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January 1941. "Street scene in Ambridge, Pennsylvania." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
When we moved from Alabama to Ambridge in 1981 our first Yankee winter looked just like this. It was COLD! BTW, it is interesting how many photos of Ambridge are in the Shorpy vault.
Appears to be a 1939 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Coupe
Otherwise, not much. I believe this may be the scene today:
A version of the shoe covers in use by the young lady on the right is still available today. I remember my mom having a pair like those in the picture.
Most of these Vachon street scenes in steel towns literally leave me cold. Brrrrrrr!
Thanks for a change of mood, Dave. This group could melt the snow just by giggling at it!
A timely reference to my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson, in her birthday week. I was privileged to pay my respects at the grave of the Belle of Amherst in early November. I hope that at least one or two of these lovely girls from Ambridge, Pennsylvania, read and appreciated the incredible Emily.
Ambridge is known for more than the company for which it is named. Ambridge was the site of Old Economy Village, one of the homes of the Harmony Society, among the most successful religious communal groups of the nineteenth century. There, the Harmony Society awaited the second coming of the Messiah. The Society dissolved in 1905, but the Village has been preserved and is worth a visit.
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