Wadsworth Manufacturing Company fireDetroit, Michigan - the summer of 1919
as photographed by Gladys Long
(click to enlarge)
This dramatic photograph of the Wadsworth fire in progress was sent to me by reader Bob Baltzell after my recent Wadsworth fire post. He wrote:
The notation on the Wadsworth picture was written by my mother many years after the picture was taken. As you see, she was off a year on the date. She spent much of her early years in Detroit and would have been 12 years old when the picture was taken. Her father, Edwin T. Long, worked at Hudson Motors and her mother, Carrie (Dunn) Long, and sisters ran a 'Tea Room' called The Rose Bowl near downtown.The picture of my mother standing in front of the Rose Bowl sign is undated, but it would have been taken in the late '20s when my mother was in her early twenties and had not yet met my father. The family ran a boarding house and they served meals to the public in The Rose Bowl. They had a contract with the Burroughs Adding Machine Company to serve lunch to the men who came to Burroughs headquarters for training, so The Rose Bowl must have been close to company offices.
The family moved around a lot during the first thirty years of the 20th century but seemed to always go back to Detroit, I think because Edwin could find work there. Eventually, in the '30s, they ended up in California.
Thanks so much, Bob, for sharing these great photos and a bit of Detroit history. I can't help but wonder if my grandparents ever dined at The Rose Bowl. Or maybe Gladys and her sisters went to Corneilson's ice cream parlor for... well, ice cream!
6 comments:
Wow, this is what blogging is all about and that is making connections with others across the blog-o-sphere who can either connect with your research and/or add flavor to what you have posted. Great follow-up post. I know you must have been thrilled with this additional info.
Totally, Jul's! Maybe Jasia will see if she can find The Rose Bowl in her city directory and see what the address was (hint, hint).
(Was that subtle? Subtle enough? Too subtle? Is this how you actually spell subtle?)
What a great follow-up - I remember your first post on the Wadsworth fire. Isn't the internet amazing in bringing people and information together?
It sure is, Laura. It wasn't that long ago when it was new and they were saying someday we'd all want to be hooked up to it all the time. I remember wondering, "What on earth for???" Hah! Now I'd give up my phone before I'd give up my internet!
Gini, thank you so much for your beautiful comments and encouragement! I've been a little less than forthcoming with the posts lately, but I will get back to it soon, I hope. I have a post or two in draft right now, just need to put some finishing touches on them but I'm on deadline with another project. But that's beside the point! Your comments were much appreciated, and the only reason I have removed them was because I realized your email address was included, and I didn't want you to end up on every spam list in cyberspace. But I thank you so very much, and wish you the best with your own efforts. You know, after awhile, you look back at what you've done and it surprises you!
I've just reread this post, and another that I wrote about Rosmer Kerr's education and career. Rosmer worked at Burroughs in 1916, so I bet he did have lunch at the Rose Bowl!
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