I met with Minnesota historian Bruce White last week who will be using this photo of Northfield’s Bridge Square in the header (rotational banner photos) on his soon-to-be unveiled blogsite.
Can anyone pinpoint the approximate year that this photo panorama was taken? (This is not a quiz… I don’t know.)
Does the Northfield Historical Society have this photo in their collection?
Very cool picture.
The person that will know is Joan Olson at the Historical Society. The keys to dating will be the electrical poles, the raised roof of the Scriver Building and the presence of the mill on the east side of the river (visible on the far side of Bridge Square–then probably with a different name. Notice too that the square is just a big area of dirt, used primarily for parking and watering horses. Makes our current square look good–even with the dead grass!
Mary you are right on all counts. i will ask Joan this week and see what she says. But because of the poles and the raised roof of the Scriver building, I would say early 1900’s.
Chip says the building in the background was torn down in 1914, so it is before then. He wanted to read the banner over the Scriver block store, we think it says “hardware” but we can’t tell.
We think the stairway on the side of the building is metal which gives us a clue, but we are not sure.
From my knowledge of clothing it appears to be later than 1890–I would guess about 1905, but the electrical poles should give us a good clue. My guess is 1903 to 1905, but maybe I am too early.
Chip thinks 1913 or 14 before the building was pulled down.
Joan, where are you?
I have to disagree, Hayes, those are clearly 1897 model year horses in the picture.
Brendon, I respectfully disagree, although a couple are 1897 horses they are easily 10 years old or older–one looks like it might be an antique–no wait, its a mule!
Chip says the building in the background was torn down in 1916, so it could be later than 1914.
Sorry, Jane…
I was confused. Must have been the weekend that the Antique Horse Show was in town.
So, after talking with Joan, she said that the picture is between 1884 and 1900.
Mainly because NFLD did not get elec. poles until 1884 and because she does not see any cars in the picture. Cars start showing up in pictures around 1904.
She also cited the pitched roof and staircase on the wonderful building in the background for placing it between 1884 and 1900.
No charge for the research Griff, maybe some coffee at GBM!
Thanks Griff for the reference to my website MinnesotaHistory.net. After many months I’ve finally gotten it going. Please come and check it out. At the moment I don’t have the Northfield photo as one of the images rotating in the masthead, but once I locate the file I will put it on there!