History tour...
My family has lived in Midland for 46 years now and in a town the size of Midland one would think that he knew almost all the history and historic places. But that really is not the case. Probably, I'm much more knowledgeable on places and events around the town than the average citizen but still I have much more to learn.
Today I decided to spend a couple of hours taking some photos of places I have been interested in. First, I took many shots of an old stone house just north of downtown, a house made of the sandstone which came from the original Midland County Courthouse. There were originally several of these homes on Colorado St. but one of the two remaining homes burned several years ago and was torn down. I wanted to capture the last one while it still stands. Sadly, until just recently, no one in Midland in a position to take action has seemed much interested in preserving our structural heritage. A prime example was the demolition of the train station decades ago.
With my love of trains my next stop was to take a close-up of a train traveling through downtown, something I've wanted to do for a long time. By close up I mean within about 15-20 feet from the tracks. At our home, about a mile from the tracks, it seems like we hear a train about every five minutes. But trying to catch one coming through town while attempting to photograph it is a different thing indeed. I waited by the tracks for over 45 minutes without the Cannonball Express making an appearance.
Not to be discouraged I moved on to a house on the west side of South Big Spring St. about a mile from downtown. I'd seen it from the road as I drove by many times but never had been any closer. This house looks to have been build in the late 1800's or early 1900's and would have been some distance from the center of town at the time. Once, one could tell, it had been a rather substantial home for early Midland. Though still lived in, it is in very bad disrepair and sits surrounded by old commercial buildings and some small ramshakle homes. Seen here in the "Picture of the Day" I have digitally removed the surrounding buildings, trash and old cars and given the shot a slight colored pencil effect making it appear somewhat as though it were still outside of town as it once was.
I'm not sure whose home this was but I've sent the photo for identification to my friend Judge John Hyde who has become somewhat the resident early Midland history expert. Judge Hyde and I have discussed further ways to enlarge my Old Midland website to encompass more history and photos of Midland past. To that end he and I are going atop the County Courthouse this week to take a panoramic view of downtown showing the same scene as appears in the first photo of the Old Midland website. How it looked then and the way it is today. Hope to have it up soon. And if you have any knowledge of the home pictured today, please let me know.
My family has lived in Midland for 46 years now and in a town the size of Midland one would think that he knew almost all the history and historic places. But that really is not the case. Probably, I'm much more knowledgeable on places and events around the town than the average citizen but still I have much more to learn.
Today I decided to spend a couple of hours taking some photos of places I have been interested in. First, I took many shots of an old stone house just north of downtown, a house made of the sandstone which came from the original Midland County Courthouse. There were originally several of these homes on Colorado St. but one of the two remaining homes burned several years ago and was torn down. I wanted to capture the last one while it still stands. Sadly, until just recently, no one in Midland in a position to take action has seemed much interested in preserving our structural heritage. A prime example was the demolition of the train station decades ago.
With my love of trains my next stop was to take a close-up of a train traveling through downtown, something I've wanted to do for a long time. By close up I mean within about 15-20 feet from the tracks. At our home, about a mile from the tracks, it seems like we hear a train about every five minutes. But trying to catch one coming through town while attempting to photograph it is a different thing indeed. I waited by the tracks for over 45 minutes without the Cannonball Express making an appearance.
Not to be discouraged I moved on to a house on the west side of South Big Spring St. about a mile from downtown. I'd seen it from the road as I drove by many times but never had been any closer. This house looks to have been build in the late 1800's or early 1900's and would have been some distance from the center of town at the time. Once, one could tell, it had been a rather substantial home for early Midland. Though still lived in, it is in very bad disrepair and sits surrounded by old commercial buildings and some small ramshakle homes. Seen here in the "Picture of the Day" I have digitally removed the surrounding buildings, trash and old cars and given the shot a slight colored pencil effect making it appear somewhat as though it were still outside of town as it once was.
I'm not sure whose home this was but I've sent the photo for identification to my friend Judge John Hyde who has become somewhat the resident early Midland history expert. Judge Hyde and I have discussed further ways to enlarge my Old Midland website to encompass more history and photos of Midland past. To that end he and I are going atop the County Courthouse this week to take a panoramic view of downtown showing the same scene as appears in the first photo of the Old Midland website. How it looked then and the way it is today. Hope to have it up soon. And if you have any knowledge of the home pictured today, please let me know.
