Interesting old photo of storefronts with fantastic examples of 19th-century signage, at 216 1/2 South Second Street in Albuquerque. The shops sharing the space are Smith & Prieston Machinists & Electricians, New Mexico Novelty Works, and W.J. Tway Signs, Wallpaper, Painting, Decorating & Paper Hanging. Several men stand on the wooden sidwalk, some dressed in overalls, some in suits, and one man wearing a shopkeep’s apron and sleeve stockings. A large dog sits in a horse-drawn buggy that bears more advertising for Tway the Painter.
Photo (glass plate negative) by William Henry Cobb. Cobb purchased the studio from W. Calvin Brown when he settled in Albuquerque, and later married Eddie Ross, daughter of Territorial Governor Edmund G. Ross.
Image Source: "Smith & Prieston, New Mexico Novelty Works,W.J. Tway Wallpaper and Paint, 216 1/2 South Second Street, Albuquerque" (PA1990.13.77); digital images, "Albuquerque Museum Photo Archives," The Albuquerque Museum, Cultural Services Department, City of Albuquerque, New Mexico Digital Collections (http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/abqmuseum/id/977/rec/1); crediting "Cobb Studio."
