Friday, March 25, 2016

 An old photo postcard image of Visalia's July 4th parade in 1908. The photograph was taken 'looking' northeast, near the intersection of Main and Locust Streets.          This was during the time that the U.S. Navy's Great White Fleet was going around the world, thus the nifty horse-drawn battleship float.
You can see the old Tulare County courthouse at the upper left, which was at the NW corner of Church St. and Center Ave.


A 1910 photo postcard of Tulare, by photographer John Bowers of Long Beach.
This is a view looking north down J Street from Kern Avenue.   This area was also known as Front Street.
 Close-up:


 Photo postcard view of the Southern Pacific Railroad Depot (now the Depot Restaurant), on Oak Ave., Visalia.  Circa 1921.    
The old county courthouse is the background.   This courthouse was built in 1876.  It was torn-down after it sustained significant damage from the 1952 Tehachapi earthquake. 
  

 An old photo postcard view of Main St., Visalia. Circa 1907.
Visalia's Carnegie "Free Library" is at the left foreground of this image, which was on the NE corner of Encina and Main Streets.    
 Terry Ommen recently commented on this postcard, in his Visalia history blog, he said:  
"...On the far left is the Carnigie Library (gone now) and on the far right is the Askins Sheet Metal Works (also gone now.) The Askins business was at this location from 1904 to 1911. In order to date this picture, it helps to know the library was finished in 1904, so I date this photograph to be from the first decade of the 20th century. There are a few interesting things about this photograph. Notice the dirt streets, cement sidewalks, and there are still some wooden buildings on Main Street."
 A couple of close-up views:
 



Photo portrait of a woman in the polka-dot dress, from the Visalia studio of  E. M. Davidson.  Circa 1893.


Photo by the studio of Robinson & Churchman (Miss Ida Robinson & Schuyler E. Churchman), circa 1899.


 Photo postcard of Lindsay's Nazarene Church, circa 1911.


An early Tulare County biker with Harley, circa 1915.      This is from an old photo postcard.   
In the background, there's a sign for the Visalia Steam Laundry company.  This company served Visalia and some of the smaller communities in the area.     It looks like he is on a 1914 Harley Davidson.   
I'm not exactly sure where this photo was taken...  but the structure behind him could be the Brick Block building in Woodlake.

1 comment:

  1. Hi... Firstly, this is such a beautiful blog, the photos are lovely! I have a question regarding the woman in the polka dress. This is a mere guess, but I think she looks an awful lot like my 3rd great-grandmother. I've been digging into my family tree, researching my 3rd great-grandparents who were married in 1894 and lived in the Tulare region. I've hit a brickwall regarding her husband, hoping one of your unknown photos, might be him. I stumbled upon your blog and was wondering if maybe you could help me? Do you have an email address I could write to? Any help you could give would be much appreciated, thanks!

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