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Circa 1907. "Colonnade, Central Park, Louisville, Kentucky." In addition to the gleaming white public buildings seen here earlier, the Derby City was also home to many gleaming white people. 8x10 inch glass negative. View full size.
Frederick Olmsted was involved in the design of this park. The colonnade still stands, and actually supports vines now, which must have been the intent of the arts and crafts-era structure.
I'm enamored of the outfits on this group; they may be dated to some and a bit much to others, but I see a window into a time when appearance wasn't taken lightly. When the kids walked out that door the parents made sure they were representative of a family that cared. Surely outclasses the fashions of today.
Having spent the first 18 years of my life in Louisville, I am enjoying the photos of Louisville very much - please post more! My father worked for the L&N railroad and we took many trips by rail as I was growing up, each one starting and ending at Union Station, shown in the previous post.
I guess hats on ladies were on the way out by then. The mother with baby looks so ridiculous to modern eyes!
Shading the eyes is one thing, wearing a frilly lampshade is completely different!
Also a gleaming black person in the backgound.
The lad is certainly watching the lasses.
What are the lines coming from the top to the grass? For vines it seems to me. If so, it must be spring or fall, for they aren't showing.....yet.
Very serene looking park.
I have often wondered how gas lights were maintained, and here is the answer. The young man (teenager?) has used a ladder with hooks on the end to rest on the crossarm of the gas light. This would allow access to change the mantle and clean the glass. Any ideas on the contents of the container at the foot of the ladder?
[Probably naphtha -- he's fueling the lamps. Note the reservoir. - Dave]
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