Cities & Towns - Houghton - Street Scenes

Archive Image
Add to Shoebox  View Your Shoebox  User Login
Title: Cities & Towns - Houghton - Street Scenes
Photographer: Unknown
Subject Headings: Human Settlements - Cities and Towns, Buildings - Church Buildings, Retail Trade - Stores, Retail
Condition: Fair
Description: Shelden Street - Houghton [Shows Shelden Street as a dirt road. Shops on both sides of the street as well as a church. Children playing, several people on wooden sidewalk and horse and buggy in middle of street. Photo published by R. Acton.]
Source of Description: Front of Photo [cataloger]
Institution: Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections
Donor: Unknown
Date of Photo: undated
Medium: still image
Color: black and white
Size: 28.1 x 21 cm
Polarity: Negative
Image No: MTU Neg 01857
Collection Name: MTU Negative Collection
Terms of Use: Rights to reproduce and distribute this image may be restricted. Contact the Michigan Technological University Archives and Copper Country Historical Collections for further information.
User Comments:
• The correct spelling of the street name should be Shelden. According to The Daily Mining Gazette: Ransom Shelden platted the village of Houghton, and was, as author Larry Lankton notes in "Beyond the Boundaries: Life and Landscape in the Lake Superior Copper Mines 1840-1875," an important pioneer who formed a merchant class on the mining frontier and brought some of the earliest stores to Houghton. Other sources list Shelden as the first postmaster, one of the village of Houghton's first trustees, and the owner of sawmills and an extensive estate in the area." From "Historically Speaking" by Jane Nordberg, The Daily Mining Gazette, November 15, 2008. http://www.mininggazette.com/page/content.detail/id/502640.html"
11/17/2008 11:52:42 AM by Erik Nordberg, MTU Archivist
• This image has to date from after June 9th, 1887. On that day the Portage Lake Mining Gazette reported that a town petition was passed to place the power line poles visible on the right hand side. The high resolution version of this image clearly shows a suspended light hanging from the power line in front of the third building down on the right along the top row of windows. The dirt roadway shown in the image must pre-date 1900 since it was paved when the streetcar line was put in. While I was doing research on the early electrification of Houghton and Hancock I kept coming back to this image as a great example of what the first system looked like after it was put into place. Thank you to all of the staff at the archives for your help providing sources and information like this to scholars.
5/13/2010 1:04:10 AM by fsuthy