Evocative Images of Lost Toronto

[Mustapha]

Hi everyone. Goldie asked me to post this picture. I know that the pair at the top have been seen before; but I'm pretty sure that the bottom pair haven't been.

 

[Mustapha]

thanks for the ID, Mustapha--i wasn't aware of the back story here....

The UC-97 left New York, under the command of Lt. Commander Charles A. Lockwood, to traverse the locks of the Canadian-controlled St. Lawrence. It is a time-honored naval traditional practice for a man-of-war to fly the Union Jack at the fore. This caused trouble and debate at each Canadian port of call up the St. Lawrence river. Lt. Commander Lockwood was later vindicated by the Canadian naval officers who applauded his pertinacious observance of this tradition. Lt. Commander Lockwood later became the Commander of Submarines, Pacific Fleet during World War II.

Once the UC-97 entered the Great Lakes, she began a whirlwind tour to American ports, large and small, along the shores of Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan. Though scheduled to visit Lake Superior ports as well, the U-boat had to cut short its voyage because of wear on the engines. She started back down the coast of Lake Michigan toward Chicago, arriving on August 25th, 1919. Once in Chicago, her crew turned the UC-97 over to the Commandant, 9th Naval District where she was laid up at the Great Lakes Naval Station. The UC-97 spent nearly two years at Navy Pier in Chicago.

Final Dive
USS Wilmette Steaming into Lake MichiganPrior to using the UC-97 for target practice, she was stripped of all parts of value (armaments, propulsion and navigational equipment) and prepared for her final voyage. On the morning of June 7th, 1921, the UC-97 was towed by the USS Hawk out into Lake Michigan. The USS Wilmette was present as her final executioner. Aboard the Wilmette was Gunner's Mate J.O. Sabin, who fired the first American shell in World War I, and Gunner's Mate A.F. Anderson, the man who fired the first American torpedo of the conflict. Out of the thirteen shells fired, ten found their mark and in ten minutes the UC-97 took her last, long dive.

The wreckage of the UC-97 was located in 1992 by A&T Recovery, but it's location has not been made public. The hulk lays at a depth of approximately 250 feet. The Navy's records indicate that the location of it's sinking was 42 deg. 10' N, 87 deg. 20' W, which would place it about 20 miles east of Highland Park, IL. A&T Recovery side scanned over 140 square miles of Lake Michigan to find the submarine's location. Future plans for the UC-97 remain to be seen.

http://www.eastlandmemorial.org/uc97.shtml

 

[thecharioteer]

Spring is in the air:

Queens Park

May 8, 1915:

1912:

City Hall (pre-Cenotaph):

High Park, May 8, 1915:

Exhibition Grounds:

Allan Gardens 1912:

 

[Edward Skira]

This is one instance where colour would work much better.

 

[thecharioteer]

This is one instance where colour would work much better.

Except that we're so used to thinking of the past in black-and-white or sepia tones. Even seeing old pictures in colour, it almost seems like they have to have that old National Geographic Kodachrome or Ektachrome glow about them.

 

[LowPolygon]

This is one instance where colour would work much better.

Of course, this is a bit of moot point. Kind of like wishing an early blues recording sounded more like a 48 track digital recording. The technology simply didn’t exist back then! The first modern color film, Kodachrome, wasn’t introduced by Eastman Kodak until 1935, and wasn’t widely used until the 1950’s.

Surprisingly, even after colour film was widely available, many photographers continued to prefer black and white. This is equally true in Hollywood, where colour had been in wide use since The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Twenty years later, in 1959, Alfred Hitchcock still preferred to shoot Psycho in black and white.

You’re right in a certain sense though, we ‘miss’ the colour more with images of nature, because the “colours of natureâ€: brilliantly hued flowers, bright blue skies, verdant green grass and trees, the colours of autumn etc, are the ‘source’ of our visual pleasure. We simply don’t associate the urban environment with colour in the same way.

 

[Mustapha]

This is one instance where colour would work much better.

"Colour"?... Fret not. Goldie just sent me this . He hasn't titled it, but let's call it: "Not running with the herd." Goldie took this picture 30 years ago in Edwards Gardens.

 

[LowPolygon]

Spring is in the air:

Queens Park

May 8, 1915:

Interesting—it’s a reminder that spring in Toronto is indelibly associated with tulips in bloom! I wonder who first planted them in the city? Apparently bulbs were sold to the U.S. from Holland as early as the 18th century, though whether they would have made their way up here that early is debatable. The development of the commercial market in tulip bulbs came about as a result of the efforts of the Dutchman J. B. van der Schoot. He was the first ‘travelling bulb salesman’ to go to the United States, in 1849. its likely they appeared in Toronto not too long after that?

 

[thecharioteer]

Of course, this is a bit of moot point. Kind of like wishing an early blues recording sounded more like a 48 track digital recording. The technology simply didn’t exist back then! The first modern color film, Kodachrome, wasn’t introduced by Eastman Kodak until 1935, and wasn’t widely used until the 1950’s.

Surprisingly, even after colour film was widely available, many photographers continued to prefer black and white. This is equally true in Hollywood, where colour had been in wide use since The Wizard of Oz in 1939. Twenty years later, in 1959, Alfred Hitchcock still preferred to shoot Psycho in black and white.

You’re right in a certain sense though, we ‘miss’ the colour more with images of nature, because the “colours of nature”: brilliantly hued flowers, bright blue skies, verdant green grass and trees, the colours of autumn etc, are the ‘source’ of our visual pleasure. We simply don’t associate the urban environment with colour in the same way.

Of course, traditional painting has always been used to create representations of reality. With the technical limitations of early photography, hand-painted coloured images (either on top of black-and-white prints or directly onto glass lantern slides) became the next best thing to "colour" photography:

1900's postcard:

1895 glass lantern slide of Victoria College:

Hand coloured view of the harbour:

 

[LowPolygon]

"Colour"?... Fret not. Goldie just sent me this . He hasn't titled it, but let's call it: "Not running with the herd." Goldie took this picture 30 years ago in Edwards Gardens.

and one from today, April 17, 2010. ok, not really 'lost toronto' yet. pretend you're looking at in the year 2110.

 

[GenerationW]

1895 glass lantern slide of Victoria College:

That's eye-catching! I wonder how long it took to finish one of these hand-painted images.

 

[LowPolygon]

That's eye-catching! I wonder how long it took to finish one of these hand-painted images.

Wiki has some decent info about the tradition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand-colouring

 

[seemsartless]

Here are some photos from 2 years after the Great Toronto Fire of April 19th, 1904 (see the 'Historic photos from Toronto on this day' thread here for links to the Toronto and Ontario archive descriptions, complete with video, and photos from the aftermath over April 20th, the 21st... )

Note that the piece found in the 2nd photo is probably the 3rd piece from the left in the 3rd photo. I assume that is University College on the plate?

 

[Urban Shocker]

How sad - so much destroyed, yet those hideous earthenware nicknacks survived.

 

[LowPolygon]

Spring is in the air:

another association with spring was of course the beginning of planting season, and the bounty of Ontario farmlands that followed...