The last two posts described the history of the Detroit Publishing Company, one of the largest American publishers of photographic prints and postcards in the early decades of the 20th century. Part of the company’s extensive inventory included beautiful black-and-white photographs and colorized photochrom postcards from the central and northern Catskills and from the city of Kingston, as well as the Mohonk Mountain House and Lake Minnewaska areas near New Paltz.

As part of my research into the company, I created a new photo gallery dedicated to their images from the Catskills. This gallery currently contains 385 images, which includes the entire collection of black-and-white photos from the Library of Congress, as well as my personal collection of 104 photochrom postcards. The gallery can be found at: Gallery > Historic Catskills Photographers > Detroit Publishing Company.

The Library of Congress collection contained several series of shots, comprised of between two and five photographs, which were to be stitched together later for its intended panoramic effect. In these cases, I have stitched the photos together using today’s technology to create the intended panoramic image, and have added those images to the gallery as well. In some cases, in addition to the publishing of the panoramic photograph, one individual photo from the series would also be published by the Detroit Publishing Company on its own merits.

The 104 photochrom images constitute a significant portion of the postcards issued by the Detroit Publishing Company for the Catskills region. There are 28 postcards from the northern Catskills, 50 from the Lake Mohonk vicinity, 4 from the city of Kingston and 22 from the Lake Minnewaska vicinity. There are a handful more from the catalog that I will need to acquire in order to complete the collection.

From the Library of Congress collection

Mr. H.E. Eder and family at Bowlder [i.e. Boulder] Rock

Old studio of artist Hall, near Palenville, Catskill Mountains, N.Y.

Rip Van Winkle House, Sleepy Hollow, Catskill Mountains, N.Y.

The Otis Elevating Railway and Catskill Mountain House, Catskill Mountains, N.Y.

[Catskill Mountain railway station, Haines Corners, Catskill Mountains, N.Y.] [Kaaterskill Falls and Laurel House, Catskill Mts., N.Y.]

The Gardens, Lake Mohonk House, N.Y.

The Wildmere House, Lake Minnewaska, N.Y.

From my personal collection of photochrom postcards

6362_Catskill Mountain House

10124_Boulder Rock and Hotel Kaaterskill, Catskill Mountains

14960_Lake Mohonk House

80800_Swimming Place, Mohonk Lake, N.Y.

10753_Elmendorf Tavern, Kingston, N.Y. Erected 1723.

80198, version 2_The Wildmere, Lake Minnewaska, N.Y.

80201_Wildmere House From Mid-Cliff, Lake Minnewaska, N.Y.