Hi everyone, here are the Local History Photos of the week!

All three photos for this week are of a parade that made its way down Market Street in 1948.

You can tell the photos were taken in 1948 by looking both at the float that celebrates the 80th Anniversary of Corning Glass Works in 1948, and, by looking at the New York Telephone Company Float which lists how many telephones there were in Corning in 1948.

 

Photo 1: New York Telephone Float

What a cool float!

The New York Telephone Company float notes that there were 142 telephones in Corning in 1898 and that in 1948 there were more than 8,000! Corning has a long history of being a place that embraces new technologies!

And you can see the old Newbury and the Ecker Drug stores in the background too!

 

Photo 2: Corning Glass Works 80 Years in Corning Float

Our second photo for this week shows a Corning Glass Works Float that was created to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Corning Glass Works – and that is super cool!

Also cool is the text at the bottom of the float which says:

“In 1879 CORNING blew a bubble for a man named Edison”, the text refers to the fact that Corning Glass Works made light bulbs early in the electric era and some were made for a man named Thomas Edison!

And if you look very closely, you’ll see that there is a gaffer blowing glass in the middle of the float!

 

Photo 3: Erie Locomotive

Our third photo for this week shows an Erie locomotive driving by the Ecker Drug Store as part of the same parade. We certainly don’t see trains running down Market Street or Erie Avenue (AKA Denison Parkway) anymore!

 

Have a great weekend!

Linda, SSCL

 

Corning History is a Southeast Steuben County Library blog.

 

Library Local History/Creation Station Resources:

At the library you can scan your photos and slides to create digital family albums and slideshows; and even use one of the Circut machines, and other Creation Station equipment, to help you create a special paper family history album.

Also of note, we have the local paper, at times called the Corning Leader, Corning Journal or Corning Daily Journal, on microfilm from 1840 to the present — so you can visit the library and research local history and your family tree if you wish!

And…

And if you find any old photos or postcards of the Corning area that you don’t know what to do with – you can always donate them to the library!