Some new photos from Fort Wayne

[Rob-F]

The Silver Screen Theater is on Randolph Street (State Road 327) in the small town of Garrett, Indiana. It was built in 1939 as the Gala, and was later renamed the Silver Screen. It closed in 2014 because the owners couldn't afford to convert it to digital projection.​

Small, locally-owned theaters like the Silver Screen held on longer in small towns than they did in the larger cities, where giant multiplex theaters drove the little ones out of business years ago.​

The company that owns the Silver Screen also owns the Strand Theater in Kendallville and the Auburn-Garrett Drive-In, both of which were still open when I made this photograph in March, 2016.​

I love this one, Chris. I have a weakness for photos of theaters, and the bold colors and careful framing make it even better.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I love this one, Chris. I have a weakness for photos of theaters, and the bold colors and careful framing make it even better.

Thanks, Rob. The colors and light are what caught my attention as I was driving through the town. There are a couple of other small town theaters I have found that I want to photograph soon, too. I'm trying to get in touch with this one's owner to see if he'll let me photograph the inside.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is a vacant storefront next to Charlie's True Value Hardware, in a shopping center in the small town of Avilla, Indiana.​

The handpainted window says "6600 Square Feet To Rent. Call Charlie."​

 

[ASA 32]

Always pleased to see your images and commentary. They remind me of my Indiana past: La Porte, Lafayette, Madison and Bloomington.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I made this photograph back in 2014, and posted it in this thread back then. I'm posting it again to illustrate how important it is to document our world.

Yesterday, General Electric began dismantling this iconic sign that has stood atop one of the buildings in their sprawling factory complex in downtown Fort Wayne since the 1930s.

The buildings at the complex have mostly been vacant for 20 yrs now, all the jobs having been exported to Mexico. There was a small research and development staff working at the site until the beginning of 2015, when that operation was moved to another GE location in the United States. One of the buildings was demolished last year, and we expect that the rest will soon follow, especially since the famous sign has now been taken down.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The American flag is a symbol of of the United States and its wealth and power recognized around the world. The logos of many American business corporations have also become known in even the most remote corners of the world as symbolic of American cultural and economic influence.​

McDonald's restaurants are one of these American icons. I remember, when I was young, when the Soviet Union allowed a McDonald's to open in Moscow. This was when Russia was still under Communist rule, and tens of thousands of Russians lined up to eat there.​

This McDonald's is on Coliseum Boulevard in my hometown; Fort Wayne, Indiana. The flag is the gigantic American flag at Glenbrook Dodge, a car dealer located next door to the restaurant. The flag, which is 80 feet long, normally flies at the top of a 200 foot tall flagpole, but it was flying at half-staff to honor the victims of a terrorist attack that took place in Belgium a few days earlier.​

I made this photograph last Friday.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

The Strand Theatre is on Main Street in the small town of Kendallville, Indiana. It was built in 1890 as the Spencer Opera House, and was renamed several times before becoming the Strand in 1950. It is the only theater in Noble County.​

A lot of Indiana's small towns still have locally-owned theaters like the Strand. Small movie houses like it were once common in the state's large cities, but they were driven out of business by giant multiplexes decades ago.

I photographed the Strand last Friday.
​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This giant tooth stuck to a toothbrush hangs on the front of a brick building on Main Street in the small town of Kendallville, Indiana. The tooth belongs to Jansen Family Dentistry, a dentist's office in the storefront under the giant tooth.

I photographed it last Friday.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This door between two storefronts leads to the apartments on the second floor of the building, located on Main Street in the small town of Kendallville, Indiana.​

The storefront buildings in the 'downtown' area of most small towns in Indiana have apartments on the second floor, above the retail spaces on the first floor. In the past, the owners of the stores often lived above their stores, but today most are rented out to lower-income families.​

Something that I have often seen in our small towns is the beautiful decoration seen on even mundane things, like this door. The intricate sculpted wood archway over the door is a beautiful detail that would never be included in a modern building.​

I photographed it last Friday.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Someone has painted a happy face on the back of a stop sign at the corner of Belle Vista Boulevard and Gates Drive in the Belle Vista neighborhood in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.​

I photographed it late in the evening, near sunset.​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This post office serves the small town of Hudson, Indiana. The town is so small that mail is not delivered to homes; residents have to go to the post office to collect their mail from the PO boxes that cover the wall next to the service window, which was closed when I was there.​

Hudson only has about 500 residents. It adjoins the town of Ashley, which has about 900 residents. Many people call the towns Ashley-Hudson since they basically form a single town. Interestingly, each of these small towns has its own post office!​

Hudson is on the southern edge of Steuben County.​

I photographed it yesterday morning.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

I just learned that the long-abandoned Ski-Hi Drive-In Theater near Muncie, Indiana, was demolished last month. I photographed it a few years ago.

 

[paulfish4570]

i like the variety of textures in the vault door photo, and the two movie theater photos for their colors ...

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

i like the variety of textures in the vault door photo, and the two movie theater photos for their colors ...

Thanks, Paul. That vault door really got my attention when I saw it from the road. Seemed so out of place!

 

[fireblade]

Someone has painted a happy face on the back of a stop sign at the corner of Belle Vista Boulevard and Gates Drive in the Belle Vista neighborhood in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana.​

I photographed it late in the evening, near sunset.​

Nice, Robert Adams-ish.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This is the fishing tackle section at Fremont Hardware, a locally-owned hardware store on Toledo Street in the small town of Fremont, Indiana.​

The owner told me that she and her family are avid hunters and fishermen, as shown by the deer skull hanging among the fishing gear. Deer hunting is very popular in rural Indiana.​

Fremont is in the northeast corner of both Steuben County and the state of Indiana.​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Another photo of Fremont Hardware. The middle aged woman who owns the store told me that she caught some of the fish that adorn the wall above the counter.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

This huge American flag recently appeared in the main entrance to the mall in Fort Wayne.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Smoker's Club is a tobacco store on Toledo Street in the small town of Fremont, Indiana. The windows are covered in handmade signs advertising sale prices on various products they sell.​

The door has TWO signs warning people that smoking is allowed inside! Smoking inside retail stores is illegal in Indiana, but the law exempts tobacco stores from the smoking ban.​

Fremont is in the northeast corner of both Steuben County and the state of Indiana.​

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

Voors Jewelry is a tiny locally-owned jewelry store in the middle of a strip of small storefronts on Lower Huntington Road in Waynedale. I first photographed it in 2003, and it is interesting to see the changes that thirteen years have brought. I made this photograph a few weeks ago.
​

The store on the left is a pawnshop now. in 2003, that space was a ceramics shop called The Raindrop Shoppe, which had been there for decades. The store on the right still has the same used clothing store that was there in 2003. Voors hasn't changed in appearance at all, though the rest of the building has had new siding installed.​

Voors is one of the oldest businesses in Waynedale. My parent's bought their wedding rings here in 1970!​

Waynedale, founded in the early 1920s, was once a small town. in 1957, it became part of the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana's second largest city. Though Waynedale has been part of Fort Wayne longer than it was an independent small town, it still looks like the small rural town that it once was. Aside from a Kroger store, a Walgreens, and a couple of fast food restaurants, all of the businesses in Waynedale are still small locally-owned places.​

Here is the photo from 2003: