Archive for July 2014
Muscogee Florida … Update – 22 July 14 …
These photos were taken in Muscogee Florida in the early 1900’s and I do not know who made them. My father was born in 1915 in Muscogee and lived there until 1925, when he, his mother, brother and sister moved to Pensacola since the mill – Southern States Lumber Company – closed down. I do not know who made these photographs or where my father got them from. If anyone has any information to add to any of these photos, please leave a comment. Also, if anyone has any information on Southern States Lumber Company or any other photographs, I am interested. Below is a photo of the mill and the other is just a view of the Perdido River back around 1900 to 1910 …
The photo of the Perdido Riv er is not much of a photo, but I think it shows how remote and isolated it was back in the early 1900’s in Muscogee. Just a stone’s throw from where the mill was located is the International Paper plant today and the rest of Cantonement. Next is a photo of my father and his first grade class …
The school in Muscogee was run by the lumber company for children of the mill’s employees and others that worked in businesses that had something to do with the mill. When the mill closed down in 1925, so did Muscogee and that is when my father and his family moved to Pensacola. Here are several photos of homes in the area …
For some reason I want to say that this was the front of the boarding house that my grandmother ran in Muscogee for the mill. When my father’s father died in 1918, the mill let my grandmother to continue to run the mill until 1925, when the town pretty much closed down. Here are a couple more photos …
Maybe this was a view of the boarding house, since I think I remember my father saying the it was two story. So, I am not sure what the first building is a photo of because it does not look like a two story building. UPDATE: Yesterday, I went downtown to the Pensacola Historical Society and they have moved back into their refurnished office space in the Beacon Building in back of the Wentworth Museum. They let me do some research on the Southern States Lumber Company and I saw an article that contained the front of the above building and it is the main office of the lumber company. I was incorrect in thinking that it was the boarding house that my grandmother ran for the company. The next photo is one that I believe was the post office in Muscogee …
There is a site that I found on Muscogee and here is a link to the site. It has some interesting stories about Muscogee and it is about the only information that I have found on Muscogee on the web, other than just mentioning Muscogee by name. The Pensacola Historical Society has some file on the mills and they are happy to direct you to it when you go downtown to their office in the Bowden Building. Thirty years or so I remember a couple coming by the studio and talking to my father about a paper they were writing on Muscogee for a History class they were taking out at UWF. I wish I could remember who they were, since most of the people who ever lived in Muscogee are deceased and not much has ever been written about the town. If anyone knows anything about Muscogee, again, please let me hear from you or has any photos from the mill, I would like to see them. Thanks for looking and I hope you check back … Frank
Hoffman Dance Group …
These images are from a dance group that my father used to photograph out at the auditorium at Pensacola Naval Air Station. He photographed this group for many years and I remember going out there with him when I was seven or eight. I remember walking up and down the halls looking at all of the military photographs on the walls. Nothing in particular other than how large and deserted the place was when I was out there. I ran across these negatives recently and they were in fairly good shape and did not look like they would take me too long to get them ready to post. There were quite a few negatives in the envelope, so I just randomly found six to clean-up and post. I am not going to make any comments about any of them, so here it goes …
The negative envelope said ” 1956 ” on it, but I am not sure about that date. If it was 1956, I would have only been three and this would have been too young for me to have gone. However, this was something that he could have photographed for many years and I did not go until later. I do remember this fairly well and I am pretty sure that I went with him for several years a kid. I would imagine that these children’s fathers were in the military or they worked out at the Naval Air Depot on base. If anyone sees these photos and know anything about this ” Hoffman Dance Group “, please let us hear from you. I am interested personally about who Ms. Hoffman is and how long that she had these dance recitals out on the base. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Harry James In Pensacola …
The tall guy with the black jacket is Harry James, famous trumpet player and band leader. What he was doing in Pensacola, as well as who the other people in the photo are, is a mystery to me. In fact, the only thing that I knew about Harry James was that he was the first big-band leader to hire Frank Sinatra back in 1939. Here is a link to his Wikipedia site. I also saw that he was married to Betty Gable at one time in his life … that I am impressed with. Betty Gable, I believe, had the number 1 pin-up / photo for the guys in WW II. If anyone recognizes any of the other people in the photo, please let us know. Also, if he was in Pensacola to play a concert or whatever, let us know. Thanks for looking … Frank
Several More Pitchers For The Dons …
As usual, I do not have a name for this player, but I am just impressed with the intensity that this pitcher is throwing with for a photographer to take a picture. Also, notice how sharp the fence in the backfield is the photograph. You can read all of the business names very easily … Hill-Kelly Dodge, National Laundry, Fisher-Brown Insurance, W.B. Wood Appliances, etc. I have one other pitcher that I have cleaned-up a little to post …
This guy is throwing with some power, also. I hope that they looked this intense in a real game as they did when my father was taking their photographs. I mentioned in an earlier post that I am interested in seeing if anyone out there might a color photo of the team showing their uniforms and if anyone happened to have shot some footage with a movie camera at any of their games. If anyone ever runs across any of the two, please contact me through this blog. Thanks for looking and if anyone out there recognizes either of these two players, please let me know and if you have any comments let mu hear them … Frank
A Few More From The Dons File …
These two images are ones that I found in my files from the Dons, but neither one have anything to do with the baseball team. The photo above is the secretary / office manager / business manager … I guess she was the one that kept the wheels on the truck for the Dons. Notice the bare concrete block walls in the office. I do not believe that sheet rock was used in the construction industry until the late 1960’s or even the 1970’s. I know that most houses built in the late 1950’s used a type of plaster over plywood on room walls. If anyone is familiar with the construction industry in the 1950’s and 1960’s could tell us about the plaster walls and tell us when sheet rock started being used. The photo envelopes in the right hand corner was the type of photo mailers used back in the 50’s. I have one or two of these laying around, but I know I have not seen one used in thirty five years or so. The photo below is one that was from the body building contest photos that I forgot to include. I do not know who these guys are, but they look vaguely familiar … I am sure some one out there will recognize one of these guys.
One more thing, if anyone out there has a color photograph showing a player or the team, I would be interested in seeing the photo. All of the photos that I have of the team are all black and whites. I am interested in seeing what color the Dons team logo is on the player’s uniforms. Also, if anyone ever runs across a home movie made at one the Dons games, please let me hear from you. It is funny that there can not be any film shot during a Dons game that is lying around in someone’s file cabinet On the other hand, I do not think that the home movie business started until the 60’s. You had color transparency film back in the 1950’s and a little in the 1940’s, however it was used mostly by the military and the magazine photographers. Color film for the general consumer was not available until the 1960’s and I wanted to say mid-1960’s before it became common place.
Well, that is all I have for this post. Let me hear from hear if you come across any color movie film or color photographs on the Dons. I hope everyone has a safe Fourth of July. It is hard to believe that 2014 is half over and that Christmas is just around the corner. Thanks for looking and please check back … Frank
Water Fall Out West …
I do not know anything about the location of this water fall, other than I am pretty sure that it is in one of the National Parks out west. Which one I do not know. I have come across this negative years before and thought nothing of it, but after I scanned it I thought that someone out there might recognize it and let me know where it is located. This image was made back in the late 1940’s and so I am sure that it looks a lot different today. Thanks for looking … Frank
Frank Hardy Made My Photographs Two 
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