H A M B U R G, F I F T Y Y E A R S L A T E R
I grew up in Hamburg PA… a small town nestled at the foot of the blue mountains. Its location near the mountains and wide open fields contributed to my love of the outdoors and the landscape. But I decided to turn my camera around and look at the town where I grew up… fifty years later. This is what I saw.
The Factories
At its heart, Hamburg was, and is, a factory town. Fairmount Foundry, The Hamburg Knitting Mill, The Hamburg Broomworks, Hahn Motors, Confer & Smith… they all called Hamburg home. And some are still in operation today. My wife remembers very clearly her father walking home, up the hill, after a long day of building fire trucks at Hahn Motors. She could hear from her home, the factory whistles that signaled the end of the day.
The Welder
Some images require a lot of planning and work and some are just serendipitous. I walked by this welder as he happened to be sitting outside the machine shop on his break. I don’t think he ever saw me!
The Alleys
What exactly is an alley? If you look it up, you get a bunch of clinical definitions like “a narrow passageway behind buildings” or “a public thoroughfare that does not exceed 30 feet”. In Hamburg, the alleys are much more important… it’s where you learn to ride bikes, or practice hitting a tennis ball connected to a long string, or where you simply gather with friends. In Hamburg, the alleys are where the garages are located. It’s where you enter the backyards. And it’s occasionally where the unwanted items simply pile up and decay under the elements. I wandered the alleys and saw a wide variety of images.
The Backyards
Long, skinny rectangular plots of grass are the backyards of most houses in Hamburg. For some, it’s a source of pride and you can see the care and work the owners put into making it a nice space. And for others, it’s merely an area where things collect. As with most things in Hamburg, this dichotomy exists and generally separates the old time residents from the newer residents.
Iconic Places
These are the places that everyone remembers… the diner, the dry cleaners, the field house, the bakery, the park, and more. If you ever lived in Hamburg, you know these places… even though many of them are no longer in operation.
Street Scenes
And finally, just a collection of images that represent Hamburg today, and some memories of Hamburg over the many years.
