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Through the Lens of History
NHCHS' Rogers photos reveal commercial life of early 20th century New Haven
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Business New Haven
11/10/2003
By: BNH
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In the years between the world wars, New Haven was rapidly approaching the population peak it would reach in 1950 (164,443). Despite the presence of Yale (then a small, elite college whose footprint - physical and sociological - did not yet dominate its host city), New Haven was primarily an industrial city with a gritty but vibrant downtown and ethnically distinct neighborhoods.
The look, feel and vitality of those times is manifest in a collection of extraordinary photographs on view through January 18 at the New Haven Colony Historical Society: New Haven at Mid-Century: Photographs from the Rogers Studio Collection. 1930-1950.
Photographer George E. Rogers founded the Rogers Studio in 1982. He worked in New Haven until 1915, when his studio was taken over by Robert C. Hoer Jr. Hoer operated the business under his own name until 1926, when he officially adopted the name "Rogers Studio."
Hoer moved the studio to 23 Church Street in 1927 and remained there until 1953. That was the year his son, Wilfred, took over the business and changed his own name to Wilfred Rogers. In 1961 he moved the studio to 32 Elm Street (the basement of the Timothy Bishop House) where he continued in the photography business until the early 1990s, concentrating mainly on passport and ID photos.
The photographs in the NHCHS collection date from the era of Robert Hoer Jr. (1930-50), and were donated to the historical society in the 1980s. The Rogers Studio collection comprises some 1,500 nitrate and safety film negatives, of which 95 have been printed for display in this exhibition.
Most of the Rogers photos fall into one of three categories: local eating establishments, from gritty taverns to more formal dining rooms; retail establishments, from such New Haven signature department stores as Malley's and Shartenberg's to small five-and-dimes; and recreation, from movie houses to musical groups to sports teams.
The images shown here of stores and restaurants give the viewer an idea of the energy and vitality of New Haven and New Haveners in an era before the flight to the suburbs began in earnest. The harshness and deprivations of the Depression notwithstanding, the Rogers photographs exude innocence and honesty. Residents, employees and entertainers smile sincerely, without pretense or artificiality. They bring us closer to understanding the familiar but very different city that was pre-urban renewal New Haven.
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