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Detroit, Michigan, circa 1911. "Northwestern High School, main corridor." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.
The amazing feature to me is the sheer width of the hallway, especially since there are only lockers on one side part of the way. Wonder why they built them so wide back then?
You can see how long it look to take the photograph by looking at the clock on the ceiling. You can see the blur of movement between 2:55 and 3.
Probably one of my biggest pet peeves when going into a modern-day school (the one I work in included) are the miles of added-on conduit snaking along the walls and ceiling. Every obsolete intercom system, security camera, and fluorescent lighting conversion seems to have its own set of random tubes and junction boxes littering up the ceilings and soffits. It's nice to see a fresh, pristine hallway, free of plaster patches, conduit, and those God-awful fluorescent pendants -- though I'm sure the existing lighting must have made for some pretty dim evenings.
Ah, the peal of those big electric bells! Run -- you're late! Today's kids get only a lackluster tone fed through the P.A. speakers.
It was a beautiful sound at the end of the school day. Not so much in the morning.
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