Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[farlymac]

There are plans to renovate the upper floors of the building to turn it into apartments, and the sign and frieze are being kept. It is a four story building, and the printing company and newspaper is only using the first floor and the basement. The upper three floors have sat vacant for years, so now they'll be occupied and maintained.

Maybe I've found my retirement home! I never got the chance to put my printing skills to work after high school as one could not get a job without experience, and then my military service took away four years. I could go to sleep listening to the rumble of the presses as they put out the morning editions.

PF

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Detail crop from the image.



This farmhouse is on State Road 18, a couple miles west of Bryant, in rural Jay County, Indiana.

The front of the house's wrap-around porch is adorned with a large American flag and twenty three small American flags. The sign in front of the house has a photograph of former president Donald Trump, along with one of Trump's 2024 election slogans: "Miss Me Yet?"

3-2-24

 

[KoNickon]

At least the guy displays the flag correctly.

 

[farlymac]

Detail crop from the image.



This farmhouse is on State Road 18, a couple miles west of Bryant, in rural Jay County, Indiana.

The front of the house's wrap-around porch is adorned with a large American flag and twenty three small American flags. The sign in front of the house has a photograph of former president Donald Trump, along with one of Trump's 2024 election slogans: "Miss Me Yet?"

3-2-24

They need to move the sign to under the bird house.

PF

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This 1940 Ford Panel Truck serves as a sign for Diehl's Truck Sales on State Road 6, just west of County Road 200W, in rural Noble County, Indiana.

9-22-23

 

[KoNickon]

This 1940 Ford Panel Truck serves as a sign for Diehl's Truck Sales on State Road 6, just west of County Road 200W, in rural Noble County, Indiana.

9-22-23

Did that truck come with spats for the rear wheels, or was that a later modification?

There's a whole other thread of pictures of moldering trucks and cars; seems a shame for those (and this one here) to just deteriorate. But so it goes.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A woman engrossed in her smartphone walks past Heath's Antiques, a store in an old brick commercial building on Main Street (State Road 8), between Orange Street (State Road 9) and Liberty Street, in the small town of Albion, Indiana.

5-17-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This house is on Woodheath Avenue, the street where I grew up, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is across the street from my parents' house. When I made this photograph, the house's original owners, Arnie and Helen Barry still lived there.

The house is small, and has just one bedroom. The Barrys never had any children, and lived there until they died. My dad and I used to go over there to help Mr. Barry do things a lot when I was a teenager, as he was in his 80s by then. Arnie died in 2001 at age 86, and Helen died in 2008 at age 91.

1998

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A banner on the side of Wolfie's Time Out Tavern on Main Street Street, just east of First Street (State Road 5), in the small town of Van Buren, Indiana. It says: "Congratulations Brandon. US Marine."

I don't know why Brandon was being congratulated, or what his last name is. In many small towns in Indiana, a lot of young men join the military, and even something like completing basic training (boot camp) is celebrated.

3-2-24

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the former State Bank of Kimmell building on the corner of Clark Street (County Road 650W) and Noe Street in the small town of Kimmell, Indiana.

It is now an automotive and lawn mower repair shop called Foster’s Sales and Service.

Kimmell is a very small town. Many other very small towns in Indiana have old buildings, like this one, that were originally built as banks. It is interesting that so many little towns could support a bank in the past.

1-1-17

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This old barn is on a farm on Branstrator Road, where it ends on the north side of Interstate 469 (Fort Wayne's ring road), in rural Allen County Indiana. It is adorned with two 2024 election signs for former president Donald Trump.

One sign says "Drain The Swamp 2024;" and the other says "Save America - Trump 2024."

9-30-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The 2023-2024 winter was very mild. We only had snow a few days all season. I made this photograph on one of the days when we had enough snow to cover the ground. I photographed my driveway after noticing that it had three sets of tracks going down the driveway toward the road. Tire tracks from my car; paw prints from my cat, Sneaky; and my footprints.

1-17-24

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Masonic Lodge #711 on the corner of Main Street Street and First Street (State Road 5) in the small town of Van Buren, Indiana. Freemason's lodges are still common in many of Indiana's very small towns. Van Buren has a population of around 800 people.

3-2-24

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

An American flag formed from colored fence slats inserted into a chain-link fence around the parking lot of a fence company called Mike's Fencing. It is located on the corner of State Road 19 and County Road 44 in rural Elkart County, Indiana. This is about halfway between the small towns of Napanee and Wakarusa.

This is the second of two photographs that I made of this fence.

2-11-17

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Scout is one of the two cats at Hyde Brothers Books in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She was hard at work, watching the store's front door from her perch atop the bargain book rack that stands just inside the entrance. She is especially vigilant for any small dogs that might be carried into the store. She HATES them and stalks them like prey until they leave!

Hyde Brothers is an incredible locally-owned used book store on Wells Street in Fort Wayne. As long as I can remember, they've always had at least one cat in residence.

9-21-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

A field of sunflowers on a foggy September morning at Hardy's Farm Market on Knoll Road, between Ardmore Avenue and Smith Road, just outside Fort Wayne in rural Allen County, Indiana.

This farm grows sweet corn, pumpkins, and several other vegetables that they sell from a shop in a large building behind the fields. This year, they had a field of sunflowers; one of my favorite plants to photograph.

This is the sixth of several photographs that I made of the sunflowers at Hardy's.

9-30-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Four pro-Trump and anti-Biden flags hang on the fence around the back yard of a house on the corner of Herron Drive and State Road 9 in rural Noble County, Indiana.

• The first flag says "Let's Go Brandon." This phrase is a rightwing code that means "F--k Joe Biden."

• The second flag says "F--k Biden and f*** you for voting for him."

• The third flag basically says "F--k Joe Biden" twice, since that's what the letters FJB and the phrase "Let's Go Brandon" both stand for.

• The last flag, and the only one that doesn't contain or symbolize profanity, says "Trump 2024. Take America Back."

When I was younger, I never would have guessed that I'd see political signs saying "F--k The President" on public display. This isn't unique to Trump's followers, either. "F--k Trump" signs exist, too; though they are rarely seen in heavily republican Indiana.

5-18-23

 

[KoNickon]

Classy.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Prayer candles lined up in front of the Kroger store on Bluffton Road in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The candles were placed there to commemorate Perla Nieto, a cashier who was murdered at the store by an angry customer on the morning of December 7, 2023. Perla had worked at the store for many, many years. I was a regular customer at the store; and I had known her for 15 years. She was a very kind person who is greatly missed by many of us in the Waynedale community.

12-9-23

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the first thing I've posted in a couple of months. I've been sick most of that time, and haven't done much work. Last night, I made this abstract photograph of the sky over my house in Fort Wayne, Indiana.