Saturday, April 10, 2010

"Reading" a Photograph -- West Monroe Street about 1933

Pictured above is a scene which shows West Monroe Street at the crossing of the Pennsylvania Railroad, near the entrance to the coal docks. In front of the buildings on the north side of Monroe a railroad employee can be seen. Whenever a train passed by, he would have to manually hold up the stop sign, to warn automobile drivers of the train. We can see that more clearly in this close-up cropped from the original image.
In another cropped view, we can see where Elmer B. Otto manufactured ice cream, at 2434 West Monroe Street (in the building on the right side of the street).
To the north of the railroad crossing, a factory can be seen through the trees. Not enough of the letters of the building and water tower are legible enough to be deciphered. If anyone can identify this business, please leave a message in Comments.
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6 comments:

  1. familytwigsSaturday, April 10, 2010 at 3:42:00 PM EDT

    So much information in one small photo. So wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousTuesday, June 1, 2010 at 5:45:00 PM EDT

    Is 2434 West Monroe St. location where Elmer Otto made ice cream the old Toft Ice Cream?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousWednesday, June 2, 2010 at 9:23:00 AM EDT

    According to Sandusky City Directories, in 1927, Elmer Otto was the general manager of Otto's Ice Cream, located at 2434 W. Monroe St.

    By 1966 the business at 2434 W. Monroe St. was Toft's Dairy.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousWednesday, June 2, 2010 at 9:26:00 AM EDT

    PS - Otto's Ice Cream was at 2434 W. Monroe St. in 1937, not 1927 as
    previously mentioned.

    ReplyDelete
  5. fluffyMonday, October 22, 2012 at 3:54:00 AM EDT

    I think the SAndusky Magnesium and Aluminum company was in that area.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Jim TightSaturday, March 26, 2022 at 2:29:00 AM EDT

    At this intersection in the summer of about 1955, as a brakeman for the "Pennsy", I was riding the lead of about sixty coal cars to the pier. (The engine was at the rear of the train so as to get the coal as close to the ship as possible.) With the crossing guard in place, a driver decided to race me across that crossing. He lost. Fortunately, the coupling knuckle on the front of my lead car impaled the auto. In spite of emergency brake application, I droved the auto several hundred yards down the track nearly to the intersection with the New York Central tracks. The automobile driver sustained only minor injuries. But for the impaling, I may have rolled over the auto, derailing my car, killing the driver, and perhaps myself as a fully loaded coal car fell on top of me.
    Not funny, but for a time after that incident, my friends called me "Crash".

    ReplyDelete