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Summary
| Description |
English: The subsequent site of Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City, Iowa, shown before 1888. The light building is Schaffer Hotel, with the open space and the area behind the hotel occupied by Foster, Graham & Schaffer livery stable. There is some doubt as to the spelling of the latter name, with a 1904 advertisement showing it as "Shaffer" while the same directory containing the ad gives a personal listing for E.C. "Schaffer" as associated with the livery. Extensive review produces no conclusion from local histories of Hiram Reid (1883 county history), Ray Aurner (1912 county history, Irving Weber (1976-1994 local history series, and Gerald Mansheim (1989 illustrated Iowa City history). See "Sources for This Article" for full citations. Note W.E.C. Foster and possibly his father partnered with a number of individuals through the end of the 19th century into the 20th century. The 1883 History of Johnson County Iowa provides records for a Smith and Foster Livery stable beginning in 1872. From 1888, details of the business are gleaned from the fire insurance maps of Iowa City, Iowa including Foster and Hess up to about 1888, Foster and Levitz after 1892, and then the building was owned by Graham and Schaffer around 1906. The first map available, in 1888, indicates a building occupying the full width of the frontage of four combined lots. This same arrangement continues until 1912. In the next map, 1920, the Englert Theater is shown. |
| Date | before 1888 |
| Source | This image is from a "real photo postcard" (RPPC), as opposed to a printed postcard, which typically used engraved images. The image now resides in the postcard collection in the private Hibbs Research Library of Iowa City History. The back of the card carries the handwritten note in clear dark ink without a date but perhaps soon subsequent to the Englert opening, which reads: "Schuttler Hotel, Washington St. where Englert now stands. East Fosters Livery." The "Schuttler" spelling is considered spurious. The subject hotel is without doubt the three-story light-colored structure showing between the open livery and a dark structure which was the predecessor of the 1910-11 Paul-Helen Building. The card contains no copyright nor publisher data on it, although there is a printed postage block stating "Place Stamp Here" surrounded on four sides by the separated letters "A Z O" with a small solid black triangle pointed up in each corner. Playle's Online Auctions at http://www.playle.com/realphoto/ identifies this mark as having been used during the 1904-1918 era, though the photograph could have been taken anytime before this. Limited current research does not provide a source or meaning for the "A Z O" letters, typically indicating "an unknown publisher." |
| Author | Unknown. Life time unknown. |
Licensing
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This media file is in the public domain in the United States. This applies to U.S. works where the copyright has expired, often because its first publication occurred prior to January 1, 1929, and if not then due to lack of notice or renewal. See this page for further explanation.
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| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 21:13, 23 October 2012 |  | 1,644 × 1,017 (4.81 MB) | BobHibbs | User created page with UploadWizard |
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