Survey of Commercial Buildings in 1898

[Almost Every Commercial Building in Wykoff, Minnesota] [37 Quarter-Plate Mounted Photographs]

Notes: A remarkable series of uniform images of Wykoff, Minnesota, taken in 1898, documenting 35 commercial buildings (plus two interior views), with the inhabitants standing in front of the structure. This series includes all but two buildings on the 100 block of North Gold Street, now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The remaining views include churches, the public hall, free-standing wood-frame structures on adjacent streets, and more industrial buildings, like the livery and stables, a lumber yard, a wagon and carriage shop, a blacksmith shop, an unidentified four-story factory, etc.

These images offer a seldom-seen view of the commercial buildings of a small town at the end of the 19th century and offer insight into the number, gender, ages of the owners, employees, and residents of the structures. Based on Wykoff's application to the National Register of Historic Places, this set of images includes 14 of the 16 buildings on the 100 block of North Gold Street, along with three buildings on adjacent blocks.

The images are quarter plate (3 by 4 inches, or the reverse) gelatin silver prints mounted on several similar styles of green-gray cards with embossed floral borders (measuring roughly 4-1/2 by 5-3/4, but with some variation). One of the interior views, with a young man seated in the foreground (the photographer?) shows a Winchester calendar on the wall, which is easily identifiable as the 1898 issue, and the month on display is August. The second interior view shows three cameras, including a small-format box camera that may have been used to make these photographs. The 1905 census of Wykoff does not list any photographers, but there were several operating in the surrounding Fillmore County. Who undertook this project, and for what purpose, is not clear. It may have been an attempt to sell prints to the business owners—if so, few if any such prints are known.

Edition + Condition: The images have medium contrast and exposure. A few of the prints have small spots or stains, but the overall condition is very good.

Publication: 1898.

Item No: #360831

Price: $2,500