Christmas on Holden Street, Warrensburg, MO

Here's a picture taken looking north down Holden Street during a long-ago Christmas season.  I believe the photographer used a long exposure for this shot.  It looks like a continuous string of headlights coming down the street, but it could be just one or two cars.

Although this picture has historical value, it seems to me to be missing something artistically.  Anyway, I don't get the warm, fuzzy feeling that the glow of Christmas lights in an outdoor setting is supposed to give you.  What do you think?

Christmas at Simmons Studio - 2

Here's another charming family scene of a long-ago Christmas at Simmons Studio.

Christmas at Simmons Studios

We have several negatives showing the same family celebrating Christmas.  We think that the Simmons family may have had a home upstairs at 209 North Holden along with their studio.  Does anyone know the people shown in this charming family scene?

Here's another view of Simmon's Studio with a better view of the equipment he kept just off the stage.

209 N. Holden

Here's an interesting picture from the Ben Pierce collection.  Instead of a close-up, the photographer moved back a little to show what a client would see when he came to Simmon's Studio in the 1940s to have his picture taken.  Since this negative wasn't labeled, I don't know if this is a self portrait or a picture of a client.

                                                     Ben was kind enough to provide me with a picture of the same space upstairs at 209 N. Holden as it looks today.  Quite a difference!

Simmons Studio was located on the top floor at 209 N. Holden during the 1940s.  For many years, citizens of Warrensburg hired the photographer to record the images or events that were important to them. When the business closed, he left negatives behind that documented life in Warrensburg during that era.  

Seventy years after they were abandoned, the building’s current owner, Ben Pierce, found the negatives and donated them to the Historical Society.  We have begun the process of turning these negatives into positives and publishing them online. New pictures will be added frequently.

Hopefully, people visiting this blog will find pictures of family members (or maybe themselves.)  Please leave comments if you know anything about the pictures you see.  Most of them are unlabeled so we could use any help we can get in identifying people or scenes.

This is the only color picture in the collection.  It shows just the corner of the building where Simmons Studio was located.  You can see the sign hanging above the car.  The next door business, Shively’s, is more prominently featured.  This building recently housed ‘The Flower Pedlar’ and is currently ‘The Game Place.”

Does anyone know who the boy is?  What about the make, model, and year of the car?

Captain Readic Comer

Hello Friends,

It has been a while... but we are still here and finding more out about our beautiful county all the time.  If you have ever been in our Heritage Library, you may have seen a painting on the wall of Captain Readic Comer, a Warrensburg resident who was once a Buffalo Soldier.  

We have also mentioned that Ben Pierce donated a huge collection of large format negatives from the Simmons Studio (also Burr and other photographers in the space).  Some are glass, some film.  We sorted them and recently found out from our friend Peggy Nuckles that we can simply photograph the negative with our phone, turn it into a positive and there you have it.  

Well, here is Captain Comer, in the time between his service in the WWI era and the distinguished portrait that hangs in the library.
 A very exciting find.  Thanks for your service, sir!