epgarbage

An unknown photographer records an undated bustling downtown Estes Park street scene way back when. We can leave it at that, or we can focus on the ever-changing business landscape along Elkhorn Avenue, and the nosiness of Estes Park’s lone newspaper at the time, the “Trail”, to provide additional details. According to the Trail, bare-naked bulbs serving as street lights were strung over Elkhorn beginning in May 1928. This photograph could have been taken no earlier than May 1928. The Trail dutifully reported the arrival (in June 1928) and departure (in October 1931, to another location) of the restaurant sporting the “Pine Cone Inn” sign in the picture, located in the complex just west of the current Wheel Bar (the Josephine Hotel in the photo). The intersection of May 1928 with the closing of J.E. Macdonald’s cash and carry store reported by the Trail in April 1931 provides the initial Venn diagram overlap for when this image was obtained: Sometime between June 1928 and

without attribution and without worrying where they came from. They were the product of an amateur photographer who never copyrighted them, and are over 100 years old. The Estes Park Museum has no ability to control the reproduction of or charge for use of images already in the public domain. The negative and converted positive are of downtown Estes Park in the early 1920s at the intersection of Elkhorn and Moraine, looking south towards the Crags Hotel on Prospect Mountain. But again, you don't have to provide this information, or give any credit, or pay any user fees. Just enjoy and send to your friends. Posting on social media is encouraged as well.