Baker's Bird's Eye View of Erie PA

Bird's eye view of Erie, PA ©John E. Baker 2012, used with permission.

This beautiful bird's eye view of the port of Erie, PA was shot by John E. Baker on July 4th. To help you get your bearings, Holland Street is on the left, parallel to State Street on the right. The Bayfront Highway runs between the two. Many of the places that we have visited previously on Old Time Erie are visible in this aerial photograph. Here are a few to get you started:

Oliver Hazard Perry steered the Niagara and the Lawrence through the channel to engage the enemy in the War of 1812: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2013/01/war-of-1812-dont-give-up-ship.html

The Penelec smokestack stands in front of the library: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2013/01/giant-smoke-stack-on-eries-bayfront.html

The old Hotel Ford still stands: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/09/ford-hotel-now-richford-arms-on-state.html

We can't forget the Boston Store: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/08/state-street-boston-store-circa-1932.html

Or Hamot hospital: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2013/01/hamot-hospital-and-public-dock-in-1929.html

The Perry Square library: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/08/old-perry-square-library-erie-pa.html

The Baldwin Building: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/08/state-street-palace-theater-and-baldwin.html

Enjoy more historic facts and photos of Erie, PA at: oldtimeerie.blogspot.com

Giant Smoke Stack on Erie's Bayfront

Penelec Substation in Erie, PA. Photo by John E. Baker. Used with the permission of the photographer.

Thousands of people drive by the giant smoke stack on the bayfront in Erie, PA every day and wonder "What in the world is that thing?" Well, their words are probably a little more graphic than that, but you get the idea.

You can't miss it, even if you are speeding along on the Bayfront Highway. It's HUGE! 

The smokestack had a purpose. At one time, it was a vital part of the Penelec substation, supplying electricity to the City of Erie. The coal pile on the left side of the picture was a couple of stories high. One building from this complex still stands, and is the home of the Erie Maritime Museum. It's roughly in the center of this picture. The building between the Maritime Museum and the smokestack was demolished; you can drive from State Street to Holland Street on East Front Street.

Construction on the brand new Blasco Memorial Library was completed in 1996. The Hirt Auditorium was added to the south side of the Maritime Museum.

The old Grain Elevator, which has since been demolished, is visible to the northeast of the Maritime Museum. Here is a link to a picture of it from a different angle: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/11/grain-elevator-demolition-1986-erie-pa.html

Enjoy more historic facts and photos of Erie, PA at: oldtimeerie.blogspot.com

Let Us Buy the Hassam and Grow Up To It

Childe Hassam painting "Summer Afternoon, Isle Of Shoals."

Jennie Cleveland's letter in defense of the purchase of the Childe Hassam painting 'Summer Afternoon, Isle of Shoals' was published in the Erie, PA Sunday Messenger-Graphic on March 13, 1904:

"Whenever there is any discussion as to the purchase of pictures for our Public Art Gallery, the question arises, 'What kind of picture shall we buy? Shall we get one that pleases the people now, or something to grow up to?'

Now, the central thought, around which our Public Library is built, is to educate, to elevate, hold up higher standards.

The idea of a library is not to fill the shelves with books of any and every kind, just to make possible the boast of the great number of publications we possess. We want to put better books into the hands of children and adults, and want them to learn to enjoy them. It is quality not quantity for which we must stand, if we would not go backwards.

This thing is equally true of our picture gallery. People say, 'Wouldn't it be better to buy two cheaper pictures, rather than a more expensive one?' Well, a cheap picture is much like a tolerable egg- we soon wish we had a better one.

What is the use of buying pictures simply to fill the gallery? Every housewife, when she sees a piece of handsome furniture, bemoans her already crowded rooms. Every book lover regrets his filled shelves. Let us leave some space on the gallery walls for the picture that, ten or twenty years hence, is so beautiful that its purchase is compulsory. But this is for the future. 

For the present the picture we need is the one which we cannot comprehend at a glance. We do not want to read 'Mary had a little lamb' all our lives, although that poem served its purpose very well when we were children. We must progress to Milton, to Tennyson, to Shakespeare, to Browning.

Just so, we want to progress in our study of art, and to progress we must have mental exercise; we must study pictures for their technique, their drawing, their color, their meaning.

As to who shall say how hard a lesson shall be given us, how high our standard shall be, let me use a material illustration: If one wanted to buy a reaper he would care more for the opinion of an intelligent farmer than for Paderewski's. Why? Because such a farmer has used the machine, and Paderewski has not. But if he wants to buy a piano the situation is reversed. The farmer's opinion on the subject is worth nothing except to himself.

If a man is ill, he does not trust his precious anatomy to a barber or to the blacksmith- that is, if he is a wise man- but to the skilled physician. Apply the same principle to the judging of pictures. Is not the opinion of those who have made a special study of the subject more reliable and valuable than the hap-hazard opinion of the many who simply know what they like?

Would an audience expect Thomas's orchestra to play popular airs and rag-time simply because the people like such music? That we would soon tire of it, our street pianos are noisy witnesses. 

Now the one picture that fulfills the conditions that we think indispensable, is Childe Hassam's New England Coast, a picture correct in topography, fine in drawing, unique in method and style, beautiful in color. Let us buy the Hassam and grow up to it."
-JENNIE R. CLEVELAND

Miss Jennie R. Cleveland (1859-1937) taught at the old Erie High School in downtown Erie, PA. Her family home at 8th and Peach is currently the site of the Masonic Temple Building. Miss Cleveland was a charter member of the Art Club of Erie.

The community raised $1,000 through popular subscription to purchase the Hassam painting.

The Childe Hassam painting 'Summer Evening, Isle of Shoals' is on display at the Blasco Memorial Library, 160 East Front Street, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Grain Elevator, Erie PA Bayfront, PRR Tracks

Grain Elevator in Erie, PA. Photo by Chester Wasielewski. ©Debbi Lyon 2012.

The Grain Elevator was a fixture on Erie's Eastside for many years. After it was demolished, Holland Street was extended down to the end of this dock. The Blasco Memorial Library would later be built on the far left of this picture. The set of tracks in the forefront with the maroon Pennsylvania Rail Road car still exist, and you cross them as you come down Holland Street to go to the library.

The sets of tracks that curve to the north in this picture were ripped out to make way for the East Bayfront Parkway, which runs parallel to the PA Rail Road tracks. The Intermodal Transportation Center, where you can catch a Greyhound or an EMTA bus, replaced the two story building near the center of this photo. The beige building on the right still exists and is currently Donjon Shipbuilding and repair. Donjon has 4,000 feet of pier space. The old U.S. Border Patrol building sits on the northeast part of the dock where the skinny structure was.

This photo was taken from the bluff near the Russian church facing northwest. Presque Isle State Park is visible on the horizon.

Here is a shot of the Grain Elevator from the west bayfront in Erie, Pennsylvania from 1965: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/06/ice-fishing-in-erie-pa-bay-in-1965.html