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The trouble w is wnithe il* lift'd hvI hotogxaphersv lt;1tlicsr* got in d^adU work after tenjcir* K m?»n hid to be aieful in thebn^inesfe not to eet rolson^d in a shorter time210VET* AROrM SOME , W C Pitner began the photograph business in Jacksonville Jn this btate In Ja From th°re h* v. **nt to Hannlbtl Mo then to bhlt;lbv\ille Mo then toEdina Mo then back to Illinois, go Ins to Rush'%ille Ml.lle in the latter town the r-Hil war brkc oat and Mr Pitner went to that ata^ing two years and nine months to ihe close of the war After th' war he came to Decatur and hts Inert herf ever since He was born in Tennessee ui 1*28 and mo\ ed to Morgan cnunU In thi3 stata when he was * vears old He came toDecatur Jan 1 1RS6When he came to Decatur he went into the business with E A Barnwell, Sn o gallery over Race a clothing store on North Water street He bought out Barnwell in 1867 and then began to mote his gallery First he went to the east aide of Central park, over Sam McRobert's grocery store He moved his gallery to West Wood street about four years agoA BUSINESS MASCOT A cut of the gallery used by Mr Pitner is here shown There is a building that should go on the pension list of the Chamber of Commerce, It has played a big part in building up the town. Mr Pitner used to say that wherever he set up his gallery a business block was sure to follow.The building was bought about twenty-five years ago from Mr Ruthrauff,who had R on a ftbcmt thres mUe9northeast of town Mr Pitner paidW (X PITNER AND HIS GALLERY ERECTED AT 841 W. WOOD STthe subjects and he wishes that some developing pictures and thosewh iXransf Same MoitgE flame \ Faim ■ Same ■( I tv ti Same ’Trdhnf Si ni v* tMoitg Sri,mc 1City tr Samo ■ b urn bame ’of the Grand Army men would go out to the gallery and help him name them It Is suggested that thai frame of twenty pictures might be a good thing to hang In Grand Army hall especially as It abo'ws the men a short time after the warLOST LINCOLN NEGATIVEIn Mr Pitner a collection there was once a negative of Abraham Lincoln taken by Mr Barnwell This was pri2ed more than anything else In the gal3ery, but it got away and is lost Tht negative was made before Lincoln was president It vraa lent to another photographer in Decatur and he neter could toll what became of it it was a rather easy wav to lose a valuable piece of property.AT BOTTOM OF THE ART The earliest product of the photographic art was the daguerreotype, the first one being made in 1B30, That style of picture was all there was when Mr Pitner began to learn tha businessnortneast oi -— ,H« made daguerreotypos under tbe lt;31-$o0 for it and put It on wheels First rection of T. I. Rivera at Jackaon-hV eet* it up on'North Main street nearjville It was a copper plate with a Eldorado Next he took it to Fralrla | silver surface and for finish there wasavenue west of the place where Frl-U gold solution on stiver Mr, Pitner hnnre1! cigar shop now stands Then now aayn they were the most lastingL/CJ UI B 1 .. . _ .___*___ TTTV-i ’xt/i.H anaIt went over near %-aa^ — — •• ■*—--- --Where Wiegand now has a cigar store them now you find them in * case ofThen it was moved to the place where plush and glass, they were covered inthe opera house now stands Again it that fashion to keep from scratchingthe court house pictureg ever made When you seewere not particulai in the une of words came to speak of the^e as spirits’ It was but a «?hort step from tbit word to thoughts of the uncanny He recalls a very old Hdv x\ho was 1 nought In to have a picture taken Her friends wer* with her but It was noted 1)V Mr Pitner tint she felt unom-fortablp and was fidgei After a time she was got to sit and at the end lt;f i. minutes exposure she was told it vi*3 ill mei She excKimed *V\ pll 1 did n:»t see the smoke Some nne had told her about shooting her for her picture and the good old v\ oin lt;*n vis in diMiess all the time She wlt;is i !d to I lt;k pleasant of course11 ansl Tianal Mortg. Pre\ i ■ jt 111 ig(Continued on Fngc Tirche)A\ lt;i a i Vs ei ag AverrtiOf t ' it) p land pi npe i $ 4fr\i po and $A ?114L V r ek agent-pOtts snowiable tHEREhad to move to make room for the bun- fa handlingineas blocks that followed at its heels, and it was taken to the northeast corner of Central park square to tbe place where tha Womans club building stood later The last downtown standLONG EXPOSURES It was not snap shot work to make a picture In those days the exposure lasted from a minute and a half to two minutes when Mr Pitner firstnn North Park street, Just west started The price of a single pictureof State street ran from $150 to $8 and naturallyBROUGHT THE UNIVERSITY I they were not made by the dozen then Mr Pitner in time got tired of these Mr Pitner recalls the work of buff-wanderinga and determined to take the ins that he was set to do aa an ap-o-anary entirely out of tbe business dia- prentice That was polishing the plates moved it to the roar of bis on which these daguerreotypes weretricL tie jnuveu t— — i — — ,of 841 West Wood street, and then put. He ByB the work was tbe hard-wondered what was to happen to that est he ever did, that it was fully «smart of town. Since then they have hard a* mauling railsbunt the university out in the west HIGH PRICED LESSONend and Mr Pitner 9 gallery may have It was about 18o5 or 18B6, Mr. Pit-to move again to make room for this nor says, that the tintype was dlacov-In that little old building that one ered. By the time it got into the weafcmight pass without bo much as notle- Mr Pitner had moved to Rushville inin* there is aa Interesting collection his wanderings. The same T, L Riv-of pictures, especiadly bo to one who Urs at Jacksonville was the first maobaa been acquainted in Decatur a long in this part of the country to learn has been aequunsw ^ Qf ^ Mp pitEerJ HAS 8,000 NEGATIVES. went to him and paid him 455 for twoIn the flret place, almost any of the hourtf lnetructlon In making tlatypee, old people In Decatur who were youn*- which was all the time required.•tters here thirty-five years ag-o very There were ambrotypes, made on likely can go to that gallery and find glass Those with a frame cost abouta, negative of themselves when they a dollar. The time of exposuro was were young and their blood ran rich cut from a minute and a half to tenJn their veinsMr Pitner has *000 negatives most of them made many years ago Theseto fifteen secondsOUR PHOTOGRAPH.Mr Pitner does not remember aboutif them maae iu»ujr \ — *ire laid away and catalogued and can the coning In of the photograph That eot at in hurry If you ever had must bavo been done while he was Ina pfeture taken at'Mr Pitner's gallery I tho war, for he remembers when he vou can ko back there and have more came home he hnd it to learn though Lnles of it Struck. All the heads of there wae nnt.hmg about It that he did town today social, business and pro- not pick up readiij The modern dry fessional seem to be ia that collection plate and the iery short time exposure of negatives as youngsters Thera are is something that has come since it m.nv Tinw here bent and wrinkled who!is entirely modern can go to that gallery and have a look MADE MORE MONEY THEN S thenweltw when they were bonny The photographer was likely to make and buxom and if they take a fancy more money nearly flfty years ago A to the old picture or rather the voung much bigger price was then got for■ *. picture the% can ha%e as many a3 they picture There has been a world of im--inted provements sltica that time, but notwan pi E RIBBON WOBK many of the photographers prosper anyAnd it was good work that Mr Pit- better in the world than did the jho-ae- did in his day He tells of a sar- I neera in the artpr!lt;=e he got shortly after coining to Decatur There was a state fair atThe be*»t order that Mr Pitner e\ar had for pictures was after iie came toshaTls now'Fairview park He took [Decatur An old man and his wife ,ome pictures out to the fair, Just to | lived -t Macon^thoueb_thelr_names areet th^ visitors know lusines He did nothe waa In the | not recalled Ihey had several dill enter them forldren who were living in homes of theirnrize but laid them down alongside own One day the father and mother ulcers that were entered After a lit- came to Decatur and decided to presenle time the Judge, got around and their children with »chung a blue ribbon on Mr. Pitner a them They wanted frames for the fork Then he had them regularly picture* The order they ga.e amount. \tered \ ed to unoro than ?100 No such orders1 COLLECTION OF SOLDIERS. ' fare now given in Decatur Mr Pitner has picture, of a great Mr Pitner nays he does not remem ber a tinao when there were ffewer thanMany of the soldier boys as they looked after coming home from the war Hie bos still had their regimental* md ihey put these on to so to Pltner's md have a picture taken. In the little gallery now bangs a frame that has pictures of twenty of those soldiers fn the bunch are Colonel I C Pugh, St-orge B. Steele, A1 Hopkins and Cap-fcam Mabannah Most of the pictures Mr Pitner cannot recall by names ofthree or four photographers in Decatur, they were plentiful in the days Of course there are many moienowTHOUGHT DEVIL HAD A HAND In the very early days Mr, pitner says that some people were disposed to look on photography as the work of the devil they were the older folk of that time Chemicals were used inA BABY TIS0MEB0DSEX WEEKS’ 0LB GIRL BABY GIVES ANjSTA B. WXLLIXm HOME,THE picture shown herewith o[ the girl baby at the Anna B Mill 1 kin home for whom ^ perm i ncnt home 1*9 des:rcd 'vis tik n Situr day afternoon In order to krep ill'* baby ctilJ long enouprh to get a pk ture it was jriven the tiottlo from which It ilt;* fed WHhont the battle it Insut pd on wigpllr*g1 ho buhy is fed two ounees of milk from the Holstein eoi\ at the home e\erv two hours Befote being taken tn the home It hod been fed MHlin s food but the r) ange his made no ap pirent difflt; renteTn the matter of sleeping a l night this bab\ K dcHdedh the best that his boon in the home for a long while It sleeps -soundli during tho entire night which fact should be a good reocim mendation for itIt also sloops cons]dei-nblv during Ihe da and cries little Whenthe blt;ible cr\ «it. the home, thcv tie nottaken up ind locked as some babies coax tlicir mothers to dn bociup-e it is thought best not to spoil them in that waj However If It is thought that something is wrong with the baby when at cries an nnest 1 gatioti is mad*, at oncePhis bab though onL 6 weeks old alreacU knows enough to thoroughly enjoy its daily bathWhen tho b*ib came to the home it had lust what clothes it had 011 and of course needs moie The home fitted out with eveiv thing the last baby sent it and is therefore needin'? aboutNnlIn in sort which All cf wh 1 tr-room which feet x to thestram tci to Nlchohot tthenbaqkgbmrd and f of wT hottoexeij thing in clothin- for a babvWhen a babj ii sent out an effort Is alwms m ide to furnish it with an outfitArpmtn House#Swisher Brooks have drawn plans for a six-room cottage for J A Mitchell o? Argenta.Scrloai.Re 1, J W Boeder and brother Arthur C Boeder, both of whom have typhoid fever at t Mary a hospital -are In. a serious condition Saturday the condition of Arthur C Boeder was considered critical Thev arc brothei» of Mrs J F Mattes and Mrs E D ftlattea.fkr a and 1steatrviotusovenbroiltner r helt-s dynai smok same crea-n for c Thlt; the h for t grow croaeTh-the 1
Newspaper Details
Decatur Daily Review
Decatur, Illinois, US
Sun, Aug 28, 1904
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Patty M.
IL, USA 22 Dec 2019
Other Publications Near Decatur, Illinois
Decatur Daily Review
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