GITTINS HOTEL

Below is a very early photo of the Gittins Hotel on Manchester Road. It seems to be the earliest Dogtown photo I have on my web pages.

This photo came to us from Charles Haller, via his aunt.



To the side of the photo is the following text: "Ed Gittins' Hotel on North Side of Manchester across from Cheltenham Station, ca. 1850. Ed Gittins is probably the man in the center. Photo from a tintype in the collection of NAOMI GITTINS CARMODY."

First, let's see what happens when the photo of the person believed to be Ed Gittins is enlarged.



ED GITTINS ???

Two other blow-ups from this photo

The little boy on the right end of the photo appears to be a black child. If this photo is before the Civil War he could have been a slave child.



To the far right of the hotel photo is an attached business.

It seems to read: MARLEY and LE..... CLOTHIER.

Anyone have any idea what the name of this clothier is?



Finally comes the question of the DATE of this photo. Someone wrote on the photo, "ca. 1850." That date seems quite a bit too early to me. The railroad came to Cheltenham in 1851. It was 1853 when the first serious brick factory opened. Now, after THAT date, all is possible. But, it would seem to require more evidence that a seeming much later rough dating of the photo to stand up.

Anyone have any suggetions?

Bob Corbett
September 2007

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Bob Corbett bcorbett@netcom.com