Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Syracuse, New York, 1904. "Central Technical High School, Warren and Adams streets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company. View full size.
After some 40+ years of being closed, Central Tech was restored and reopened as a STEM-centered school.
There, in the lower left corner of the photograph, amidst the grass and adjacent to the curb, is a carriage step. These were once a common sight in America's cities and towns, as they eased the carriage ingress and egress effort.
[Generally known as mounting blocks. - Dave]
Hmmm. What do you suppose is the story behind the lady on the porch, at the far right of the picture? From what I can resolve, she appears to be observing the photographer.
As the photo in the comment below shows, East Adams Street is now much wider than it was at the time of the photo. If the hydrant hadn't been moved, it would now be in the middle of traffic!
I spotted another historic survivor in addition to Central Tech High itself, namely the humble fire hydrant at lower center. The hydrant, or rather its technological successor, remains in the same location.
A mentor who does re-photography clued me in to this little secret: locations of fire hydrants / fire plugs tend to be remarkably resistent to change, due to the amount of time and energy put into constructing underground water systems in the first place. It takes a lot of work to relocate the plumbing for fire hydrants.
While the above-ground fixture may change over years, hydrants' locations frequently stay unchanged for decades. Or in this case, over 115 years.
[The location may be unchanged, but the hydrants certainly aren't! - Dave]
Well THAT'S embarrassing! The result of too many images on the ol' desktop. Let's try again...
I am not good with technology and from time to time have searched how to rename a hyperlink to a short name. Many of you use it all the time on Shorpy. My biggest problem was I didn't even know the correct search words to use. But today I found it and am sharing it with other dinosaurs.
The long version looks like this:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-leave-clickable-link-blog-comments-ma...
But, after correct formatting -- read the link, the Clickable Link looks like this:
Clickable Link
The school is still there. E Adams street was widened and replaced the lawn on that side. Shorpy inspired me to learn how to embed a map.
My mother attended this school for a year or two after moving to Syracuse from North Dakota in 1917.
In 1958, 1959, and 1960, I was a part of the national spelling bee regionals in the Lincoln Auditorium at the school.
It was just “Central High School” then. I haven’t been back there since 1960, but it was a beautiful building inside as well as out.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5