Back in 2021 I did a couple posts on the Hammer Dry Plate Company, pioneers in early photography.
The original factory building caught my attention, and that curiosity led me to a visit of the 1940’s art deco building that replaced the original building after a fire.
The legacy of photography is now gone at the location at Miami and Ohio in the Gravois Park Neighborhood. The business shut down and the building has remained empty since. History fades and new technologies make certain businesses obsolete.
But those posts seem to live on. A reader, Genevieve Woodson, reached out to me about an antique store find she came across in Eureka, MO. She purchased a $10 photo album, likely from the 19th Century.
She saw the Hammer studio emblem on some of the photos, started googling, and she came across my blogs.
We communicated over email and met at the Barr Branch of the St. Louis Public Library to get a closer look.
The album itself is beautiful and was well worth the $10 at the antique store.
Keepers and appreciators of old things are near and dear to my heart, so it was great to see the contents of the album. I don’t think there are any photos of the Hammer family, but there are a couple kids in album with early cameras in tow.
There was no info on who owned the album or any other identifiers.
It was still fun to look through old photos taken at various St. Louis studios from the past.
Other sweet little details included a lip imprint from an assumed kiss of a baby photo.
But the real joy of the visit was to rediscover an interest in photography and St. Louis exploration of the past.
On display in the album were a few photography studios I wanted to track down. The fonts used were works of art in themselves. Here are few that caught my eye:
I already knew about the Hammer studio on 1534 South Broadway in the Kosciusko Neighborhood. It is hard to find photos of that building, but there is a photos taken from 1534 Broadway looking north up Broadway at Marion from 1961.
Photo source - Missouri Historical Society - taken by Richard Moore
Since Kosciusko was an urban clearance area, you would not recognize this street scene today. It is largely single-story 1960’s buildings that are rather non-descript. Today, this stretch of Broadway is home to J. Gravity Strings, a cool guitar shop.
Google Street View
But what about the other two studios: Setzer & Roth and H&F Bazin Photographers?
Setzer and Roth were a team of photographers: Theodore E. Setzer (1859-1926) and Lewis Roth (1859-1937). They occupied a shop at 2006 South Broadway, another casualty of urban clearance in Kosciusko. Now all you see is light industrial and trucking operations.
Google Street View
Per the Missouri Historical Society collection, 2006 S. Broadway was still kicking as of the 1950s. William Swekosky cited the photo below as the Leong James Laundry, a Chinese American connection, and it was formerly the Susan Buder Jewerly Store.
Photo source - Missouri Historical Society - taken by William Swekosky
But, Roth Photography was definitely at 2006 S. Broadway.
H&F Bazin was at several buildings on South 5th Street which is either vacated or is now considered South Broadway. The locations were between Convent and Rutger. The businesses date back to the 1870s. This area was absolutely butchered by the Interstates and urban clearance efforts of the past.
Bazin took over from Cramer Dry Plate Company (Papa Cramer), a competitor of Hammer.
The buildings might be those right around the Shamrock Tavern that is familiar to most St. Louisans; but, I have my doubts as they don’t look old enough.
Google Street View
There are some great resources out there, including St. Louis Genealogy Village - Early St. Louis Photographers and Cabinet Card Photographers. Lots of great connections to 19th Century St. Louis photography.
Thanks again to Ms. Woodson for reaching out and sharing her find. It was fun to revisit the topic of St. Louis photography and parts of town that are very familiar to me today, but were once thriving communities.
