Photo analysis: An early 1910's scene from the edge of Ro Grande on Matamoros

The advantage of scanning photographs is that it eliminates the need to handle photos or searching for your most powerful magnifying lens to zoom in on all the details to make a seemingly uninteresting photo with little information worth looking at closely.  This photo was scanned several years ago for William Quinones who asked to have his family photos digitized by the Brownsville Heritage Museum and was chosen among a few others depicting various scenes in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, Texas.  There are no identifying postcard markings and it doesn't appear to have been taken by our most prolific photographer at the time, Robert Runyon. 

Here is as much as we can tell by looking the photograph by comparing it to others from the era.

The very first step is to enhance the photograph to remove the fading or cloudy haze which sometimes appears on vintage photographs using photo enhancement software.  In this case a basic edition of Photoshop Elements is good enough to significantly improve the photo's quality.

Now we can assess the situation.  At first glance there appears to be some activity of interest in the background where people are gathered and a small group is walking in the direction of the camera.  To the left is a wood building and a small shed next to a large poster-sized advertisement.

A closer look reveals that the framed structure behind the trees is the old Brownsville-Matamoros bridge built in 1910 which means those people are standing near the edge of the Rio Grande.

There were several ferry crossings to take people from one side of the river to the other.  Most photos from this place and time show ferry boats near Brownsville-Matamoros proper.  We're more interested in what appearances were like down the river near the old bridge rather than where the "new" Gateway International Bridge would be built and opened by July 4th, 1928.  Here we see ferry service but it is quite a way from old bridge seen in the distance.

 Here's another that appears to be same location which identifies Santa Cruz -  a small "colonia" or community next to Matamoros which has since been absorbed by that city.  There is a "Carta Blanca" beer advertisement which will take a closer look at using another photo from about the same time.

Back to the photo - note the sign propped up behind the shed which shows part of Rio Grande and bank on U.S. side.  It appears that the numerous 2x4 support framing is being used to a hold much larger sign facing the river to attract business from the Brownsville side.  

This postcard shows what the sign may have looked like.  In this case it's an ad for Carta Blanca beer and the Crixell Saloon.  There were Crixell bars on both sides of the river as we already know from our local business and political history.  Click on --> THIS <-- for more about the Crixells brothers Jose, Teofilo and Vicente.

The photo was further enhanced to bring out detail from the Cottolene shortening advertisement.  

 A quick search revealed that Cottolene was a rival of Crisco which is still sold today.  The goal was to find an exact copy of the poster with the woman serving her children but none was found.  What all these sample ads have in common is a woman in apron etc.

This shows illustrations of working and middle class women of the early 1900s and 1911-1915 woman's hairstyle which was also ideal for wearing the large hats of the era but enough of that....

What is of most interest is the label above the advertisement which clearly says "Dittmann Advertising Service."  

 Adolf Dittmann arrived in Brownsville, Texas in 1908 and was a man of many talents.

As a young man he left Salt Lake City to work as a magician in vaudeville theaters in Chicago, Boston and New York.  He also worked in a print shop and even composed and published music.  A short stint as a farmer in Florida and Brownsville, Texas convinced him that what he really wanted to do was return to the theater and magic and continue printing which is what he did and he built the very first movie theater in Brownsvile with stage for vaudeville performances. He also learned photography and later brought a 35mm moving film camera.

Here's another unidentified photo which my be Adolf Dittmann filming on or near Fort Brown

 Here is the theater he built in 1910 at 1118 E Washington St (next to present day Rutledge Burger).

 Colorized Robert Runyon photo

 This Robert Runyon photo shows inside of restaurant with poster ad on the right.

Note at bottom the ad is for Dittmann's Theater.  Adolf eventually sold the theater around the late 1930s or early 1940s and continued printing signs and also opened one of the first trailer park resorts on Central Blvd.

While we still didnt learn much about the people and place in the photograph and what interested the photographer to take a photo, we at least identified the advertisement, location and era in which the photo was taken.  For all our guesses, the photo may have been taken by Adolf Dittman himself but without proof, we can only assume it might have been.