hats and, maybe, the sleeves on the dresses might be a better clue...but I don't know about such things.

That's why you have the internet; you don't have to know. I looked up women's hat fashions; it gets confusing, but that large profile seems to fall within the dates.

Oh. I thought I have the internet for email and Skype (and it's conveniently bundled with cable TV & phone service).

One has to be careful about trusting the internet for correct information. It's a giant "echo chamber" of plagiarism in which misinformation gets amplified as much as, if not more than, correct information. Usually, when I say, "I don't know about such things", it means, "I don't have an interest in knowing about such things", lol.

Olson185 wrote:One has to be careful about trusting the internet for correct information. It's a giant "echo chamber" of plagiarism in which misinformation gets amplified as much as, if not more than, correct information.

I think by now most people know that it's prudent to confirm information gathered from the internet, particularly from unfamiliar sources. One method for finding reliable information, but only with certain topics, is to add to your search terms "site:.edu" and "site:.gov" which will filter for educational and government sites respectively. Of course, the range of topics is limited, but I've been pleasantly surprised.

Olson185 wrote:Usually, when I say, "I don't know about such things", it means, "I don't have an interest in knowing about such things", lol.

I thought we were trying to determine the age of the photograph for TexasRed, using all clues at our disposal.

One tip in dating photographs based on clothing styles, especially from the 1890s onward - look at old catalogs. There were many companies that came out with their new line of ladies' dresses, hats, and accessories every year. After you've seen a few of them, you can pick up on when trends were popular and when transitions were taking place.