Current Photo - Photographer Samuel W. Kuhnert

S. W. Kuhnert takes a portrait photograph of a U.S. Army Private First Class on October 16, 1943 at his Harrisburg studio at 1011 N. 3rd Street. Kuhnert was best known for his aerial photography. Never finishing high school, he attempted to build several airplanes as well as aerial cameras. He took the first aerial photographs of Harrisburg, 40 shots on glass plates, in 1920 in a World War I surplus "Jenny" biplane: "When I was 35 I was walking out on the wings of biplanes to make in-flight repairs. In those planes, you held the camera out of an open cockpit. I wore goggles and a fur-lined helmet. Dog straps held me in and I had to balance myself and the camera. It was rough work. It was chilly behind the prop in the summer and bitter in the winter."

Kuhnert also took accident, funeral and crime photos. One such photo was of his apprentice Harry Ganster who was with his girlfriend picking flowers at Lamb's Gap, Perry County in 1924 when the two were killed with a single rifle shot. Though the crime was never solved, Ganster had received warnings to stay out of Perry County after one of his photographs of a bootlegger's distillery was published in the Harrisburg Telegraph and credited to his name.

In the same November 7, 1977 article in The Patriot, Kuhnert said: "I always try to make the photos as if I were doing them for myself. It's your work that you leave behind you. I've given away more pictures than I've sold and I'll take more than money with me when I die." A substantial collection of his papers (and photographs) are located at the Pennsylvania State Archives: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/BAH/dam/mg/mg281.htm. Photo ID: O05234.

"The Question Mark" (Week of 2/22/2010)

In 1923 the US Army Air Service successfully completed the first mid-air refueling between two airplanes. Six years later the US sought to break a 1928 aerial refueling endurance record set by Belgium. Aircraft at Middletown Air Depot (Olmstead Airforce Base, presently the site of Penn State Harrisburg) were adapted for the task. The "Question Mark", an Atlantic-Fokker C-2 pictured here, was the receiving plane. The refueling began in California on New Years Day, 1929 to coincide with the Rose Bowl. The crew consisted of Carl Andrew Spaatz, Ira Eaker, Elwood Quesada, Harry Halvorsen, and flight mechanic S. Sgt. R. W. Hooe. Major Spaatz, who conceptualized and planned the mission, was also responsible for hanging outside of the plane, catching the refueling hose, and inserting it into the receiving plane's receptacle. The successful mission lasted 6 days, 40 minutes, consisted of 37 refuelings, and broke existing world records for sustained flight, refueled flight, and distance. Spaatz, Eaker, and Quesada became generals in World War II. Photo ID: A05522.

Sources:
General Carl A. Spaatz and "The Question Mark.", Historical Review of Berks County, Summer 1995 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Question_Mark_%28aircraft%29

Old State Capitol Burning, 1897 (Week of 2/15/2010)

A fire started in Harrisburg's original State Capitol building on the afternoon of February 2, 1897. Pictured here are people who braved blizzard conditions to watch Harrisburg architect Stephen Hill's design burn down. In use since its completion in 1822, the building's remains were razed to make room for new construction. The State Legislature used nearby Grace Methodist Episcopal Church as temporary quarters. In 1898 the Legislature moved in to a new building that was designed by Henry Ives Cobb and hastily built in response to pressure to move the Capitol back to Philadelphia or to Pittsburgh. Before Cobb's design was ever fully constructed, the General Assembly appropriated additional monies for a grander building and a new design. Architect Joseph Miller Huston's building, known today, was dedicated in 1906. Photo ID: J00496.

For more information visit the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee's website:
http://cpc.state.pa.us/cpcweb/hist_timeline.jsp

Motorized Snow Plow, 1930's (Week of 2/8/2010)

A man pushes a motorized snow plow on the east side of the State Capitol Building. There are sand bags on the top of the plow to weigh it down for better traction. In addition to the Capitol, in the background are temporary office buildings that were constructed during World War I to house expanded government agencies. Though the South and North office buildings were constructed in the 1920's, these "temporary" buildings stood for several decades. The parking lot visible in this photo was replaced with the East Wing addition and fountain off of Commonwealth Avenue in 1987. Photo ID: MG698-690.

Mr. Schooley's Ordinary Bicycle (Week of 2/1/2010)

LeRue Lemer took this cabinet card photo of William G. Schooley who stands with his ordinary bicycle and in his Harrisburg Wheel Club dress. The main characteristic of an ordinary bicycle was a large front wheel and tiny rear wheel. It was also called a penny-farthing as the difference in wheel sizes resembled the differences between a British penny and quarter-penny (farthing). Mr. Schooley is in at least five photographs featuring bicycles and appears to have been an avid member of the Wheel Club. In another image, he is shown with his wife and their tandem bicycle. Photo ID: Y00909.

Coal Barges and Dredgers on the Susquehanna (Week of 1/25/2010)

A fleet of coal barges and dredgers float along the shore of the Susquehanna River in the hunt for anthracite coal from the river bottom. The location is in the area between Washington and Vine Streets with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Bridge in the background. It was likely taken from the Cumberland Valley Railroad Bridge about 1935. Photo ID: A02890.

Log Raft on the Susquehanna (Week of 1/18/2010)

This undated view of a log raft on the Susquehanna River was taken from either the Market Street or Camelback Bridge. The raft is more than 100 feet long with at least eight distinct sections visible. A half-dozen men maneuver it downstream with oars three to four times their size. The logs likely originated from the robust logging industry in North Central Pennsylvania. Photo ID: A00012.

Harrisburg Hospital Ambulance, c1912 (Week of 1/11/2010)

Acquired in 1912, this was the first gasoline-powered ambulance used by Harrisburg Hospital. It is parked in front of 2-story Ward Building (left background), which was built in 1896, and the single-story Haldeman-Haly operating room, which opened in 1899. In the right background is A Building and the Dispensary, built 1884 and 1906 respectively. Photo ID: H00363.

Construction of State Street Bridge Pylons, c1928 (Week of 12/28/2009)

The State Street Bridge, which spans 1,312 feet over Paxton Creek, Cameron Street, and several railroad lines, was constructed between 1926 and 1930 as part of the development of the Capitol Complex. Otherwise known as the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Bridge, in 1919 it was planned as a memorial to those who fought in WWI. Architect Arnold Brunner was responsible for the conceptual design while fellow New Yorkers William Gehron and Sidney Ross revised Brunner's plans after he died in 1925.

The Historic American Engineering Record describes the bridge as "a monument to the heroism of both Pennsylvanians specifically and Americans in general... The western approach is marked by two 143'-0" pylons topped with carved war eagles representing the army and the navy. Each pylon measures 25'-0" by 16'-0" at its base and 13'-6" by 22'-6" at its top. The eagles each weigh approximately 300 tons and rise 21'-0" high, and required thirty-six stones each. The dates of all major wars in which the United States had participated by 1930 are incised into the pylons beneath the eagles. Around the base of each pylon is a limestone terrace. The names of pivotal battles in U.S. military history up to 1930 are inscribed around the walls of this area. Massive cylindrical metal and glass light standards mark the corners of the parapet wall around the base of each pylon." The Photo ID: MG698-208.

For more information, view the HARB/HAER page at:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/hh:@field(DOCID+@lit(PA3574))

Market Street Shoppers, 1930's (Week of 12/21/2009)

Shoppers fill the sidewalks on Harrisburg's Market Street during the holiday season. On the left are the store fronts of Woolworth's, Bowman's, and Pomeroy's. On the right is the Hotel Columbia and the Plaza Hotel. This scene is looking east toward the subway while a trolley is heading west, passing the cars parked along the street. Photo ID: MG698-372.

Post Office Crowd before Christmas, 1940's (Week of 12/14/2009)

Inside the post office at Third and Walnut Streets in Harrisburg, people line up to send their packages and cards in the days leading up to Christmas. Posters on the wall give information about mailings, including air mail. Assistant Postmaster George S. McCrone is standing at right. Photo ID: MG698-367.

Pennsylvania Canal at Liverpool, c1885 (Week of 11/30/2009)

Boats rest in the Pennsylvania Canal at Liverpool in the waning years of canal transport. Liverpool was part of the Pennsylvania Canal's Susquehanna Division that ran along the west bank of the Susquehanna River from Northumberland (where the Susquehanna's north and west branches join) to the area where routes 22/322 and 11/15 intersect today. Pennsylvania's public canal system was in use from approximately 1826 to the early years of the 20th century, but private canals date to the late 1700s. For a video clip of a pair of mules pulling a canal boat from a tow path, visit the Pennsylvania Canal Society. Photo ID: B00037.

Steam Tractor Pulls Capitol Column (Week of 11/23/2009)

This steam tractor is pulling the last column toward the Capitol building, eight years after the first Capitol was destroyed by fire in 1897. This picture from Harrisburg at North and Filbert Streets was taken in the Fall of 1905. The present Capitol building was dedicated on October 4, 1906. Photo ID: MG698-3572.

Pennsylvania Railroad Yards, c1935 (Week of 11/16/2009)

This view of the Pennsylvania Railroad yards in Harrisburg was captured by aerial photographer Samuel Kuhnert. The Pennsylvania Railroad was chartered in 1846 to build a railroad line from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. 100 years later it had a payroll of a half billion dollars and employed 156,000 people, down from its peak employment of 279,000 people in 1920. The roundhouses pictured here are located north of the State Capitol between 7th Street and Cameron Street.

A railroad system as large as the Pennsy depended greatly on improving efficiency to increase profits. By 1939, each freight train carried an average of 1,164 net tons, a 30% increase in 15 years. Increasing efficiency was especially important as PRR freight decreased from more than 48 million ton-miles in 1926 to 34 million in 1939, and passenger-miles dropped from 4.6 million to 3.1 million in the same time period. During World War II, however, this trend sharply reversed with freight traffic more than doubling and passenger traffic quadrupling between 1939 and 1944.

During the Depression, even with improved efficiencies profits suffered greatly. In 1929, the system had record earnings of over 100 million dollars, an amount that would fall 85% by 1932 and not be seen again until 1942. The record year for revenues was 1944 when they topped one billion.

The safety of railroads was markedly improved by the second World War. In the 1930's, although an average of 26 PRR employees died and 264 were injured each year, this was down from 203 deaths and 3,735 injuries in 1920. PRR Passengers faired far better, with 15 deaths and 169 injuries in 1920 and 2 deaths and 80 injuries per year on average in the 1930's. Photo ID: C06363.

Statistics from Centennial History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, 1846-1946 by George H. Burgess and Miles C. Kennedy of Coverdale & Colpitts, 1949.

Barnett's Fort in West Hanover Township, c1900
(Week of 11/9/2009)

In the album housing this photo, former HSDC Librarian William A. Kelker pasted an article from the Reformed Church Record written by Daniel Miller of Reading, PA and published July 10, 1902, a short time after the photo was taken. The article, entertaining if not entirely accurate, states that in the mid-1700s Mr. Barnett and several other families erected this block house in West Hanover Township to protect them from Indians while they worked their farms. One day Mr. Barnett and Mr. Mackey were out in the fields when they heard that their families had been murdered by Indians. Shortly after mounting their horses and heading for home, they were ambushed. Mr. Barnett suffered a broken arm and dropped his rifle. Though Barnett escaped and later recovered, an Indian picked up his rifle and killed Mr. Mackey.

Mr. Barnett learned that his family had not been murdered and was entirely safe except for his son William of eight or nine years who, along with a son of the deceased Mr. Mackey, had been captured by the Indians and taken westward. After some time, Colonel Croghan and 500 men (Mr. Barnett among them) marched west to Fort Pitt in the hope of signing a treaty with the Indians. There Col. Croghan learned the Barnett boy had been adopted by an Indian family who had lost their own son.

The peace treaty was eventually signed, but Col. Croghan was unable to secure Mr. Barnett's son before the contingent returned east. Further efforts proved fruitful and the boy was eventually returned to Fort Pitt and then to Carlisle. According to Miller's story, after being separated for three years, "by a singular coincidence his father went there on business and reached the place after dark of the same day that the boy arrived. He put up at the same hotel where his boy was already sleeping", and after only a moment of doubt by the son, William and his father reunited and returned home to their family. As for the Mackey boy, he was sent to England, returned to America as a British solider during the Revolutionary War, and while on furlough reunited with his mother and left the British army.

Some remains of the house should still be visible off of Piketown Road. According to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission marker, Joseph Barnett's log house at the head of Beaver Creek served as a frontier refuge during the French and Indian War. William was stolen in 1756, and it was not until 1763 that he was brought back by Col. Henry Bouquet. Photo ID: ALB7-01328.

Reading the News Days before World War II (Week of 11/2/2009)

A group of people stand in front of the Patriot and Evening News building in Harrisburg reading the latest international news headlines in the window. Judging by mention of the Davis Cup results from Massachusetts, the date is likely August 26, 1939. The front-page headline of that day's Evening News, which is posted at center, reads: "Rejection of Hitler's Plan to Settle Poland Dispute Prepared by Allies". Just a few days later, Germany would invade Poland. The headlines at right read as follows:

"LONDON - UNCONFIRMED REPORT IN FOREIGN QUARTERS SAID GREAT BRITAIN WAS SEEKING PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S OPINION ON A PROPOSED BRITISH REPLY TO HITLER SUGGESTING SIX MONTH'S TRUCE BETWEEN GERMANY AND POLAND.

"BERLIN - UNB NEWS AGENCY SAID TODAY THAT HITLER ADDRESSING MEMBERS OF THE REICHSTAG REFERRED TO THE 'GRAVITY OF THE HOUR'.

"LONDON - THE BRITISH CABINET MET IN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION FOR AN HOUR AND THREE-QUARTERS TODAY AND ADJOURNED WITHOUT MAKING COMMENT ON EUROPEAN POLITICAL SITUATION. NO FURTHER MEETING WAS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY.

"LATER RELIABLE SOURCES SAID THE CABINET HAD DRAFTED A FIRM REPLY TO HITLER'S POLISH TERRITORIAL DEMANDS TAKING THE SAME UNSWERVING LINE AS THE REACTION OF FRANCE.

"AP -- MUSSOLINI MOVES TO PRESERVE EUROPEAN PEACE.

"AP -- CIVILIANS GIVEN NEW NOTICE TO LEAVE PARIS.

"MASS. -- AP -- AUSTRALIA DEFEATS YUGOSLAVIA IN DAVIS CUP TENNIS."

Photo ID: MG698-2717.

Brownstone Quarry Near Hummelstown (Week of 10/26/2009)

One of the earliest brownstone quarries in Pennsylvania opened in the 1700's on the Berst property near Hummelstown. The stone was first used for tombstones in the local cemetery and for the Berst farm house, which was built in 1800. In the 1860's Henry Brown of Harrisburg established the Brown Freestone Company after shipping stone from the quarry to be used in the Dauphin County Courthouse, and in 1867 Allen Walton of Philadelphia expanded the company into the Philadelphia and Baltimore markets. Ten years later Walton purchased the Pennsylvania Brownstone Company, which operated a nearby quarry, and formed the Hummelstown Brownstone Company. The property, including offices, quarries, mill, and stone-dressing shops covered more than one thousand acres.

The Tenth Census of the United States reported that "the material here is a brown, massive sandstone of a uniform and medium texture, and is quarried for caps, sills, trimmings, bases, steps and other building purposes. It has been much used in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Williamsport, Pottsville, Reading, Lancaster, York, Richmond, Baltimore, Washington and other cities of the east. Blocks of as large a size as are desirable may be taken out."

Among the hundreds of buildings that used stone from the quarry are the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington D.C., the North American Building in Philadelphia, the National Exchange Bank in Baltimore, several Dickinson, Gettysburg, and State College buildings, the Arcade Building in Cleveland, and Union Station in Indianapolis. It was used as far as a court house in Orlando, Florida.

Allen Walton built a four-mile railroad in 1886 to connect the quarries to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad at Brownstone Station: the Brownstone and Middletown Railroad Company (or B & M). When Allen Walton died in 1898, his sons took over the company until it closed in 1928. Photo ID: MG698-2977.

Breaker at Williamstown Colliery (Week of 10/19/2009)

The Williamstown colliery was located on the south side of Big Lick Mountain on the Summit Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The colliery's first shipment was made on March 28, 1866 and consisted of six tons of stove coal and six tons of nut coal. ("Stove" and "nut" indicate the size of the coal pieces.) The colliery ended its first year of operation with 67,643 tons of coal shipped. Eight years later the Federal Mine Report listed the 301,326 tons shipped in 1873 as "the largest shipment of record from any one colliery in this country and in Europe for one year."

The breaker was where anthracite coal was sent for processing after being dug from the nearby mines and chuted into mine cars. It was sorted by size according to its intended use, and impurities such as slate were removed. "Breaker Boys," typically 8 to 14 year-old sons of the miners, were among those employed for the task at a rate $2.50 a week.

According to A Sesquicentennial History of Williamstown and Williams Township, Williamstown's breaker was situated 314 feet to the right of the mouth of a 1,040 foot tunnel. Inside were: two pairs of six foot rollers 32 inches in diameter; six screens five feet in diameter with seven jackets between 14 and 22 feet long; a 24 horsepower, 12 inch cylinder engine; two 30 foot boilers 34 inches in diameter; a 5-ply, 12 inch gum driving belt, engine and boiler house with stone foundation, patent injector, steam governor pump and water cistern. 101 feet wide and 91 feet high, the breaker had the capacity to process more than 1,000 tons of coal a day.

Though Short Mountain, Lykens Valley, and Big Lick collieries were nearby, the success of the Summit Branch colliery was responsible for the growth of Williamstown. As printed in the July 8, 1876 edition of Miners' Journal, the Rev. J. F. Wohlfarth remarked to the citizens of Williamstown during a Centennial Fourth of July address: "[Williamstown] has in the last eleven years sprung from apparently nothing to what it is - a town of 2,500 inhabitants. It has seven or more well established dry goods and grocery houses,... nine lodges, seven school rooms, five churches, two excellent bands, and, may I whisper it? too many hotels."

Mining operations stopped in 1941, but the breaker was used to process coal for several more years. Photo ID: W02752.

Old Dauphin County Prison (Week of 10/12/2009)

The first Dauphin County prison was a small, two-story log structure built about 1790 near the corner of Walnut Street and Court Street (then called Raspberry Alley) in Harrisburg. John Harris, Jr. provided land for such public use when he laid out the town in 1785. In 1797 a limestone wall was built on account of the many escapes.

The second, Gothic-style prison (pictured here circa 1880) was designed by architect John Haviland. It was completed in 1841 on the same site after the removal of the first prison building but within the original stone wall. The octagonal tower was originally intended to contain an alarm bell, and a garden plot occupied the space between the cast-iron fence and the front of the building. The walls were 23 feet high.

The prison proper was a two-story, limestone building containing forty cells that measured fifteen feet in length and seven and a half feet in width. Twenty were on each floor, ten fronting either side of a corridor. Each cell had a bed, toilet, asphalt floor, hot water heat, and ventilation via holes in the walls. The 80-foot corridor had a brick floor, a center stairway, and was lighted and ventilated by sky-lights.

The prison originally cost $40,000 but was remodeled in 1899 when two tiers were added and the front was altered to brick. The building was demolished in 1957 after the opening of the prison in Swatara Township. Photo ID: E00244.

1700's Log House (Week of 10/5/2009)

One of the oldest log houses in Dauphin County, it was built around 1750 - 1760 and is located in Middle Paxton Township about one half mile west of the Peter Allen House, south of Peters Mountain (originally the Kittatinny). The farm on which it is situated was owned for some years by Ike and Jubie Garman, and around 1937 it was purchased by Miss Kathryn M. Nell. Miss Nell's brother-in-law, Maynard M. Fulton, restored and lived in the house with his wife. Mr. Fulton died in 1970.

A 1937 Evening News article describes the original house (pictured) as "a plain, square building made of rough-hewn logs and mortar mixed with straw, another sign of its great age. It stands in the center of a large tract of cleared land which afforded both protection from the Indians and excellent farm land. The original spring house still stands on the property. Throughout the house the floors are made of smoothed white pine boards about a foot wide, and more than an inch thick. These are supported by sturdy oak logs which form the ceilings of the rooms beneath." The doors swung on either "Heavenly" or "Heavenly Lord" style hinges (in "H" and "HL" shapes respectively) to keep the witches out.

The Fultons removed the lean-to from the front of the cabin as well as the old weather boarding from the logs. They added wings for extra rooms and dormers for the second floor. They painted the exterior white with touches of black, and shingles simulated the lines of logs. On the inside, colors were kept pale and bright (blue, white, pink, yellow, and green) to provide an air of spaciousness in otherwise small quarters. A modern kitchen was installed.

After the Fultons started their work, they found remnants of several Indian arrows which had been shot into the logs in an effort to burn the cabin. The inch-long weapons were made of deer hair formed into a bullet shape with cord. The deer hair was soaked in oil and ignited and the arrows shot into the cabin in an attempt to set it ablaze.

Other artifacts which were found at the time include three stone arrow heads, a rounded stone drilled with three holes (likely an Indian charm), a copper penny dated 1798, an iron nail, a handmade clothes pin, a handmade iron latch with hand-hammered nuts and bolts, a hand-wrought fork, and a perfume bottle with a copper top. Photo ID: I06056.

Truck Moving a Log Cabin (Week of 9/28/2009)

A truck is moving a log home through the intersection of Sixth Street and Maclay Street in Harrisburg in the 1940's. On the right corner is Camp Curtin Trust Company at 2100 North Sixth Street. At left is Percy D. Leap's drug store at 2032 North Sixth Street. Photo ID: MG698-405.

World War II Draftees (Week of 9/21/2009)

This photo appeared in a 1940's Harrisburg newspaper: "Yesterday they were on their way, but today these 183 young draftees are getting their first taste of Army life at the New Cumberland Reception Center. The group, all from Harrisburg's three draft boards and County Board No. 3, was the largest ever sent from Dauphin County. Dr. Arnaud C. Marts, executive director of the Pennsylvania Council of Defense, addressed the selectees in Courtroom No. 1 of the Dauphin County Courthouse before they marched across Market Square, as shown here, to Valley Railway buses waiting to take them to New Cumberland." Photo ID: MG698-2718.