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Oakdale Workmen's Institute is a public building originally erected at Oakdale, Caerphilly, Wales, in 1917 and now located at St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff. It once was a focal point of the Oakdale community, and included a library, billiards room and meeting hall. Later it also contained a cinema.
3600 Jacob Street c.1891
This building was occupied in the 1890s by August Helmbrecht, merchant tailor. In 1898, the third story was the Ancient Order of United Workmen (AOUW) Hall. The three-story building sits on a generally rectangular plan except that the northwestern corner is clipped. It has a flat roof with parapet wall. The building sits on a sandstone block foundation, and the walls are red brick laid in running bond. A wooden storefront in the façade faces Jacob Street and returns around the angled corner and continues for one bay along the north elevation that faces 36th Street.
Engaged cast iron columns divide the storefront lights. The transom level and some of the lights are covered with
wood panels that formerly held signage. Access to the building is via a wooden one-light entrance door with intact
transom. Two brick pilasters flank the entrance to the upper stories, which has been covered by painted wood panels.
The storefront is topped by a cornice with egg and dart molding and a sandstone belt course. Additional sandstone
belt courses unify the upper story windows, with some of the courses acting as window sills. The window openings
feature flat arch rowlock lintels with decorative sandstone hoods. The second story window openings are partially
bricked in and have non-original concrete sills under awning windows. Window openings at the third story are
slightly arched with sandstone hoods.
A British Road Services truck squeezes passed workmen from Walsall Corporation’s Transport Department, removing a redundant trolleybus traction pole from Wolverhampton Road at Bentley, Walsall in the late 1960s. Those poles painted a light grey colour in the picture, had been retained for streetlighting purposes, and therefore would last a few more years.
So what had happened to the trolleybus services along this road?
From 16th November 1931 until 31st October 1965, Wolverhampton Corporation, and Walsall Corporation ran a joint trolleybus service between the two towns, the service numbered 29, running successfully until the 1960s. Very few places in Britain ran joint trolleybus routes, so the sight of Walsall’s blue trolleys intermingling with Wolverhampton’s green and yellow trolleys was quite novel.
In 1961, Wolverhampton’s Transport Committee suddenly announced that the Wolverhampton trolleybus system would close, and that trolleybus operation would be gradually phased out subject to the acquisition of replacement motorbuses to be purchased each year until all routes were converted. The committee no doubt being mindful of the Town’s rate-payers who would be funding the conversion.
On the other hand, Walsall Corporation Transport, under the guidance of its famous General Manager Mr R Edgley Cox were enthusiast exponents of the trolleybus, and advocated that the trolleybus service between the two towns continued until at least 1967. However, the coming of the motorway age was upon them, and it was clear that the planned route of the M6 Motorway connecting the Midlands to the Northwest would sever the route at Bentley. Construction of the M6 began in 1963, and by 1965 had reached Bentley, near Walsall. The decision had by then been taken by the powers that be, that trolleybuses would not be allowed to cross over the new motorway, effectively ending any possibility of the through service continuing beyond 1965.
Despite the increasing problems with trolleys getting through the roadworks at what was to become Junction-10 of the M6, operations continued until the constrictions imposed by the construction works finally halted the service, ending 34-years of trolley bus operation along the route.
On this modern day Google aerial view of Bentley, you can see how the M6 Motorway cut through the Wolverhampton Road at this location:
© Brian Callahan 2010 All rights reserved.
Part of the crew engaged in the repair and rehabilitation of the Scott Fountain. In this you can see the size of the Native American in a canoe panel that I posted earlier. Sorry about the flare.
James Scott died in 1910 and left the city $500,000 to build a fountain and a life size statue of him on Belle Isle, however at the time he was looked upon as a storyteller, a gambler, and people really didn't want to accept the money he donated because it would only immortalize this man they hated, even J.L. Hudson stated "would be a monument to nastiness and filthy stories. Mr. Scott never did anything for Detroit in his lifetime." ,it was debated for 15 years before the fountain and statue was finally built.
The fountain is currently undergoing an extensive renovation. The lead linings of the lower bowls will be completely replaced. The fountain piping and drains will be put back in working order. The lights will be properly mounted and insulated. It is a costly project, and even as such some of the original beauty such as the Pewabic Tile designs that surrounded the lower bowl well be lost.
If you live in the area, or will be in Detroit, this beautiful structure is a must see, even, under repair.
More about the fountain here:
apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=193
And still more here:
detroit1701.org/James Scott Fountain.html
These workmen were putting a traffic island in place. If you look very closely (though granted the resolution of the Polaroid makes it hard) you'll see they both have cigarettes in their mouths. You can't zoom in with the Polaroid Now camera. The shadows in the foreground are also a feature of this composition.
Taken with the Polaroid Now camera on I-Type instant film.
When getting my lunch there was a fire alarm at New St Station so all the workmen had to evacuate and gather on John Bright St. I often see bunches of them outside BOM waiting to march off to work (their offices are above us) but this was ALL of them, all in orange hi-viz. It’s quite the sight. I took a few photos and wasn’t the only one. Really pleased with how this came out.
The Oakdale Workmen's Institute was built in 1917 to serve as a focus for social, educational and cultural life within the newly established coal mining community there. It was funded by a loan from the Tredegar Iron and Coal Company, which the miners then repaid over the following years.
The Institute eventually closed and was removed to St Fagans Museum in 1995.