♦ Brickyard images. Per Elin Christianson of the Hobart Historical Society: "There were a number of brickyards in the Hobart area over the years, but the two largest and longest-lived were the W.B. Owen (later NATCO) and Kulage brickyards. The Owen/NATCO yard was located north of the Pennsy tracks at Lake Park Avenue. The Kulage brickyard was located south of the Pennsy tracks at Lake Park Avenue and Old Ridge Road. William B. Owen, in partnership with George Hinchcliffe, established the Hinchcliffe and Owen yard (on the NATCO site) in Hobart in 1882. Owen became sole owner in 1886 and began to experiment with the manufacture of terra cotta lumber and building tile. In 1887 the W.B. Owen Terra Cotta Works was established. Owen died in 1901, and in 1902 the company was sold to the National Fire Proofing Company, later known as NATCO. NATCO manufactured terra cotta, hollow clay goods and brick until 1965-66 when the yard was closed permanently and the buildings were demolished."
• Location, location, location — this post includes a high-aerial view of downtown Hobart in 1939, in which you can see the Owen/NATCO brickyard north of the Pennsy tracks, and the pit of the Kulage yard south of the tracks (if you can't find them, scroll to the end of the post for a labeled version of the photo).
• A set of three early photos of the Kulage Brick Works, possibly circa 1885-1890. The original photos have handwritten notes on the back, which I have transcribed to the "Description" section under each photo in the set.
• The Kulage brickyard to the left, the W.B. Owen brickyard to the right, circa 1890-1900; two faded photographs showing the carriage that represented the Kulage company in Hobart's Independence Day parade, July 4, 1895.
• A collage of views of the W.B. Owen brick works, dating to around 1898.
• The Kulage yard on the left and the National Fireproofing yard on the right, from a postcard postmarked 1908.
• Two undated postcard views of the National Fireproofing Co. (I'm guessing circa 1902-1923).
• A set of seven of undated photos, which appear to be fairly early, i.e., more or less prior to 1920. (These are large images; if you want to see details, please be sure to open them up to their "original" size.)
• The Kulage brickyard circa 1920, and an advertisement from the Hobart High School yearbook of 1926 — the year the Kulage works went out of business.
• In January 1924, a fire at the National Fireproofing brickyard caused extensive damage. The brickyard's rebuilding was documented in a series of some 34 photographs ranging from March 31 to September 6, 1924, which can be seen in chronological order here (once again, view the photos in their original size if you want to see details).
• A set of seven brickyard photos, mostly interior; while they are undated, by general appearances I'm guessing they were taken in 1924 or later.
• The only two photos I have of brickyard employees who are identified: Ernest Sohn, and five long-time employees.
• Brickyard beauty: two photos from the NATCO brickyard, taken by Jim Hallas probably in the 1950s.
• The former Kulage clay pit in use as the town dump; in the background, the Pennsy tracks and then the NATCO brick works (photo undated, but we're guessing circa 1962).
• The end is near: the NATCO brickyard circa 1965.
♦ The Roosevelt Gym, on the east side of New Street at Fourth, under construction (1924, according to notes on the back of the original); a then-and-now view including the gym circa 1949.
♦ A bird's-eye view of the high school probably taken from atop the old water tower on New Street; the high school in 1894; a circa-1900 view on a postcard dated 1907; circa 1905 and 1906; looking down East Street (mistakenly captioned "New Street") toward the high school, from a postcard postmarked 1909; a colored postcard view postmarked 1910 (and the same view, uncolored, postmarked 1909); the high school as background to a Memorial Day parade starting on East Street in circa 1920; the high school viewed from the west, on a postcard with no legible date (but I'm guessing circa 1923-1940); the Brickie Bowl under five feet of water, with a rear view of the high school in the background, October 11, 1954; and a drier view of both in 1957.
♦ An 1881 view of the John Gordon house at Second and Center Streets.
♦ The Pennsy depot, old and less old. That blog post mentions that the old frame station of the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago R.R. was replaced by the present brick building around 1911, but I don't have a reliable source for that information, so I don't know that the curator's dating of this image of the brick station to around 1908 is not correct. In this image, from a postcard postmarked 1910, the station itself is partially hidden by the trees, but looks as if it might be the old frame building; in the background is Lillian Street, with steeple of the Augustana Lutheran Church plainly visible. We have a view of a steam engine pulling a passenger train from a postcard postmarked 1914. In this 1972 photo, the Pennsy depot is at the left edge. This view of the Pennsy depot is from a slide stamped April 27, 1974. And this view from the Lillian-Street side dates to August 1, 1987, according to handwritten notes on the slide.
♦ Well south of downtown, here is the southwest corner of Tenth and Lincoln Streets in 1942.
♦ I do not know the location of Thomas Jory's furniture and undertaking establishment (image circa 1898).
♦ A few things about the Joryville area of Hobart: a 1970 Hobart Gazette article; a photo collage showing some Joryville residences circa 1898; a postcard photo of part of the Joryville neighborhood circa 1909; and a nice but undated photo of the M.W. Jory house.
♦ Location unknown: this postcard (undated; probably circa 1907-1912) purports to show the "oldest house in Hobart" but gives no other information about it.
♦ Location unknown: the Smith & Stoddard Whip Factory, shown here in a postcard postmarked 1911. Somewhere I got the impression that it was located in the general area where Hobart Lumber Company operates now (630 Main), but I don't know for certain. If so, then the railroad tracks visible behind the whip factory employees photographed for this postcard might be the E.J.&E. tracks, or perhaps the Nickel Plate.
♦ "A View of Duck Creek from 3rd St. Bridge" — undated, but from general appearances I'm guessing circa 1917, give or take ten years. At the moment (August 2011) you can barely see Duck Creek for the trees, so maybe after the leaves have fallen I'll be able to figure out exactly what we're looking at here. [Update: I've been theorizing that the small trestle bridge in the distance may be the spur of the EJ&E Railroad over Duck Creek and running behind the buildings on the east side of New Street. Here is a map showing the "J" spur (the map is undated, but probably circa 1920-1950). I also made a version with labels, since that's the only way I can have fun anymore.]
♦ Location unknown: Bale's Island is some sort of land formation in Duck Creek that becomes an island when the creek is low. We have been told that it is somewhere southerly of the dead end of East Sixth Street. It was the property of the Edward B. Bale family. We have an undated view of the Bale home, and an excerpt from a 1970 newspaper article about Bale's Island.
♦ The Black Cat restaurant and cabins, undated but probably mid-1950s; and an undated police photo of an accident scene showing the Black Cat sign in the background.
♦ Frey's Dairy Queen, 552 S. Main Street (just slightly north of where it is now), in 1959, 1964 and 1965; remodeled or perhaps completely rebuilt in 1980.
♦ Lillian Street, from a postcard postmarked 1909; at left is the Augustana Lutheran Church, which is still standing.
♦ Inside the Wise Way grocery store at 999 West Old Ridge Road, in 1971, 1972 and 1973; the store's exterior in 1979.
♦ St. Mary Medical Center, 61st Ave. and State Road 51, under construction in 1972.
♦ Exact location unknown: this postcard, postmarked 1905, is captioned, "Cleveland Avenue," but we can't tell where exactly on Cleveland Avenue.
♦ An undated view of Augustana Lutheran Church on Lillian Street, and three photos of it from 1968.
♦ The First Unitarian Church on the northeast corner of Fifth and Main: just barely visible behind this handsome couple, circa 1900; a postcard postmarked 1911; an undated photo estimated circa 1920s; and a photo dated 1930.
♦ The Michigan Avenue (Swedish) Methodist church in two views: circa 1897-1900 and undated (but looking to be from roughly the same era); three photos of the church in February 1968.
♦ The intersection of Cleveland Avenue and Hwy. 130, as viewed from Rip's Drive-Inn on its southwest corner, in 1977; and two earlier (perhaps circa 1963) photos of the same intersection from the north, with the EJ&E railroad tracks in the foreground.
♦ Exact location unknown: the Wettengel house, which may have been somewhere on Georgiana Street.
