Bird's Eye View Pt. 1

The old water tower made photographer's eyes light up with excitement. Many would climb the monument to photograph the town from above. This three part series shows a panoramic view of Huntley from about 1910.

          The first photo starts looking north-east.  An earlier photo taken about 1900 shows the town being much more sparse.  In the distance, water can be seen covering a large swath of land.  At one point, when the water level was high enough, the swamp would extend from Woodstock St. all the way around to Huntley/Dundee Rd!  One resident even remembers ice skating from the back door of her childhood home on Woodstock St. to the other end of town in the winter.

          An addition to the town came into fruition around 1910. Second St., originally called Newton St. or Newton Ave., began to be more heavily constructed in the period from 1910-1920.  Only a couple houses can be seen on the street in the 1900 photo (one just above the church roof to the left, the other a little to the right of that house). By about 1910, the street was more built up, creating what would be another main road in town.

         Although many structures from these two photos have not survived, thanks to whomever climbed the tall tower, their images will continue to live on.


This postcard shows the view from about 1900. Note all the water in the background. This flooded area would later become Bakley's Subdivision, with a constantly flooding Ol' Timer's Park.

About ten years later resulted in multiple changes, including the continuation of Second St.,  cosmetic changes to the IOOF hall in the foreground, and an addition to the high school.