Detroit photography of Jex Bardwell

**Chub** · July-31-10, 02:37 PM

Had a few Stereoscopic gems all photographed by a man named Jex Bardwell. Anyone have any others by Jex?

**Chub** · July-31-10, 02:50 PM

Here are a few more...

**Chub** · July-31-10, 02:55 PM

From info I've found on the web, Mr. Bardwell lived from 1824-1902. Anyone have a guess as to what year the two St. Johns on Woodward photos are from?

**Whitehouse** · July-31-10, 03:55 PM

Since watertransport is one of my interests, the last one intrigues me. Can't completely figure out what is happening there. Is that a floating crane ship on the left?

**Magnatomicflux** · August-01-10, 03:11 AM

Originally Posted by Whitehouse

Since watertransport is one of my interests, the last one intrigues me. Can't completely figure out what is happening there. Is that a floating crane ship on the left?

Seems more like a dock of some sort. There's alot of structure under there so I would think its land based. Seems like this ship is near the end of its life and is either being broken up, or getting her water logged planks swapped out....maybe a new mast.
I wish there was a name on that ship visible.

**Chub** · August-01-10, 03:54 AM

Originally Posted by Magnatomicflux

Seems more like a dock of some sort. There's alot of structure under there so I would think its land based. Seems like this ship is near the end of its life and is either being broken up, or getting her water logged planks swapped out....maybe a new mast.
I wish there was a name on that ship visible.

I tried to blow up the pic, but can't make out much.

**Brock7** · July-31-10, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by Chub

From info I've found on the web, Mr. Bardwell lived from 1824-1902. Anyone have a guess as to what year the two St. Johns on Woodward photos are from?

I would guess the 89 written on the bottom photo might indicate the year. [[Is that a domed sewer grate in the road?)

A carbon-arc light tower would be visible in the top photo probably by '84 and so would Woodward Ave. Baptist church which was dedicated in Jan. of '87, so sometime before 1884 and after 1860 when St. John's was erected. The Baptist Church might have also appeared in the bottom photo - so maybe that's earlier than '89 as well.
Here's a later view.

**Chub** · July-31-10, 05:21 PM

Originally Posted by Brock7

I would guess the 89 written on the bottom photo might indicate the year. [[Is that a domed sewer grate in the road?)

A carbon-arc light tower would be visible in the top photo probably by '84 and so would Woodward Ave. Baptist church which was dedicated in Jan. of '87, so sometime before 1884 and after 1860 when St. John's was erected. The Baptist Church might have also appeared in the bottom photo - so maybe that's earlier than '89 as well.
Here's a later view.

89 is the number of the Stereoscopic card, not the year. These were numbers 89 and 90 in the series.

**Chub** · July-31-10, 05:39 PM

This was most likely taken from the window of Jex Bardwell's ambrotype, photograph, and stereo gallery which was located at 162 Jefferson.

Across the street can be seen Watson's [[George E.) daguerreotype gallery, the banking office of Vincent J. Scott, Wheeler & Wilson's sewing machines, Simon Cohen Clothing, and the office of B. Douglas.

**gnome** · July-31-10, 04:28 PM

due to the super long exposures I'm going to guess 1858

**Hornwrecker** · July-31-10, 06:22 PM

A search for Bardwell at the online Burton collection turns up 329 images.

Bardwell

**detroitbob** · July-31-10, 06:30 PM

St John's was built 150 years ago, and the building looks clean, as in very little darkening on the limestone trim due to soot and smoke. Gaslights are in, so I would think 1870's perhaps.

**mikefmich** · July-31-10, 06:33 PM

If those are gaslights.....they didn't pop up in Detroit until the early 1870's. Id run mid to late 1870's taking in some architectural considerations.

**detroitbob** · July-31-10, 08:26 PM

On the south view Woodward Avenue Baptist Church [[1886) was not built when the photo was taken so the pictures predate that building.

**Chub** · August-01-10, 02:26 AM

Lafayette Blvd 1873

**gnome** · August-01-10, 05:36 AM

yes chub, neat pix. I took a peek at Silas Farmer's, Histroy of Detroit and Wayne County and he reports that lighting of Detroit Streets first began in the 1820s but didn't gain a strong footing until 1851 with the Detroit Gaslight Company. I believe they extracted gas from coal and their plant - or works - was on Woodbridge between 5th and 6th streets.... approx where the Joe Louis parking garage is located.

Per usual Silas Farmer's tome is worth a look-see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=_Od...etroit&f=false

But the age of the first two photos is the question at hand. My knee-jerk guess was 1858 based only on the fact that there where no people visable. It was and old photographers trick to make people disappear by shutting the appature down to a pinpoint and leaving the exposure open for several minutes. The result is that anything in motion is overprinted by the static objects like fences and buildings etc.

However, all that is so much bull as I didn't research the ages of the buildings in the pic. St. Johns at the corner of Woodward and I-75 had its corner stone places in 1858 but the building wasn't saving sols until 1861. Moreover, the Central Methodist church at Woodward and Adams, as seen in the second pic, wasn't built until 1866.

So, I'm saying that DetroitBob is close to being right with his more learned approximation of after 1870.