Tag Archives: Ft. Pierce

Fifty Beautifully Preserved Photographs More Than a Century Old

July 3, 2024UncategorizedFlorida History, Ft. Pierce, Harry E. Hill, Jensen, Perry Corell, Photography, Titusville PASandy History Lady

My husband and I were thrilled when he succeeded in purchasing an album filled with Harry Hill’s photography in an eBay auction in 2006.

The album was sold by Robi & Aundra-Antique Doctors in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, I called Aundra to see where they got the album but she could not remember.

Perry Corell photographed Indian River Drive when it was little more than a trail.

I was surprised that some of the photographs in the album had “Corell” imbedded in them rather than Hill.

During my Hill research I contacted the Benson Memorial Library in Titusville, Pennsylvania where the Hills had lived before they moved to Florida. I asked the librarian if she could supply information on Corell. She shared clipping from a September 1, 1904 Titusville Herald, that told of Perry Corell an experienced photographer who selling his shop and moving to Ft. Pierce Florida, to join Harry Hill. Both were “Titusville boys.”

Example of photographs in the album purchase in an eBay action.

The photograph on the left is the Planters Security Bank founded in Jensen in 1904. Today it is the location of Lure’s Bar and Grill. Some of the bricks from the old bank were used in the construction of the building that became Lure’s.

The photograph at right is pioneer home of George A. Saeger on Indian River Drive. He was a director of the Planters Security Bank so maybe that is why the photographs are beside each others. The home still stands at 4511 S. Indian River Drive.

The photograph at left was used for on a postcard.

One of the photographs in the album showed the desk in the Hill Studio.

The Hill Studio has been reconstructed in the St. Lucie County Regional History Center.

Regional History Center

The Hellier Family and the Florida Photographic Concern

June 26, 2024UncategorizedArt, Florida Photographic Concern, Ft. Pierce, Harry E. Hill, Hellier, History, Jim Hutchinson, PhotographySandy History Lady

A previous blog focused on Walter Hellier’s book, Indian River Florida’s Treasure Coast filled with photographs from the Florida Photographic Concern

A series of curious coincidences brought me in contact with his granddaughters who had a fabulous collection Florida Photographic Concern photos. They allowed me to scan them. There were several dozen with a wide range of subjects but just a few could be directly .connected to today’s Martin County.

This Hill rattlesnake portrait could illustrate the many that once inhabited the St. Lucie River region.

This photograph was among the many Walter Hellier’s granddaughters let me scan. It has a local connection because the sailboat is flying the burgee of the Gilbert’s Bar Yacht Club that had a clubhouse south of the House of Refuge on Hutchinson Island. Many of our well-to-do pioneers were members.

Jim Hutchinson, Mary VanDerlofske and Susie Bryant

Walter Helier’s granddaughters, Marilyn VanDerlofske and Susan Bryant, residents of Palm Beach County, were happy to visit me because they could also visit my famous-artist neighbor , the late Jim Hutchinson. This photograph of the three of them was taken on February 8, 2018.

Using the Information Highway

June 22, 2024UncategorizedFlorida Photographic Concern, Ft. Pierce, H.P. McIntyre auto, History, PhotographySandy History Lady

The work of the Florida Photographic Concern of Fort Pierce is an under-appreciated treasure. My husband and I collected everything we could connected to the Harry Hill family and their Florida Photographic Concern. Now, by going to newspaper.com the Hills’ historical photographs have added significance

This photograph has been displayed in various places in Ft. Pierce without information to go with it. By studying other photographs, the driver can be identified as Lowell Hill. His father, Harry Hill’s face appears over his shoulder. The woman beside Harry is Lowell’s mother Katherine Hill. The woman at extreme left is unidentified. Fred Hill, Harry’s bother (Lowell’s uncle) is in the passenger seat. (St. Lucie Regional History Center)

http://St. Lucie Regional History Center

This advertisement published in the April 4, 1913 St. Lucie News Tribune enables us to identify the car. It also tells us the the Hills’ business was growing.

I had never heard of a H.B. McIntyre automobile!

The Evolution of Picture Postcards

June 22, 2024UncategorizedCitrus, Drew Company, Florida Photographic Concern, Ft. Pierce, Harry E. Hill, Osen, Postcards printed in Germany, The Golden Era of PostcardsSandy History Lady

The Hills’ Florida Photographic Concern published postcards like this one before “The Golden Era of Postcards.”

A colorized version of the Florida Photographic Concern’s photograph of oxen hauling citrus shows it was printed by the Drew Company of Jacksonville.

I Googled the company and it is still in business after 165 years.

The Florida Photographic Concern sold its work to numerous publishers; the most prominent was the Hugh C. Leighton Co. Manufacturers of Portland, Maine. Publishers took advantage of the superior printing in Germany before World War I made it impossible.

The Hugh C. Leighton Co. published this Florida Photographic Concern image. The exquisite printing illustrates the meaning of the “Golden Age of Postcards.”

Earliest Picture Postcards

June 22, 2024UncategorizedFlorida Photographic Concern, Ft. Pierce, Indian Riverindi, Old Post Cards, postal historySandy History Lady

My husband and I collected old postcards whenever they contained something pertaining to the East Coast of Florida.

We learned that collecting postcards has been an incredibly popular hobby ever since they came into use. From 1901 until 1907 you could not write on the back of a postcard. The back was undivided and was only to be used for the address and the postage stamp.

Beginning in 1907 the backs were divided. The address went on the right hand side and the message was written on the left hand side. From then until 1915 was the “Golden Age of Postcards.”

This is an example a Florida Photographic Concern photograph used on a post card before 1907. The message had to be squeezed onto the front.