Streets of New York, 1911

A friend posted a link on Facebook recently that immediately sucked me in. It showed footage taken by a Swedish film production company of various locations in New York City in 1911. A man edited it down to an 8-minute YouTube film and added ambient sounds. Check it out, it's quite mesmerizing: https://petapixel.com/2018/04/17/take-a-trip-through-new-york-city-in-the-year-1911/

My great-grandparents G. Oliver and Islea Riggs weren't in New York in 1911—I'm not sure they ever visited that city—but they visited Chicago that year, where they would have observed similar scenes of horseless carriages sharing the streets with horse-drawn carts, and gentlemen and ladies all wearing hats. The ability to see actual footage from 1911 helps me better picture what life was like for my great-grandparents in that time period. It's a richer perspective than what you glean from looking at photos.

If the New York footage had been in color, that really would have blown my mind. I have a tendency to picture the world before the 1940s as being in black in white (even though I know better) because the family photos I have from that era are in black and white.

A 1908 postcard from the county fair in Aledo, Ill.

For example, I'd love to know how the above scene from 1908, of the Mercer County Fair in Aledo, Illinois, looked in color. G. Oliver sent the postcard photo to his sons Ronald and Percy and asked if they recognized anyone in the photo. I wonder if they did? I am also curious about the sounds and smells people experienced at that fair. I can make some guesses, based on my experience of attending modern county fairs, but I'm sure there are details I'm missing without the ability to travel back in time.

The smells and sounds of modern New York City differ in many ways from 1911—there's less horse poop now, for sure, and fewer police officers blowing whistles. But it's remarkable how much hasn't changed in one hundred years, like my favorite New York building, the Flatiron (built in 1902 and designed by Chicago architect Daniel Burnham). With any luck, it will remain part of the streetscape for another 100 years, as people continue to go about living their ordinary, color-filled lives.

Elias, Sebastian, and Louisa in front of the Flatiron Building in 2016.