Spot the Differences: Then and Now

This photo baffled Dusty D for days! I knew it was Frog Island, and the photo is labeled as Scovill's Lumber Yard, taken in 1895. Well and good.

But it didn't make a bit of sense. I saw the water--clearly the river--so logically the bridge in the background is Cross Street Bridge. Clearly the viewer is looking SOUTH from Forest Avenue down the river, so, er, that bridge that looks nothing like Cross Street Bridge is, uh...wait, what is that gigantic factory on the left? If you're looking south from Forest, wouldn't it be smack in the middle of the trainyard? And it's too big to be the Thompson Building...uh...(mass confusion!)

The answer came to Dusty D when she looked again at the bridge. You can see it's on an angle--just like the modern-day railroad bridge at Forest. Hmm, so that means you're looking NORTH from Frog Island...but...the river is in the wrong place!

I finally realized it's not the river. It's the old millrace.

Dusty Diary immediately leapt on her bike with a copy of the old picture and sped to Frog Island. I stood on the southeast side of the track and held up the photo in front of me.

It matched perfectly. The railroad bridge, now behind some trees, is in the precise same spot. The lumber yard was indeed on the east side of Frog Island, just as the old map had said. And now, when you walk on the east half of the gravel running track, you are literally walking on water.

Onetime water, anyways. On the 1895 plat map, you can see the 1895 photographer's location (red), the RR bridge (blue) and the big underwear factory (yellow).

My experience with this photo was a graphic example of what I'd experienced before--how one small, easy error in perception, when trying to track down as elusive a quarry as history, can get you turned around 180'.

Spot the Differences: Then and Now

In just a few inches, these two photos span more than a century. Kind readers will recognize this image as an eastward view of Cross Street, taken just east of Huron. It encompasses the old City Hall on the left, Cross Street Bridge, and a sliver of Riverside Park.

Between the 1907 photo and the 2009 photo, how many differences can you spot? There are also a couple of structures that Dusty D does not recognize, to my chagrin--but perhaps a reader will! You can click on each photo for a larger image.

Here are the differences I notice:

1. The 2009 photo features some 250-horsepower vehicles; the old photo features a 1-horsepower vehicle.
2. The old photo has what appears to be manually-operated railroad traffic barriers in the distance. Where did the operator stay?
3. The new photo features an addition on the east side of the old City Hall at left.
4. The old photo shows a much narrower Cross Street Bridge.
5. The old photo shows a large white building opposite the river from the old City Hall. Dusty D hastens to inform readers that I once knew what this was, but have unfortunately forgotten. On the water as it is, would it be a mill?
6. The old photo displays a complex of buildings in what is now Riverside Park. What are these buildings?
7. The old photo features telegraph (?) or electrical poles; which one?
8. The new photo shows streetlights...it must have been very dark going home in 1907.

How many other differences can you spot? Feel free to add your observations and speculations in "comments."