Crazy Advertising

[PieBoy96]

And you thought today's advertising was bad! Yeowza!

Charleston, S.C. Archibald McLeish's Vulcan Iron Works and other houses on Cumberland Street

LOC#: LC-B811- 3112

[DJCasey]

I wouldn't feel comfortable walking under that sign!

[gilham]

Imagine the permiting requirements for that thing.I guess in the days before neon signs you had to gab a persons eye somehow.
Is that an animal spine to the lower left of the anvil?

[YoungCampaigner]

It looks like one of the ironworkers had a little too much time on his hands! I wonder if that sign still exists somewhere or if it has since been trashed. Is it still on that building by any chance (if so, I'd like to see it)?

[NY Pvt]

Thanks for posting that.
I’ve never paid much attention to that photo close up. Since I had to walk down that way I snapped a few shots. Unfortunately the Iron Works shop building is no longer there. Now a small parking garage sits on the location. However, the wholesale building is still standing. Today it is (on the ground floor at least) Johnson’s Pub and the Charleston Crab Shack. Both places have original exposed brick walls on the interior. The wholesale building has undergone renovations. For example, there are more windows there in the 1865 photo than there are today, yet the building is the same size. Also the part of the cornice no longer remains.
The photo is taken from the corner of State and Cumberland Streets, looking towards East Bay Street (the Market only one block to the North, for those who know Charleston). Also notice the most distance building in the photo is also there.
But to a more historical point, perhaps you artillerists can inform us what type of cannon that is up there. It appears to be a bronze piece, and I would have imagined if it did not work, it would have been melted down. But then again, there are still old cannons not far from those buildings that were not melted down either. It makes me wonder if certain material shortages were over hyped at the least, as those would seem like likely candidates for the scrap heap. Thoughts…

[Vuhginyuh]

I wouldn't feel comfortable walking under that sign!

They are foundry casting patterns and made of wood.

[PieBoy96]

Hey Dane, thanks for putting up that photo - very cool!

Do Johnson’s Pub and the Charleston Crab Shack know about this photo? I obviously cropped it down, the full version has much more context.

[Vuhginyuh]

Paul and Dane, thank you for for the posts of the month.

I see a compass & square above the anvil and leaf springs.

[meyerc]

I just love those then and now type photos...thanks

Corey Meyer

[Johnny Lloyd]

I just love those then and now type photos...thanks

Corey

Seen this pic numerous times before... but-

... Didn't realize Cumberland's Bar was where the old Vulcan Iron Works were... wow.

Perhaps we could create a sub-forum on here all about those fascinating "then and now" pics so we can see where history happened... mods? (hint, hint)

-Johnny Lloyd