Central City photo chronology exercise

[Dave Eggleston]

Hey guys, I’ve been lurking for a bit and thought I should make a first post to help pay back for the great information I’ve picked up on the Forum. Sorry it's a long one.

I’ve been looking on and off at Central City as a future layout subject, triggered by Rick’s great map in the files section and Abbott’s books on the Gilpin and CCRR. Digging through the dozens of photos out there online and in books created some confusion over what was in place when. So I've I taken a stab at creating an evolution of the spurs, chutes and businesses north of the yard from 1879 to the 1920s (Central City mine to the crossing at Spring Street) through using changes to key structures in the photos. It’s been a fun exercise and surprising how much operational interest existed outside the actual yard. Now if I just had 24’ to build the layout to scale!

The Temple of Fashion (Forrester’s Hall) murals from 1876 to after the C&S abandonment seemed a good starting point, and I found at least 8 mural variations. Next I looked at Hawley’s warehouse (at least 5 variants) and the Armory (at least 6) and started to relate those to the Temple of Fashion/Forrester’s murals where I could. Then I looked at when other buildings show up or change in relation to Hawley’s, the Armory and Forrester’s Hall: Zang’s, Reef’s, the coal bins, the coal shed, a house showing up on the corner at Bourion and Nevada in ca 1898, changes to the baseball field, the building that would add a second floor and eventually get the AOUW mural. Equipment in photos offered clues as did the rare dating written on pictures. Cross-referencing photos with Sanborn (1886, 1890, 1895 and 1900) and Rick’s map focused the order further.

Next, I put 80 photos from online sources into powerpoint creating a sortable deck (unique book photos still need to be added). Rough grouping emerged quickly. There are holes but it’s coming together; it’s early in the process and I haven’t referenced any other primary sources so I expect some mistakes at the moment.  But I think I’m on to something I wanted to share for thoughts and input as I solidify a spreadsheet covering the photos.

I’ve set up 11 groupings, which I’ll walk through, with a single example for each grouping. I'm including links but if photos are preferred I can edit this with those. Just seemed it would make the post way too long.

1 - Temple of Fashion/Dry Goods Carpet mural; Hawley flat roofed but missing warehouse section to south and the chute is there; the Armory is unpainted and mostly unlettered – 1878  see: DPL x-11619 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/9619/rec/1
2 - Temple of Fashion (with lower half painted out) mural; Hawley flat roofed now with addition to south and enclosed chute; Armory now has Westman & Newall sign; dump coal bins siding – ca 1880 see: DPL x-11622 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/9663/rec/1
3 - Blackwell’s Durham mural; Hawley structure flat roofed; Armory still Westman & Newall; dump coal bins now missing; bonus: DSPP boxcar at Hawley – ca 1885? see: DPL Chs.x4700 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll21/id/10737/rec/1
4 - Bros Pouch mural; Hawley still flat roofed; Armory now has Armory sign on roof truss and is unpainted; baseball field single grandstand structure; bonus: a worn out DSPP boxcar at Hawley – ca 1887-89?  see: DPL x-2550 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78659/rec/2
5 - Beeman’s Gum mural; Hawley flat roofed with worn Woodward billboard on south wall; Armory is unchanged; Zang’s building appears; house at Bourion corner (three lots up from the Armory) appears – ca 1896-99  see DPL x-2533 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78620/rec/1
6 - Beeman’s Gum mural; Hawley now peak roofed but not yet lettered for Hawley; Zang’s; Armory with truss roof (façade not visible) – ca 1898-1900 see: DPL L-27 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/70907/rec/3 
7 - Beeman’s Gum mural; Hawley now lettered for Hawley and Woodward billboard gone; Armory unchanged; house at Bourion; single grandstand at baseball field; building that will sport AUOW sign appears but without the mural; Zang’s -- ca 1900 see: DPL x-2530 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78861/rec/1
8 - Beeman’s Gum mural; Hawley unchanged; Armory now painted white; house at Bourion; single grandstand at baseball field; Zang’s; building that will sport AOUW mural still not painted – ca 1902 see: DPL L-579 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/70898/rec/1http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/70898/rec/1
9 - Forrester Hall “Ms<…>” (billboard cropped) mural. This doesn’t show any rail facility but AOUW billboard now present .  Ca 1903? see: DPL x-2653  http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/326/rec/1
10 - Forrester Hall Dry Climate mural; Hawley’s and all other buildings as before; now Neef’s beer warehouse on south side of Hawley’s; bonus: early C&S lettered boxcars – ca 1905 see: DPL x-2596 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78615/rec/1http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/78615/rec/1
11 - Forrester Hall OWL mural; all buildings unchanged expect for doubling size of baseball grandstand and the coal shed across from ball field south of Neef’s– ca 1910 to post-C&S see: DPL x-11614 http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/9670/rec/1

Questions:
- Does this already exist and I've missed it?
- For Group 9 – can anyone identify the cropped mural on Forrester’s Hall? I feel I’ve seen it somewhere.
 - Any insights on the cars that appear in the above photos to help with dating? I’m looking at my resources but feel this group can tighten some dates.
- Is this useful to anyone?

Dave Eggleston
Seattle, WA

[Ken Martin]

Dave,

Two books to look for:

"Central City and Blackhawk Then and Now" 1961 Frank Hollenbeck.
"Mining Gold to Mining Wallets Central City, Colorado 1859-1999" 1999 Allan Granruth.

Both books have building identification and histories.

A postcard I found, check the car next to the bus depot.



Ken Martin

[Southpark]

Ken,
That car at the bus depot shows in a photo, if I recall right, at Golden.  I think it maybe in Golden Historical Society online collection.
Tom Klinger

[South Park]

  Here is the same car at Silver Plume.  Note the headlights
move with the steering.  Someone has deeply customized
this old Model T !

[Jeff Young]

“Every Puff a Pleasure” is a slogan of M & O Cigars.  All the references I found online, though, have the M & O in block letters, not script….

Cheers,
Jeff.

[Keith Hayes]

Jeff, please post an illustration for our viewing pleasure. Seeing Beeman's Gum, OWL and Zang: we need these local examples to balance the eastern brands that proliferate the decal sheets.

[Jeff Young]

[Dave Eggleston]

Jeff,

Interesting. The billboard in Central's script variant is something I've seen before, I just can't locate where. Googling M&O so far has yielded nothing like it. A one of a kind?

[Dave Eggleston]

Thanks, Ken, I've ordered those titles, thankfully each for less than $10 (first search of Granruth's was priced $149!). It'll be interesting to have them in hand for this exercise.

I'm also creating a chronology of the railroad's receivers (and maybe some shippers) along Spring and Gregory Streets--almost every one was fed by a chute, dump or gravity unloading of merchandise, coal, lumber and possibly hay and beer. I'll be curious to see what those titles say about these businesses.

I did see that photo of the car parked by the OWL billboard posted by you in an earlier thread. Looks like someone had some good fun in the mountain roads.

[Jeff Young]

Hi Dave,

It’s possible that someone else was also using the “Every Puff a Pleasure” slogan.

M&O was advertised in the area, though.  From Durango:

Cheers,

Jeff.

[Dave Eggleston]

Jeff,

Thanks, yeah, a bit more research shows the M&O brand was pretty pervasive in Colorado. There is a picture in Abbot's CCRR book of Forks Creek with a very nice M&O billboard across the creek from the station.

What is interesting is the lettering style. Every M&O billboard I've found so far has the block, not script, lettering. An initial but not exhaustive scan through a few books looking at Idaho, Georgetown and Blackhawk don't reveal anything like the Central City billboard. Hopefully the books I've ordered will reveal more on this.

[Dave Eggleston]

Hollenback’s book closed some gaps. I’ve identified some 30 (so far) buildings built or remodeled after 1879 helpful to dating railroad-era photos.

Three photos (on page 339, 342 and 347) from Abbott and McCoy’s Gilpin Railroad Era have dating that long confused me, so seemed a good start for this exercise.  I’ll show a crop of each photo and a sketch of the buildings in question to show what I'm seeing.

On page 347 is a UPD&G train running on the last curve into town, dated to the early 1890s.



I think it may date later:
- The lunch room building on Main St, built ca. 1895
- The livery below this, built ca. 1890-94
- The two sheds above the train, built  ca. 1890-95
- Sauer McShane’s peaked roof, built ca. 1895
-      Two other buildings push the photo date to at least 1897: The Partelli block on Main Street, and the Dorris Block on Gregory Street (if I’ve identified the right building) both were built in 1897.

This photo seems most likely 1897-99.

Two photos of the railroad have long had me scratching my head, those on page 339 and 342. The dates just never seemed quite right.

First, page 342:



Several structures that should push dating into the 1890s:
- The baseball grandstand built in 1890
- Trusses on the Armory’s roof from ca. 1890-93
- The livery across from Sauer McShane built ca. 1890-94
- The final Catholic church built 1893
- Zang’s warehouse next to Hawley’s warehouse, built ca. 1894
- Sauer McShane’s peaked roof built ca. 1895
- The lunch room next to the Temple of Fashion built ca. 1895
- Partelli’s Block built 1897
Everything points to a 1897-98 date, though Hawley’s warehouse next to Zang’s has a flat roof, while on page 339 photo it has a peaked roof. Clearly, the photo on page 342 pre-dates that on page 339, but how much? Here's the page 339 photo:



Dating details in the p. 339 photo:
- Baseball grandstand built in 1890
- The Armory’s trusses added ca. 1890-93
- Livery next to Temple of Fashion built ca. 1890-94
- Catholic Church in its 1893 final form
- The lunch room on Main built ca. 1895
- Sauer McShane peaked roof built ca. 1895
- Eclipse Stable existed ca. 1895-99
- The Partelli block built 1897
- The Lampshire house built ca. 1897
- A small shed to the left of the boxcars in the yard not shown on the p. 342 photo

So this photo is 1897-99 but taken slightly later than the one on p. 342. Both are from before the C&S built the brick station, completed in August 1899, showing the 2nd frame freight house, bringing the total photos of this structure I know to three.  

Interestingly, there appears to be a lot of change in the area between the baseball field and Gregory Street, especially from 1895-1905. For the modeler this offers some interesting options as various shipping points come and go. At the same time the track arrangement itself seems to be remarkably static from maybe 1885 to the end of operations, with the original coal dump and spur pulled out by ca. 1887, the main yard gaining a team and additional runaround on the north side of the freight house by 1890, and a spur near the Central City mine put in sometime around 1905-1910 that actually seems to me to have serviced the lumber yard on Gregory street below it.

A lot more work to do! Any thoughts or input?