Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
Tioga County, New York, circa 1901. "General view of Owego, N.Y., and the Susquehanna." At far left, a tantalizing glimpse of Hamilton's Novelty Works. Bottom right, J.C. Kenyon and his Low Prices continue to beckon. 8x10 glass negative, Detroit Photographic Co. View full size.
While it's possible trees in the bottom right are Ailanthus, it is also possible that those compound-leaved trees are the native sumac (genus Rhus). While Tree of Heaven is an invasive ornamental that was widely planted in cities (which later came to regret it), sumac is a native that is distributed throughout New York (and the rest of the East. Their leaves are very similar, and I have known botanists who have mistaken one for the other. Sumac doesn't grow into a tall tree though, and, if the plants in question are as old as the trees to their right, I suspect they are sumacs.
Other than J. C. Kenyon's advertisement on the foreground rail, I don't see any graffiti. That's kinda nice.
Who scraped the meringue off the pie?
Apparently General Henry Martyn Robert found Owego so, as he resided there while producing his epic 1915 revised edition of Robert's Rules of Order.
What are the plentiful fern-like plants in the bottom right of the picture, just on the other side of the fence (see what I did there)? Are they sword ferns?
[Looks like ailanthus, a.k.a. Tree of Heaven. - Dave]
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5