Art & Creativity: Advertising... The Old-Fashioned Way! A Photo Journey...

Part of the charm of living in an older town like Port Townsend — with a protected historic district — is that it allows for some interesting insights into a different time and place.

Throughout much of our downtown area, the buildings have been left largely untouched, since they were built... mostly between 1875 and about 1905.

Certainly, there has been some restoration done here and there... but we have no "glass and chrome" built to take the place of the old brick buildings... those old buildings are still there.

Along with the old buildings, we also have the remains of the old mural advertising, painted directly on the sides of the walls... early manifestations of "billboard advertising."

Although the paint is now flaking and fading... after all, it has been there for 125 years, or more... we get some insights into what was once here.

These days, the buildings for the most part no longer house businesses; since this is now a town centered mostly on tourism, most are now hotels and residences.

Thankfully, these historical murals remain; reminders of a time of thriving commerce here.

Already in the 1850's, this was considered a "City of Dreams" by many, and businessmen and financiers moved here on the possibility that this small community at the tip of a peninsula would become "The San Francisco of the North."

Alas, that never happened.

Even though the town thrived for several decades, the nationwide Panic of 1893 shattered many dreams, and the proverbial "nail in the coffin" was the relative lack of fresh water here.

In essence, there was enough water to support a smaller town, but not an entire city.

Even today... with our population at around 10,000 people... much of our water still has to be pipelined in from the Big Quilcene River, more than 30 miles away, and our water is only as good as it is because the city shares a 14-million gallon a day (53 million liters) pipeline with our local paper mill.

Oddly enough, it has only been since I stopped working downtown — when we still had the gallery — that I have had time to stop and enjoy these old advertisements from a time long gone.

Thanks for reading!

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