More About Those Street Pumps
There is no definitive answer yet on the location of the pump in the post card picture we published this morning, but, thanks to Bruce Mitchinson, we've nailed the location of the pump in this photograph. It stood on the east side of North Fifth Street, just north of the intersection with Prospect Street. The fence in the background enclosed the yard at 72 North Fifth Street. The front gable of the house is visible above the trees.
Then it was very near to the pump on the corner of 5th and State Streets.
ReplyDeleteIs there an estimate of how many of these pumps there were?
I wouldn't be surprised if someone has one of them stuffed into the back of their barn.
You noticed that, too! Those two were only a little more than a block apart.
DeleteThe fact that in 1911 the photo was labeled "Old Pump" gives me the sense that they were at that time something of a relic of bygone days.
This link says location is Union Street: http://www.hrvh.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/haal/id/92
ReplyDeleteGreat find, Chad!
ReplyDeleteOn p. 192 of Byrne Fone's book we see the same claim as Mr. Mitchinson's, that this pump was on N. 5th Street. (It would be a help if the Hudson River Valley Heritage website explained where it got the information it was on Union St. Was it recorded on the verso? Good researchers know to include that information.)
We'd be left with conflicting accounts if the house standing on N. 5th Street today didn't match the house in the photograph so perfectly.
My vote is with Messrs Mitchinson and Fone, neither of whom is a fan of razing Hudson's historic structures if I'm not mistaken (!).