Did the West bound traffic drive in the middle ?
No, obviously this is a one-way street. Prevents congestion during rush hours.
You have to know Bowlus, not much has changed, they still drive this way.
I wonder if they are showing off their fire equipment. If you look at the car on the right you can see a ladder on the side.
I see 6 people in the back ground also standing still for the photo.
I think its obvious, This is a bunch of out of control kids drag racing.
The early MInnesota registrations - 1909 through 1914 - are in the library at the Minnesota Historical Society in St. Paul. If you could read the plate numbers, you could look up the owners, make of car and, if recorded, the serial number.
Although fuzzy, looks like they are 1909 plates (silver on red) or possibly 1910 plates (gold on black) in either case, light on dark in a B/W photograph. 1911 is ruled out because only one plate was issued, to be displayed on the rear of the car. 1912-13-14 ruled out because that was black on an aluminum or tin plate background.
Seller says the postcard was printed in 1909. Car IDs are incorrect.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1909-RPPC-KRUXO-Postcard-Bowlus-Minnesota-Real-Photo-Bui ck-Model-10-Ford-Model-/221595011288?pt=Postcards_US&hash=item33981788d8
Erik,
Have you seen the registrations in person? If so (or not) do you know if they are sorted by year, make, etc? Finally, any idea if they are digitalized/copied? Thank you for your input,
Rob
The original ledgers are in bound volumes. Below is a photo of my dad with one of the volumes - I have posted it on the forum in the past.
Doing this type of research is something we typically do during the winter time.
Each year has its own volume or volumes.
The registrations are listed in numerical order:
1909 starts with plate #1
1910 starts with #1
1911 starts with #1
1912-13-14 was a three year plate. Starts with #1 in 1912. My dad can tell you the range of numbers for each year.
Each year of registrations also includes an alphabetical index of owners. If you know the name of an owner, you can look it up, get the plate number and then proceed to the page with the full registration. It's not a true alphabetical listing - for example, all the last names beginning with A are listed together, all the Bs together, all the Cs together, etc. Because each entry was added as they were received, they are not truly sorted alphabetically within each letter group. However, its easy to look up names.
The registrations were also published in "Finance and Commerce" newspaper. My dad has also used those as a reference using archived copies at Finance and Commerce, not at the MNHS. There were also published automobile registration directories sold to the general public. My dad has a few of those - they contain basic information - plate number, owner, city and make of automobile.
For what it's worth, I am pretty sure the cars are a 1908 Mitchell and 1905 Cadillac.
I believe you are correct.
The Mitchell looks like it may have Minnesota Automobile Association badge on it.
This is what al Minnesota badge from that period looks like - we have a number of them with the names of various towns.
Thanks Erik. I sent a pm
Oh Oh Erik
Now you and your father will have to look up registrations for Model K's. Rob has the inquiring mind for info.
Enjoy
Okay when I saw this thread I emailed my friend , Bob Bowlus, to see if he knew about it. He went there in 2010 I believe and was taking pictures when a fellow asked him what he was doing. They were both stopped in the middle of the street. The guy was the mayor and wanted to see his drivers license to prove he was a Bowlus. After Bob took some pictures and looked around, he went to the Bowlus Cafe. The waitress said,"You're Bob Bowlus aren't you?" Bowlus hasn't changed that much, has it?
You can always tell a person form Bowlus, you just can't tell them much.
Bowlus is a town that gets a lot of ribbing from the rest of us in the area, but they do have a nice community park with a pavilion that would serve as a nice lunch stop on a Fourth of July tour.