Then and Now

[C.C.Jordan]

One of my hobbies is to locate old photos of people and places and then shoot a photo of how that person or place looks today. I'll go through old family albums or visit the local historical society for old images and then attempt to shoot a current image.

I find it fun to compare the two and see how people and places change with the times.

Perhaps some folks in this community have a similar interest or have photos of then and now. If you do, let's see them.

I'll begin with a pair of images of a fixture in a neighboring village. At the beginning of the 20th century, a small store was built in the Long Island village of East Setauket. It housed a various businesses over the years. Below is a photo taken in 1930. The building housed a drug store, a hardware store and one of the oldest Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company stores in the country (now know as the A&P these days). Below this image is one of how the building looks today.






My regards,

C.C. Jordan

[crybabe]

That's pretty cool. Great job.

[The Viking]

Now that's a great idea...

Interesting to see how the buildings stayed the same but the chimney (photo right) not only been extended but also moved.

[C.C.Jordan]

yes, it's very interesting and fun.

So, here's another one.

Our Village of Stony Brook is quite old, with its first settlers arriving in the mid 1600s. Many of the homes date back to pre-Revolution days. In 1940, a local and very wealthy business man thought that the village had evolved in a hap-hazard and disorganized way. He came up with a proposal to build a new village center, which would incorporate all of the existing businesses. All business owners would get a multi-year lease at very low cost if they agreed to move their business to the new center. All moving expenses would be paid by the association. In return, the association would buy up all the old buildings, removing them and redesigning the landscape. Some would be torn down, but most buildings would be relocated.

One of those buildings was a large, two family home called the Sidney-Davis House. Rather than retain the two-family design, the house was cut into two halves. These were relocated up the street about 300 yards and placed on seperate foundations. Another factor was that the backs of the halves would become the front.

This was accomplished in winter of 1940-1941.

Below is a photo of the two halves shortly after they were relocated in January 1941. Finishing each half was still under way. Below that image is another showing the two halves as they looked in December of 2006.






My regards,

C.C. Jordan

[crybabe]

That's so awesome!