A lot has changed in twelve decades, but some recognizable features are still in place when we compare the view down South Main Street from Public Square in Mount Vernon in 2018 to a picture postcard from around 1900.
The most easily recognizable feature is the Woodward Opera House, one block down on the west (right) side of the photo, returning to its formal grandeur in its modern restoration. Many of the buildings to the north of it on the same side of the street, including Ringwalt’s dry goods store, are now gone, replaced by the First-Knox National Bank complex of buildings and a parking lot.
The previous bank building is on the far right, billed as The New Knox National Bank. This actually helps narrow down the time frame of the post card picture. According to Heather Brayshaw, the assistant vice president in charge of marketing at First-Knox National Bank, the institution was founded in 1847 by Henry Curtis, and it underwent a few reorganizations in succeeding decades.
But Brayshaw points out that it did not become known as the New Knox National Bank until 1905, which is when it first moved to that location, 1 South Main. That puts the photo after 1905, while the scarcity of automobiles suggests that it’s before 1910. It was only in 1939 that the bank merged with the First National Bank to create the First-Knox National Bank as we know it today.
The corner of the square on the east side of the road is now home to the new Mount Vernon Grand Hotel. Part of an older structure can be seen in the postcard. Buildings to the south remain, however. Though we can’t know the year for certain, we do know the time: An R.B. Ankeny & Co. clock gives the time as 8:17.
Because of the perspective, it is hard to tell if the first intersection, Vine Street, has a street light.
An old-style single lamp light hangs in the middle distance of the picture, but it is hard to tell if it is actually for Vine Street or for the next intersection, which is Gambier Street. Further down, Front Street (now Ohio Avenue) appears to have a light, and that may even be a light at the intersection with Water Street (now Howard Street), originally the last crossroad before the viaduct of the Kokosing River.
One big difference is that there are no longer trolley tracks running down South Main Street and turning on what was then Front Street, continuing over to McKenzie Street, according to the 1896 map of the city published by Caldwell. Also different is the number of trees. The only tree visible in the post card is a distant huge one, faintly visible far down South Main toward the river.
Today a number of trees have been planted to bring greenery throughout the downtown cityscape.
And the other big difference? There are not so many horses now, either. And no street sweeper to clean up what they leave behind.
In the future, I would like to write a column about Ringwalt’s department store. Anyone who would like to contribute their memories of Ringwalt’s to the column can contact me at HistoryKnocks@SinisterHandMedia.com.
