Photo of the Vandergrift Casino Theater 1910, can you identify the cars?

[dalef62]

The Vandergrift Casino Theater in PA.  I volunteer at this theater every Tuesday night, it has been restored/renovated over the last 25-30 years.

Can you identify the vehicles?

[wayne sheldon]

Definition (detail) of the photo is not good. Solid identification may not be possible. 

That said, I believe the first car on your (viewer's) right is a Packard, likely a model 30, but could be a model 18(?). I base this on the the apparent shape of the radiator and hood, and the deep long front bills of the front fenders (Packard is famous for both of those shapes!).

The third car from the right I suspect is a Maxwell. Also based upon an apparent shape of the radiator and hood, which most early models had with a "dip" lengthwise of the hood similar to Packard, just a bit different. The Maxwell with that style radiator had a brass bar running across the front of the radiator, which this car appears to have.

The fifth car, white near the middle of the photo, I am going to hesitate a bit. My immediate reaction, and I think very likely, is a Buick. I base this on a simple yet very obvious trait. It looks to be white. 

While white is popular with restorers over the past fifty years, and a lot of horseless carriages have been painted that way? It was not common nor popular in this country back in the first several decades of the automobile. White was popular in England and its colonies around the globe! To a lesser extent, it was also common throughout Europe. For whatever reason (filthy dirty roads is one leading theory?), white was not popular on American cars. There were hundreds of exceptions. Custom ordered high end (expensive!) cars sometimes. Many dozens of lower production marques offered white. The most significant exception was Buick! For several years, roughly 1907 through 1911, across several models and sizes of cars, Buick offered their "White Streak" cars, which were in fact painted white. And Buick built a lot of them. Nine times out of ten, if you see a white car in an era photo from about 1907 through 1915, it will be a Buick.

My hesitation on the car is two things. One, although the radiator shape is very close to what nearly all Buicks used those years? Its "aspect ratio" is off just a bit (slightly tall and narrow). That could simply be a distortion of the image.

Two, there clearly is a radiator script, and it also looks very close to what Buick used on thousands of cars they sold! But it appears slightly off. Something looks too tall in the middle of "Buick". "Buick" is tall at both ends, and basically short all through the middle. Again, it could be just something in the photo? Seems to me that "Glide" had a similar script???

 

Wonderful photo! Good luck!

[PFindlay]

enlarged ...

 

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

I tried zooming in on the photo and did not get anywhere near that much clarity! 

Given additional detail, I am less sure about any of the cars. I am fairly sure the white car is not a Buick, in spite of the white. The script certainly does not look right, unless it could be an after-market name or some other script. With all the bunting and decorations, a lot of details are hidden.

I could barely read any of the typing in the lower corner. With your better blowup, can you read the typing? There were a lot of people's names, and a couple of the cars maybe?

A wonderful photo regardless.

[PFindlay]

The text hasn't survived too well.  The words Buick and Jackson may be there, but it looks like the caption is naming people not cars.  The upper caption says that the writeup was published in The American magazine.

 

 

[John E. Guitar]

The article by Ida M Tarbell is in volumes 78, 79 & 80 of The American Magazine. I don't know if the photo is featured.

 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.32000000494288&seq=54&q1=vandergrift

 

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?lmt=ft;a=srchls;adv=1;q1=vandergrift;q3="american magazine";field1=ocr;field3=title;anyall1=all;anyall3=all;op3=AND&facet=bothPublishDateRange:"1910-1919"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Tarbell

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by John E. Guitar (see edit history)

[Walt G]

The fact this building survives is incredible ! and restored too. Just reading /seeing this now and have o hank whomever was the power behind the preservation and restoration of the building. To many incredible buildings are demolished for no reason besides being " modern". Yes, I am active in my village as a preservationist/appointed historian and wrote the law for the Architectural Review Board I started 25+ years ago. Recall the popular phrase "tree hugger" from some decades ago? well I am a car and building hugger.

[dalef62]

6 hours ago, Walt G said:

The fact this building survives is incredible ! and restored too. Just reading /seeing this now and have o hank whomever was the power behind the preservation and restoration of the building. To many incredible buildings are demolished for no reason besides being " modern". Yes, I am active in my village as a preservationist/appointed historian and wrote the law for the Architectural Review Board I started 25+ years ago. Recall the popular phrase "tree hugger" from some decades ago? well I am a car and building hugger.

The building was slated for demolition before a few people said that the building needed saved, and so began the restoration of the building.  I started helping about 15 years ago and we work every Tuesday night.  Labor of love.