Mystery Photos, courtesy of Don Pyeatt, Part 2

This photograph is fascinating for both the questions it raises and a possible connection with the photo you saw in my previous post. The four children in the photo appear to be the same four children seen in the first photo, but about two years or so older. From a time frame standpoint, it fits rather neatly because the car parked at the curb behind them is most likely a 1927 Dodge Brothers Sedan. The wood spoked wheels are the same, as well as the suicide doors.


When you crop portions of the photo that focuses on the car windows, you find that the business across the street carries the name ‘Edwards Drug Co.’









Also, to the left of Edwards Drug Co. is an A & P market. In case you are saying you can’t find it, look across the street, just to the left of the back of the car and just to the right of the man on the walk. You see a more or less pyramidal structure which is, in actual fact, a grocery product display stack. Just a little ways above it and indistinct without enlarging the photo considerably, are the letters A&P.

That’s essentially all the information you can get from the photo. Now we’re back to questions about the mysteries raised:

1. Are the children really the same ones in the Touring Car photo?

2. Who are they?

3. What’s the location of the photo?

4. Who was the photographer?

5. Who owned the vehicle and what was their economic status? You have to remember that anyone who owned a car selling for nearly $1,000 in that time period was quite well off.

6. Finally, since Black Friday and the start of the Great Depression was no more than two years away, you have to wonder what effect it had on this group of residents.

As so often happens when dealing with old, unidentified photos, a simple question leads to another...and another...and another....and.......

Mystery Photos, courtesy of Don Pyeatt

Old photos that surface unexpectedly tend to be both fascinating and mysterious. Fascinating because they help to shed light on days gone by. But mysterious at the same time since so much of the information in the photos cannot be positively identified. This problem applies to all aspects of the photos....locations, vehicles and people. All you can do is make your best guess based on careful analysis of the photos, a guess that may be completely wrong. Once you’ve gone as far as you can, your only remaining option is to publish the photos and ask for help from those who see it.

Don Pyeatt acquired these photos from an estate sale here in Ft. Worth. Absolutely nothing is known about them beyond what can be discerned from an analysis of the photos themselves. So, I’m going to be posting these photos one or two at a time, along with the information that was gleaned from them. And I’m going to ask your help in obtaining as much additional information as possible. Anything you can provide will be most welcome. Do you recognize the location? The type of vehicle? How about identifying the individuals? Time period? Any information, even an educated guess, can be valuable.

With that said, the first photo for your consideration is a four-door convertible (they were called touring cars in the 1920s) with three adults and four children that were obviously posing for the photo. This photo raises more than a few questions, starting with the type of car. Due to the wood wheel spokes, removable all-weather top and the suicide doors (The front and rear doors latch at the center post. If the rear door is opened and encounters an obstacle such as a telephone pole, fence post or another car, the door will be ripped of it’s hinges.), it’s obviously a touring car, circa the 1920s.

An enlarged view of the wheel hub reveals a very fuzzy but legible pair of letters, DB, intertwined like a pair of chain links. Since Dodge was doing business as Dodge Brothers in the 1920s and 1930s, the inescapable conclusion is that the vehicle is a 1925 Dodge Brothers Touring Car. Fairly expensive for it’s day, old ads show it as selling for somewhere between $800 and $1,000.

It’s one thing to identify the car, but all remaining questions concerning the photo are unknown. The questions that need answering are:

1. Where was the photo taken? Obviously in the country, but that raises another question because of the fact that the car is sitting on a paved road. In the 1925 – 1930 time period, paved roads weren’t that common, particularly in the country. Is it possible that the road is Highway 80? That has to be considered since the pavement is definitely poured concrete instead of macadam.

2. Who are the people? There’s absolutely nothing to aid in their identification.

3. Since there are two women, one man and four children (with all the children very close in age) who belongs to whom? And what is the relationship of the man to the women? He isn’t wearing a wedding ring, so could he be a brother? Uncle? Friend?

4. Who was the photographer? One of the women's husbands?

As you can see, a single old photograph can produce multiple mysteries.