Once Upon A Time-it was necessary. Once upon a time it was modern. Once upon a time it was desired. Now it is history.

Food and Sheltrer

In 19th century America the mill was essential in making the hard work of rural life easier. The two most essential mills were gristmills and sawmills.

Rather than struggle all day with a small tub mill at home to produce a bushel of cornmeal, families would take the corn to the mill. The mill could produce bushels more in much less time. The home tub mill could only grind corn into cornmeal. The mill was capable of grinding wheat into flour, meaning biscuits were on the menu some of the time instead of cornbread.

Payment to the mill owner did not always result in money changing hands. Frequently the miller was paid with a percentage of the produced flour or cornmeal. Often the local mill owner was also a farmer who could be called to the mill by ringing a large bell on the mill property.

The sawmill that produced lumber was used to build frame construction houses rather than log cabins. Some homeowners with houses from the 1800’s who remove wooden siding for repairs discover the house is actually a log cabin with board siding.

Watermills were built for several other purposes: making mustard, tobacco, linseed oil, salt, cider, and bone meal.


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Rail Mail—Second Place

On June 30, 1977, trucks and airplanes replaced the railroad mail car as the main mover of United States mail. Movement of mail by train began in 1832 after businesses and members of the public complained mail delivery by horse or stagecoach was too slow.

Beginning in 1864 all mail in transit was beginning to be distributed by railroad mail cars. Assistant Postmaster William A. Davis in St. Joseph, Missouri is credited with creating the rolling post office to process and distribute United States mail.

As the train neared the station, the route agent would toss out the processed mail bag through the big open door of the mail car.

Then as the train left the station, the agent snatched the unprocessed mail bag hanging on a pole next to the track with a hook (catcher arm) extended from the rail car. Along the route to the next station the agent sorted, processed and prepared a new mail bag to toss to the next station, grabbed the next mail bag on the route and did it all again.

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The Fabulous 50's

On 11th Avenue, between 27th and 28th Streets in New York City, is a building whose facade is adorned with automobiles of the 1940’s and 1950’s: Ford, Oldsmobile, Packard, Hudson and others.
The building must have housed a dealer’s grand showroom in the glory days of the American automobile.

Today, the second floor of the the building houses the parts and service department of Manhattan Motorcars, which sells and services Porsche, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Lamborghini, and Lotus automobiles.

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Signage

In 2005, the Howard Johnson's Restaurant at 46th street closed after serving locals and tourists for forty-six years.

In 1925, 27 year-old Howard Deering Johnson took over operation of a small patent soda fountain in a section of Quincy, Massachusetts. Wanting to expand the number of flavors and improve ice cream quality, he experimented with an old fashion hand crank ice cream maker, doubling the butterfat content and using only natural ingredients. Soon he had that superior ice cream. He added hot dogs and other items to his offerings and expanded with another restaurant in 1929.

The stock market crash later that year jeopardized Johnson’s expansion plans. He then came up with a unique American business plan, franchising. He persuaded a restauranteur to pay a fee to use the name Howard Johnson’s on a Cape Cod restaurant and buy food and supplies from Johnson.

During the 1960/70s more than a thousand Howard Johnson’s were alongside America’s roadways. As of August 2016, only one orange roof Howard Johnson’s remained in business— Lake George, New York.

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Pickup Ancestor

International Harvester Company was created in 1902 when J. P. Morgan merged McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Deering Harvester Company and three others. Although known mostly as a tractor company, several types of farm equipment were produced: balers, combines, manure spreaders, elevators (tall silos where grain is stored), and much more.

Also, the company was an early manufacturer of medium and heavy duty trucks. Following the sale of the agricultural division in 1985, International Harvester Company became Navistar International. Today, a subsidiary, International Truck and Engine Corporation, continues to manufacture trucks of all sizes, and manufactures the diesel engine used by the Ford Motor Company in its heavy duty trucks, vans, and SUV’s.

The International truck show in the photograph is a 1927 one-ton Stakebed

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Teardrop

The first AA (Automobile Association) grill badges were distributed in April 1906. Charles Jarrott and others met in a restaurant in London, England to address the vigorous, enthusiastic enforcement of the twenty miles per hour speed limit. The police enforced the speed limit by setting up speed traps using three officers hiding in bushes alongside the roadway. Two officers would station one furlong apart. The first officer waved a white flag as the car passed. The second officer used a stop watch to determine speed along the measured furlong. With as little as two miles over the speed limit, the third officer would step out and signal the driver to stop. The usual fine for speeding was five pounds, which was equal to a moth’s wages, or four weeks in jail.

The Automobile Association solution was to deploy bicycle scouts on main roads to look for and warn AA members of speed traps ahead. If the car had an AA grill badge, the driver got a signal about any upcoming speed traps. At first the scouts had no uniforms and only worked weekends until 1909 when uniforms were issued and roads were patrolled throughout England and Scotland.

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Gone To Hot Dog Heaven

From summer of 1948 to April 2011, Gus Koutroulakis went to work every single day except for Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day. When he took a three week vacation in 1995 it made newspaper, radio, and television headlines.
The legend began when Gus’s uncle Pete bought the tiny hot dog shop in 1939 with $600 he won in a Pinochle game. The shop was little more than a narrow room, accommodating three or four customers at a time. It was strictly stand and eat, usually outside.

In 1948 Gus took over the business when he graduated from Phillips High School. He made his secret sauce recipe at home every night. Only Gus knew the secret and it died with him.

Gus worked so long and hard, bent over the grill, he was no longer able to stand up straight. There was a shelf over the grill in font of him, which made Gus stoop over as he cooked the hot dogs. When someone told Gus he should take the shelf down, he replied, “Where am I going to put the bread?"

In his will, Gus left the Pete’s Famous sign to the Barber Motorsports museum in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Chess Lamp

Oil lamps have been around for eons, even mentioned in the Bible. All manner of fuel from olive oil to whale oil has been burned. Coal oil, extracted from a soft oily coal, was widely used in early 19th century America. However, coal oil produced a smokey, smelly flame. In 1846 Abraham Gesner distilled a clear liquid from coal which he named kerosene from the Greek word for wax oil: keroselaion. In 1857, Joshua Merrill developed a more effective distillation and purification process using liquid petroleum. The result was a safe, cost efficient fuel lamp fuel. Thus was born the “Kerosene Lantern”.

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1880 Garage

The United States began with most people living on farms, in villages or small towns. In 1862, the Homestead Act significantly increased the rural population by opening up the west for settlement. Anyone willing to “Go west young man,” received 160 acres of land (the size of an NFL football field) if they agreed to cultivate it. In fact, the 1920 census was the first to show more Americans lived in urban centers than rural areas of the country.

During the 1880’s, an abundant amount of rainfall produced bumper crops and good prices for crops sold. When the weather cycle turned dry, homesteaders faced crop failure, debt and other hardships leading to political unrest. The perception their political and economic status was deteriorating added to the acrimony.

Feeling ignored by Washington, the Farmers’ Alliance was formed to lobby the government for banking and business regulations to help farmers. The Populist Party was established to challenge the unsympathetic Republican and Democratic parties. James B. Weaver was the Populist Party’s first presidential candidate, receiving 8% of the popular vote.

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Bygone Luxury—First Place, Photograph of the Year

The first railroad dining cars were attached to passenger trains in the nineteenth century. George Pullman, famous for the sleeper car, introduced the Delmonico dining car. The upscale dining car served food for the budget-breaking price of one dollar per meal.

The 1940/50s were the golden age of train travel and the dining car was a passenger’s favorite part of the trip. For the railroad, the dining car was expensive to build, staff and operate. Not only was a separate fully functional kitchen car required, the train had to be stocked with crockery, glassware, tablecloths, flatware, menus, and of course food.

To operate the “restaurant” on wheels, an average crew of ten people were required: cooks, waiters, bartenders, and a steward. All members of the crew, especially the chef, had to be able to perform duties while the train was in constant motion: rocking, slowing, speeding up, taking sharp curves—sometimes at eighty miles per hour.

Liquor was available in the dining car or club room car. However, in 1950, alcohol could not be sold while traveling through Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Judged Best of Photography in 2016 Shelby County Arts Council 6th annual Juried Art Show.

Second Place 2016 Gadsden Museum of Art

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Pumpless—First Place

Once upon a time, a full service gas attendant pumped the gas for you, cleaned the windshield, checked the oil, tire pressure, radiator water level, and put air in your tires. He, and yes it was a he, did all that while you sat in your car. Not only that, you could get Green Stamps (look it up), road maps, calendars, key chains and of course a tiger’s tail for your gas cap all for free. Exxon’s slogan was “Put a tiger in your tank”.

During the oil crisis of the 1970s, oil companies offered a few pennies saving if you were willing to pump your own gas. And that was the beginning of the end for the smiling, friendly gas attendant and the freebies.

New Jersey is the only state where pumping your own gas is illegal.

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Binder Twine

In 1928, Plymouth was Chrysler’s answer to the low-priced auto market dominated by Ford and Chevrolet. Chrysler wanted an instantly recognizable brand name for the car. At the time most farmers were driving affordable Fords. During a meeting to find a brand name, Joe Frazer who later became president of General Motors, suggested the name Plymouth. Other executives did not want the car associated with a puritanical name. “Ever hear of Plymouth Binder Twine?" asked Frazer. Walter P. Chrysler replied, “Every farmer in America uses Plymouth Binder Twine. Let’s give them a name they’re familiar with.”

The Plymouth succeeded as a high-volume seller until the late 1990s. In 2001, the Plymouth brand and automobile was discontinued.

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12 O'Clock High-On June 12, 2021, Liberty Belle experienced an in-flight fire resulting in an emergency landing in a field outside Aurora, Illinois. Although nearly destroyed, the Liberty Belle Foundation, Inc. is rebuilding the Liberty Belle in Douglas, Georgia. Visit the Foundation web site and help restore an icon of of our nation’s history.

Nicknamed "Flying Fortress" because of extensive defensive firepower, the B-17 was used in every theater of operations during WWII. However, it was primarily used by the 8th Air Force to mount massive bombing raids against Nazi targets in Europe. Those raids were launched from airfields in England.

The “Mighty Eighth”, as the 8th Air Force is known, conducted daylight strategic bombing raids from May 1942 to July 1945, which came at a high price: over 47,000 causalities, including more than 26,000 dead. Of the brave men who flew those missions 17 earned the Medal of Honor, 220 Distinguished Service Crosses, and 442,000 Air Medals.

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