Sepia Saturday - Places in Glass

For our first Sepia Saturday contribution, we follow the "travel/places" theme with a few shots from the glass plate/lantern slide collection. This box of plates was photographed back in 2007 on the fly when visiting for the homecoming - so I apologize for the poor quality. We used a white piece of paper, taped to a sunny window and held the slides up to photograph with a digital camera. Once I re-locate these slides within the collection, I will reproduce them with greater clarity. The subjects are diverse: mission trip to China, Cincinnati  and the 1937 flood, aerial views of Cincinnati, Union Terminal and the ground laying ceremony for the main temple downtown. Here are a few "places" and "travel" slides for your amusement:

Union Terminal in downtown Cincinnati. Completed in 1933, this Art Deco marvel still serves as the train station for the city. Although, today, it serves a double roll as the History Museum and Historical Society. Seeing all the cars lined up outside, reminds me of the taxi ramps that still exist inside the structure that were designed to facilitate fast travel in an orderly and convenient manner.

This aerial view of the terminal is also from the 1930s and displays not only the multiple railroad lines coming in and out of the city, but if you look up to the far right corner, you can see the skyscrapers of the young Cincinnati skyline. The river is just beyond the city with two bridges in view.

Here is another view of the young skyline, taken from the front of the Terminal. The grounds, including fountain complex are still intact, in their original style - if you've never visited this national treasure, you must put this on your historic to-do list!

As promised, here is a travel photo sent back by Lincoln Park Missionary, Miss Melvina Solman/Sollman. We will feature more of her beautiful photos soon, but this is my favorite. This was a new Baptist Church they built in Swatow China around the turn of the century. For another glimpse into the travels of Miss Solman, I have included a postcard she sent back to the minister's wife in 1911. To enlarge and read the postcard yourself, simply click on the image. It details one of her "vacations" while in China.

Happy Sepia Saturday Everyone!

Welcome to the Lincoln Park Legacy!

This blog will feature the historical highlights of the Lincoln Park Baptist Church Digitization Project. The story of the Lincoln Park Baptist Church stretches back to 1841 in Cincinnati Ohio. It existed under a few different congregational names, but its longest existence (well over 100 years) was under the Lincoln Park name. This last and longest running name was applied when the congregation built a beautiful new building or "temple" in 1897. That building happened to be right across from what was then "Lincoln Park", just outside the heart of the downtown area. It was also in a location that was growing by leaps and bounds. By 1933, the area's most well known landmark was constructed within eye shot: Union Terminal. 

Like any congregation, the member numbers fluctuated drastically. After a long period of steady growth, the numbers reached their top numbers at over 1000 in the early 20th century. Periods of fluctuation continued until the group decided to construct a new building farther out from the city in the White Oak area. The congregation moved with completion of the first building phase in 1958. By the early 1960s, the imposing sanctuary and final phase was constructed. Despite an embracing of this new location, more periods of fluctuating numbers plagued the church until 2007 when they decided to sell their grand building and merge with a smaller congregation just north of this final location.

The small group of congregants from Lincoln Park merged with the Pleasant Run Baptist Church to form the New Hope Baptist Church which is still in operation today! Along with the move of people came a dedicated group that was determined to save the historical legacy that was Lincoln Park. Ironically, the year they merged was the same year they celebrated 165 years of remarkable history. The move included box after box of documents, photos, member cards and journals - all telling a beautiful story of service and faithfulness during adversity. Right away, the board of trustees decided to discuss and pursue options for preserving this wonderful collection. Initially, it was their desire to create a small museum or library to house these beautiful pieces to make them accessible to family, friends, and descendants of former members. Unfortunately, the space, man power and money necessary to properly house the collection on a permanent basis was just not feasible.

Soon, a permanent home for this collection was being sought, all the while access was still an issue. The members did not want the access to be restricted. There were many who wanted to explore this Church's history and reconnect with its people. This is when Pastology stepped in with a partial solution. Since digitization was a great option for instant access, a contract was reached with this company to digitize and make the documents available free of charge. Since digitization is not preservation of the original material, an agreement with a local historical society will mean a permanent and secure home for the originals as each batch is digitized (announcement coming soon). The President of Pastology has a personal connection to this church as a descendant of former members. For more about this personal connection to this collection, please visit my personal blog, Journeys Past.

That's about it for the moment.....we are just beginning this journey. The first documents have arrived and we're already finding some wonderful things! Stay tuned! 

Click on the above image to more closely examine the newest finds.