Lakeside Drive, Highland Park
by Paula Bosse
Lakeside Drive traffic (click for larger image)
by Paula Bosse
Above is a photo of Lakeside Drive in Highland Park. When I saw the bridge at the left I immediately thought this was Lakeside Park at Lexington Avenue. Lexington would be the street on the right, on the other side of the streetlamp.
Is that some sort of covered seating area at the left, facing the street? This seems too early for bus stops — surely it’s not a jitney stop. (Were jitneys even allowed in Highland Park?)
Here’s the view from the bridge — the waterfall! Lakeside Drive is to the right, out of frame. (UPDATE: Read more about this bridge in the comments below.)
Roughly the same view (but with the bridge across Exall Lake hidden behind trees) can be seen here. A map is here.
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The photo — probably from the ‘teens? — is by L. J. Higginbotham and is from a real photo postcard titled “Lake Side Drive in Highland Park” — it is currently for sale on eBay, here.
See the Sanborn map from 1921, showing what was in this Lakeside/Lexington area at the time, here.
Every time I magnify the already blurry image, I swear I see a couple of people sitting on the bench under the covered area. But I might be imagining it. Or maybe they’re ghosts. Waiting for a bus.
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Copyright © 2016 Paula Bosse. All Rights Reserved.
My old “stomping grounds”! I believe that bridge existed until sometime in the 50’s, when the lake was drained, the dam repaired (replaced?) and the bridge replaced by the current one. The old one with the “X” bracing on the sides was pretty rickety by the 50’s when I’d cross it to fish on the other side. Speaking of the other side, to the left after you cross the bridge is the old H.P. Pump House, which is now owned by the Rose’s and has been converted into a venue for arts events. It contains one of the largest Ingersoll-Rand reciprocating pumps still in existence, eye-candy for we mechanical engineers. As always, thanks Paula
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Thanks, Mac. I love all the additional info!
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The L. J. Higginbotham mentioned above who took the photo might be Laura Higginbotham who is the Great Grand Mother of my wife. She and her husband lived on Lake Side Drive in a house they built that is still beautiful.
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The photographer was Luther Judson Higginbotham, and from a quick spot-check in a couple of city directories, he doesn’t seem to have lived in Highland Park, although his photographs of the area’s beautiful houses were issued as a series of postcards. This photo seems very, very different, though! Here’s an example of one of the houses in the series: http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/gcd/id/344
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My first thought was that that tall and spindly motor vehicle looked more like 1912, or even 1910, than the teens, but then the phrase “depot hack” popped into mind. If it is such, this picture could well be as late as the 1920s. Depot hacks later were called “station wagons,” and later still that latter phrase was attached to certain non-commercial vehicles with folding tops.
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