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Syracuse, N.Y., circa 1900. "West Genesee Street." A postcard from the bygone days of hitching posts and mounting blocks. 8x10 glass negative. View full size.
Aside from the beauty of this place and time, sounds would be heard that would be impossible in later years, thanks to the industrial age. Imagine being in a doze on your porch, hearing the sounds of children playing a block away. The droning of a honey bee. The slam of a screen door. Voices from next door. The clop-clop of horses as they pranced down the street. All of this interspersed with absolute quietness! No wonder many folks are too tense today!
West Genesee Street was the Syracuse gold coast during the late 19th century and well into the 20th century. My husband's great great grandfather, Pieter John Brummelkamp, started a men's furnishings store in Syracuse during the 1860s and subsequently built a home on West Genesee. They went to Saranac Lake in the summertime. It was a great life.
This picture makes me feel relaxed like sipping lemonade on a Sunday afternoon.
With the hitching posts and mounting blocks comes the horse poop all over the street. Did the fellows in white clothes and rolling ash cans sweep these streets?
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