(top photo: Town of Harrison)
This week’s ‘Then’ photo is of Harrison Ave. in Harrison and dates from 1895. We have scant information about it, so we can only hazard a guess, comparing it with similar pictures, that this is a view looking east from somewhere near Second St. Or thereabouts. However, in the distance on the right, at what was then Fourth St., one should be able to see the massive Holy Cross Church, completed in 1888, but we can’t pinpoint it. Note, though, the variety of architecture and the awnings (cloth and wooden). Just barely visible in the street are trolley tracks. The horse-dawn wagon is sharing the road with the trolleys and appears to have crossed within the track line. An eastbound trolley would have approached it from behind. Did wagons have rear-view mirrors?
– Karen Zautyk
