The great 1942 flood (a)

The great 1942 Hamburg flood! All caused by the "crick" in the backyard. My memory of that crick was that it was, oh maybe 2 feet deep, and you could get across it in maybe 3 or 4 hops. Apparently, that didn't hold true when it was in flood stage.

The great 1942 flood (b)

Obviously, I don't know who these people are. But down the street - where there is a tree in the side yard - is that 232 Washington Street just beyond the tree?

The great 1942 flood (c)

I wonder where Grandpa's taking these pictures from, and how did he get there? By rowboat, perhaps? The water seems to be swift-moving. And I counted the steps to the Gerber's front porch in one of the old pics - there were six of them. So this is pretty deep water, since it's essentially up to the porches.

The great 1942 flood (d)

That garage/shed was still there in the 60's. It was fun to peek into it, but it was usually empty. BTW, how did this flood affect the furnaces in the houses? I remember the Gerbers having a coal-furnace in the basement. What happened when the water flooded into the furnace?

The great 1942 flood (e)

Last flood pic for now. There are some more in the third photo album, but we're aways from there. Is that the Gerber's place directly across the street here? The location seems right (and they did have a side yard), but that sure doesn't look like Grandpa and Grammy Gerber on the porch.

Photo Magic - 1909

Okay, I know I promised flood pictures next, but here's one from the album I'm presently scanning that I just gotta post now.

It's an intriguing photo. For the record, the scratchiness around the bottle, and the inverted upside-down text on the wall in the right background are in the photo itself. But it's the bottle itself I want to draw your attention to. You may have to enlarge to image to see this, but...

I thought the label on the bottle was kind of "crumpled". But when I magnified the image (to remove photo 'spots'), lo and behold, that isn't a label - it's a small image of a young man! The 'label' is his shirt, and his head goes up to the shoulder of the bottle.

So let's see now. Grandpa posed the (older) man looking contemplatively at a bottle on a table. Then he took a second image (of the same man in his younger days perhaps?) and somehow inserted it into the first image. And the only 'evidence' he left of this are those telltale scratches around the bottle.

Would someone kindly tell me how he pulled this off in 1909! Did he cut out a hole in the first negative and insert the small portrait from a second negative? How? And how did he get the "younger" image to be just the right size to "fit into" the bottle? Finally, how did he manage to print a positive image from that?

I think Grandpa was born 100 years too soon. If he was living in today's world, he'd be a wizard at Photoshop. I am in total awe of this photo.

17. Sam Kistler's Farm

Oh, I like this photo, despite not having any idea who the Kistlers are. A brief glimpse of farm-life at the turn of the century. A pig and a chicken in the foreground. The young girl in the center-front holds a cat, and neither of them stay still quite long enough to keep in focus. And the lady in the back "poses" as if to feed the chickens.

18. Two Horses

Both horses - but especially the one on the right - stand remarkably still and thus most of the photo is in crisp focus.

Grandpa lists this as being taken at Front & Washington Streets. Where's Front Street - down towards the river?

I'm guessing this is a stable, not a farm. As seen in the 1914 King Frost, the horse was still the primary means of transport at this time. I have trouble visualizing where the horses owned by all the Hamburg townspeople were kept. In stables? On nearby farms? Did (almost) every family own a horse or two?

19. Bob & Hazel ( I think)

Ooo, this is a neat picture for so many reasons. I am presuming this is Hazel and Bob. This is the first pic that had no text by Grandpa; that will be true for the rest of this album.

First of all, this gives a glimpse of what toys were like in the 1910's. The crane seems to be made from (what we called when I was a kid) an Erector Set. If so, that's a pretty spiffy creation. I sucked when it came to building things with our erector set. Which means I knew early on, that I wasn't destined to be an engineer.

I don't know if the funnel and pan to the right are part of the erector set or not. I do like the fact that Hazel is wielding a little wrench and is apparently building something. None of that chauvinistic bullcrap of "a woman's place is in the kitchen" in this household!

The box at the lower left is titled "spelling blocks". I remember having those also as a kid. It was much more fun to build things from thoem than from the erector set. I have no idea what the toy in the background, leaning against the wall, is.

Finally, I like all the nails in the sole of Hazel's shoe. There's no way she'd make it through airport security nowadays.

20. House

Oh, I wish Grandpa had written notes for the rest of these photos! This house has an "edge of town" feel to it. Is that Grammy Ludwig as a young woman in the left-foreground, holding the umbrella? Is this her family?

I love the family dog, and the little kid giving it a hug. And what's that contraption off to the right, that looks like a giant watering pitcher? It's mighty big to be hoisted aeound to water plants, but what else would it be?

21.Another home

Another great photo of somebody's home. It doesn't appear related to the previous family. Are those grapevines hanging down over the porch?

If I didn't know better, I'd think this is a modern house. I like the "false brick wall" facing up on the second floor. But I have no clue who the two women are in this pic.

22. Farm

A farm... somewhere. It doesn't seem to be related to either of the houses in the previous pair of pictures.

This 'panoramic' shot seems to have strained the capabilities of the camera. The farm doesn't "move", so you'd think everything would be in sharp focus. Not so. Maybe that's the reason you don't see many early "faraway" photographs.

23. Four Women

An intriguing photo. The glue on one of the corners of this pic was worn away, so I was able to peel back the photo a bit, and discovered there were some notes on the back.

It listed woman #1 (I'm supposing this goes left-to-right) as "Emma K.". #2 was listed as "Mrs. I. M." And #4 was listed as "Annie B.". Nothing listed for #3, although I didn't peel the entire photos away from the album page.

FWIW, of the few pictures that I could "peek" at the back, this was the only one that had any notes on it. I didn't want to risk damaging any of the photos trying to peel them back.

24. Grandpa

The last picture in this album. A self-portrait, or did Grammy take this pic? It was excellently done. Everything's in focus, and other than removing a couple "dust spots", I didn't need to do any enhancing.

The picture actually doesn't belong with the rest of these photos. We'll meet it again in the other old album - it was taken in 1909, and the location was listed as "Schuykill". I like the socks, the tie, and the starched shirt collar.

The photo album was only about 25% filled. I feel like Grandpa considered this a "set" of some kind. He put the 23 pics in an album, then added his "signature" with this last photo. The rest of the album was deliberately left empty.

Maybe it's intended to be a "The Best Of..." album. Or maybe it was meant to show the places he held dear to his heart. I wish he was here to tell us.

Next up - some pictures of the great "1942 Flood". I never thought I'd see those again. They are awe-inspiring. After that, it's 100+ pictures from another photo album of Grandpa's. A couple pictures in that book go back to 1907 - a full century. I have that album about 50% scanned. It's a labor of love, but it is a bit time-consuming.

Hazel and...

A pair of cute children. The one on the right looks at lot like a young Hazel. Hmmm. So does the one on the left. Maybe Hazel had a twin sister. Nope. So what's going on here?

Hint : Janet can explain what's going on in this photo. :-)

Hazel and Bob

Now how did Hazel persuade Bob to play "house" with her?

Bob

By the way, I'm almost certain these are Christmas-time pictures. To the right of Bob is the edge of Grandpa's Christmas display, including a model train ("O" scale), houses, benches, telephone poles, etc. Grandpa seems to have really enjoyed putting these up each December. We'll see some pictures of each year's efforts when we get to the next photo album.

This acitvity is ??

That may be Hazel in the center. If that's Bob to the left, he sure is a lot shorter than Hazel. He's the eldest of the four siblings, isn't he?

I have no idea who the girl on the right might be. And I have no idea what they're doing. All three seem to have sticks (or wooden spoons?) in their hands and are doing something in that wooden box.

Grandpa listed this as "Washington Street", but I can't place where this would be at 234.

South Third Street (a)

A really cool house. And big, too. One of Grammy & Grandpa's residences prior to 234 Washington Street, perhaps?

There's a whole bunch of people in this photo. Don't worry too much about identifying them - we'll get a closer-up picture in a bit.

BTW, I suspect Grandpa took this photo the same day as the King Frost Carnival pics. Cuz if you look closely (by enlarging the image), you'll see a jack-o-lantern on the pillar to the left of the steps going onto the front porch. And several American flags off to the right.

South Third Street (b)

Grandpa also labeled this pic "South Third Street". Is it the same house as in the previous photo? If so, I'm guessing this is at the back of the house.

Three men - friends of Grandpa's? And one dog, who didn't quite hold still long enough while the picture was being taken.

That's a cool water spout on the left, going into a wooden "box". And what, pray tell, is the purpose of that box? The water's just gonna fill it up and soon overflow anyway. Bear in mind, that this is an Arizonan talking. We don't know much water coming off a rooftop. ;-)

South Third Street (c)

And here's the close-up of the folks at the house that day. Twenty-two of them, if I'm counting correctly. Plus two jack-o-lanterns. And a bunch of Chinese lanterns swaying gently in the afternoon breeze.

The men on either end in the foreground were also in the previous picture. I don't think our Great-Grandfather Mandon is here, but I did find that picture you were referring to, Janet. It's in the other old album.

Kudos to anyone who can identify anyone in this pic. I wish time-travel was possible, even for an hour, to go back and meet these people, however briefly.

Kids (a)

We've now moved on to Pine Street, but still in 1914. Maybe Grandpa and Grammy lived here instead. The girl here is about the right age for Hazel, but her hair looks a bit too dark.

Kids (b)

Now we've moved to 1915, and to Washington Street. I don't recognize the wallpaper. I'm guessing this is Bob, dressed up as Grandpa, pipe and all. And I love the dead-pan expression.

Coming next - some Christmas pics of Hazel and Bob, and some photographic fun by Grandpa.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (a)

Here's the first set of pics from one of Grandpa Ludwig's old photo albums. These seven pics are all from the King Frost Carnival in 1914. This photo was posted already (although I went back and redid the enhancements. See comments for this pic at the original post below.

Not much to add, except that upon re-examination, that's not a booth behind the band; it's one of the floats. The sponsoring company's name is mostly hidden by the band, but the letters appear to be "A. F. ...NE", and they sold stoves.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (b)

I'm pretty sure this is just to the right of the first picture. That's probably the band at the extreme left of the photo.

The beginning of the "Farm Impliments" company sign can now be seen. It looks like the name "Feaver".

The sign on the main float looks to be something close to "CMP 78 Post", and you get a look view of the team of horses that pulled it.

I like the street "curb" visible in the right of the photo. It looks to me like its made up of red bricks stacked on a slant.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (c)

And this looks to be a bit further to the right of the previous pic. That's the same float at the left as was in the last photo.

I like the big flag, probably stretched across/above the street along a power line, and waftng in the sky

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (d)

Still on State Street. All these pics seem to have been taken after the actual parade. I wonder what you did then at the carnival. It looks like most of the floats had people sitting in them. So maybe you walked up and chatted with them.

The name on the float on the left looks like "?. L. Merkel & S(ons)". And it kinda sorta looks like someone sitting in it that might be playing an organ or a piano maybe. Hard to say.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (e)

We've now moved over to Washington Street. And I realize that none of these buildings existed anymore by the time I came to know Washington Street. Yet, this just has the "feel" of being taken slightly beyond the Gerber's house (and from across the street), looking back down toward Grammy & Grandpa Ludwig's house.

Its interesting that the street itself is unpaved, with no curb.

So who is the group in the foreground? Well, they're all carrying bouquets of flowers (while the next group isn't); they're all ...um... elderly; and most of them (but not all) are ...um... portly.

So my guess is that these are verterans of the Civil War. If they were in their 20's when they fought in the 1860's, they'd be in their 70's in 1914. Just my guess.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (f)

One last shot along State Street. I'm posting these in the order they were in the album, which is not chronological order. It's hard t0 read the sponsor's name on the float in the foreground. "Diener's? "Biener's"?

BTW, the text I've put on these images is the text Grandpa Ludwig put below these pics. He stopped putting text about halfway through this album; you'll know when, cuz I won't have added any text as well.

King Frost Carnival - 1914 (g)

The last of the 1914 King Frost Carnival photos. No street listed for this one.

The factory in the background is something-or-other Broom Works. Is it perhaps the big red-brick factory that was "across the crick" behind Grammy & Grandpa Ludwig's house? Aren't there railroad tracks back there?

One last thing - note the "ghost people" at the right-hand side of the photo. I think cameras in 1914 had very slow shutter speeds. So people "posing" for a photo had to stay motionless for a couple seconds. That's fine for adults, but as we'll see later, kids and animals cannot always stay still. So these "ghosts" (I hope they show up in the blog images) are merely people who are moving around.

Even Older Pics (a)

Oh wow! Janet has sent me some photo albums, presumably of pictures taken by Grandpa Ludwig, some of which go back as far as 1909. ID'ing anyone other than Grammy and Grandpa is going to be nigh near impossible, but these are fascinating photos. This one here is just to whet your appetite. This is the original image...

Even Older Pics (b)

...and this is after a little bit of enhancement. Grandpa was good about giving notes about what/where/when below a lot of these pics. I've chosen to incorporate that text into the image itself. Hope that's okay by everyone. Alas, Grandpa almost never added the "who" to his notes.

A couple comments about this pic. The event was called the "King Frost Carnival" (as opposed to the present-day King Frost Parade). The band's name on the drum is something like "O.J.I.A.N's Band". It was based in Hamburg. It was established in... well, I can't quite make that out.

The sign in the upper-left spells "Impliments" (sic) wrong. Curiously, the smaller sign just below it spells it correctly. So I'm wondering if "impliments" isn't the Pennsylvania Dutch spelling of the word.

I'm not too sure what the "booth" is right behind the band, but it sells stoves.

I never would have dreamed that the King Frost celebration went back a full century.

More pics to follow as I get them scanned. Thanks, Janet!!

Scout Camping (a)

There are a lot of scouting pictures in the 1930's photo album. My Dad loved being a scout leader.

Scout Camping (b)

I'm not sure if this is just a camp-out by his troop, or if it's part of a regional event, like a Jamboree.

Scout Camping (c)

Eating - the favorite activity at camp-outs. I don't know any of these boys, and I don't even know what that two-wheeled contraption is in the background. My boy scout troop never had something like that with us when we went camping.

Scout Camping (d)

This shot makes me think there was more than one troop involved - the tents are quite scattered. I'm thinking the kids lined up are Dad's troop. That's actually pretty good attendance for a camp-out. Half the kids are in sleeveless-undershirts, so this must've been during the summer.

Scout Camping (e)

Alas, after the meal, its time for KP.

Cyclical Fashion (a)

Does fashion evolve, or merely recycle itself? Here's a picture from (probably) the early 30's. A scouting buddy of Dad's maybe. And here....

Cyclical Fashion (b)

...is a picture of my son, Jason, from Christmas 2005. Hopefully, leisure suits won't make a comeback.

Misc. Bungalow pics (a)

These three photos are in pretty bad shape. I did what I could to enhance them. Here, that's Grandpa Ludwig on the right, who's spotted the cameraman. I'm not sure who the other people are.

Misc. Bungalow pics (b)

Building something. Maybe at the bungalow; maybe not. I think that's Uncle Bob on the left.

Misc. Bungalow pics (c)

A badly under-exposed pic. But I can tell that this is Uncle Charlie and Aunt Hazel.

Misc. Bungalow pics (d)

No, this isn't the bungalow. I'm not sure why my Dad snapped this pic. A house out in the country that somehow caught his eye? Maybe. But why this particular one? Maybe someone he knew lived here.

More unknown places (a)

These four slides could be of anywhere from Hamburg to Reading to Tennessee. This is a beautiful photograph, wherever it is.

More unknown places (b)

Another pic of the same place. This is from a slide, meaning it was probably taken sometime in the 60's. For me, this has the "feel" of being the Schuykill river, somewhere around Reading. But that's a guess only.

More unknown places (c)

Another beautiful image, undoubtedly from somewhere in Berks County. But I'm thinking this was just some random spot that Dad found while driving around one day after a snowstorm. So I'm guessing that not even he could pinpoint the location anymore.

More unknown places (d)

I blew this image up, and the sign says "Zion Lutheran Church". It may be local, or it may be from a vacation we took into southern states, such as North Carolina and Tennessee. This pic was close (in Dad's box) to some slides of the Peachbottom Nuclear Reactor facility. I remember taking a tour of that place, but no longer remember where it's located.