MTFCA Forum

Here is a photo of a World Series parking lot in the late teens. Must have been a rush to see the game! Supposedly it’s in Boston for the first series game of 1917. Bet they had a hard time leaving!

Makes my head spin. Just finding your car. Think about it. They hadn't yet learned to set up a parking lot for cars.

"Let's leave the concert early Honey to beat the crowd" obviously hadn't been invented yet

When I saw this photo it sure made me wonder how this would have happened. At first I was thinking it was a publicity stunt but if it wasn’t it would be a real night mare if some of those cars wouldn’t start.

The two motorcycles in the bottom of the photo could get out fairly easy. Interesting for sure.

At least three 1915-16 Fords, two of them next to the motorcycles. One other brass-era car tucked further back, a large one. Everything else looks like mainstream early nickel.

Two car interurban train across the street. Base ball game?

A few more 1915-16 Fords, one with black fenders and a light painted body. The door moldings are picked out in black, and it has an accessory speedometer.

Parking lot for the 1st Hershey swap meet

John kuehn wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 23, 2025 10:11 am

Here is a photo of a World Series parking lot in the late teens. Must have been a rush to see the game! Supposedly it’s in Boston for the first series game of 1917. Bet they had a hard time leaving!

And since this forum is international, the World Series is Baseball.

Keep crankin',
Eric

World series! Other than US teams, I wonder who else played?
Most unusual to see so many tourers with the tops folded.

Allan from down under.

"Bet they had a hard time leaving" Only if you leave before the game is over. Didn't you come to see the game? When it's over, they will all walk to their cars talking about the most exciting parts of the game while waiting for a space to open so they can leave.

Life moved at a significantly slower pace in 1917 due to the lack of modern technologiy and conveniences that we take for granted. I think people were more civic minded and accustomed to longer waiting times and less immediate gratification.

That’s a good observation about life in 1917. Life was slower, less complicated, and not so many distractions. Overall more respect for the other folks in some ways. And no digital devices either! A lot of folks in that era didn’t have radios as we know them today. News traveled slower too.

"Which car is ours, Daddy?" "It's the black one, Son."

In 1917, only scientists, experimenters, and some specialists in the military or shipping had radios. The first true commercial broadcasts were in 1919. MOST radio usage in 1917 was still Morse code.

I always enjoy seeing this photo!

The first commercial scheduled radio broadcast was on KDKA radio in Pittsburgh PA on November 2, 1920, and was the Harding - Cox election returns.

Thank you DS/pk for that important milestone!
Yes, earlier "commercial" broadcasts did not yet follow a schedule. It is hard to believe how quickly "radio" became a big part of daily life for so many millions of people!

Some of those cars are STILL trying to leave the parking lot in 2025! They started out as new cars, but by the time they finally were able to leave, they had become antique cars!
I wonder how it all ended for these cars? And if any of them are still around today in collectors' hands? I'll bet those WWII scrap drives got a bunch of them. Well, if all the cars made back then had survived to modern times, they wouldn't be worth having, would they? It's the attrition that makes them desirable.
Marshall

Pretty simple explanation
At the time American baseball was the biggest organized league in the world.
Later history adds Canadian teams
Toronto blue jays
Montreal Expos (now Washington nationals)
Now players come from all over the World to play professionally in MLB adding to the meaning.
Though it’s original title was most likely used to attract the masses. It’s rich history of diversity across the globe is good reason to never change its name.

Now where did I park again?
Bryant

Not sure where these are:

Maybe I wasn’t so stupid after all in painting red hubs on our ‘24 Touring. Even the if it took three days to get out of the middle of the parking lot, I could still easily FIND our car!

Looks like it had to be first in, first out, just like a car ferry.