Shapshots of History

By Editor | November 13, 2024 |

Mount Ayr street scene in 1914.

By Mike Avitt
In 1988, the Mount Ayr Record-News moved from 119 N. Taylor to 122 W. Madison. Many lost and forgotten items were discovered during the move including about 20 glass negatives.
In 1989 the negatives were made into prints and Shirley Hickman published several in her column, “Ayr Views.”
The photos are random street scenes of little importance. I inherited these photos when I joined the Mount Ayr Depot Museum in 2001.
After studying the pictures, I determined the photos were shot between the fall of 1913 and the spring of 1915. I also believe these pictures were taken as a test to see the final product; experimenting with a new camera, let’s say, because the shots are random and of little significance.
This week’s photo is one from the glass plate negatives.
We see three men at the corner of the Timby building on the northeast corner of the Mount Ayr square.
The two men on the right are hamming it up for the camera. The third man is pushing a handcart that says, “Mt. Ayr Electric Co.” on the side. I believe the electric company is advertising on the cart and that the cart is used to transport mail to and from the train station. This cart is not designed for heavy loads.
Now, because the negatives were discovered at the Record-News, my guess was that an employee took the pictures.
I have changed my mind.
I have spent many hours searching the newspaper for any evidence of the Record-News experimenting with a new camera in the years 1913 to 1915 and found nothing relating to the Record-News. But, I did find that at former employee of the Record-News, James Lawhead, purchased an ultramodern camera in November 1914 and was later taking pictures at Clearfield and Redding.
I cannot, however, tie the glass negatives into this explanation.
There were other photographers around taking pictures. William Belvel was a part time barber and part time photographer. He was living in Mount Ayr from 1913 to July of 1915 when he moved to Kellerton and opened a photograph studio in the former Lovell gallery. Belvel would likely have owned a camera that produced glass negatives.
The Record-News reports Belvel was taking photos around Kellerton in the second half of 1915.
Professional photographers often printed street scenes on postcards and sold them. Most of the high quality photos that exist from that era came from postcards. The rest came from newspapers.
They, too, took high quality pictures which were transferred into their papers. World War I and amateur photography (circa 1920) put a big dent in the professional trade.
At the Mount Ayr Depot Museum, we have only a fraction of the high quality picture postcards produced in Ringgold County from 1905 to 1920.
Some postcards have production numbers, some have hand-written titles, and some have no identifying markings. So, many of these postcards were mailed to other states which explains their scarcity. Others are buried deep in attics, closets, and basements. And some have just disappeared.
The Mount Ayr Centennial Book has some really old and interesting pictures. That book was produced in 1975 and the photos are low quality.
So, where are the high quality originals?
There are no credits given in the book. Where did those pictures come from and, more importantly, where did they go? That is a good question.
I read old newspapers frequently and I see in a 1971 newspaper “House for Sale.” There’s a 1971 photo of the house in the newspaper. Where is that original photograph? Where are the photos from the Mount Ayr High School Camera Club? Where are the photos of the Ringgold County Courthouse being built in 1926-27? I’ve never seen one.
The great news is we have means to improve and display historic photographs via the Internet. Most people have the Internet and can view new and old pictures on Facebook, Instagram, and other websites.
I have been taking my own history-related photos for almost 25 years now, so many of those pictures have some age on them. And I’m willing to share.
I have a good feeling that many historic pictures will be brought to light in the coming months and I will write about them the way I always do.