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Celebrating our two-lane highways of yesteryear…And the joys of driving them today!

Us 99 Stone Town - Tenino, Wa


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Tenino, Washington’s main street is old US 99 (AKA the Pacific Highway). I have earlier presented Tenino here.

 

I picked up on Ebay a few days ago a nice old real photo post card of Tenino from the late 1930’s (or perhaps as late as the very early 1940’s.)

 

Tenino is a former quarry town. The historically important industry was the quarrying of sandstone that was used at many building sites along the west coast, and of course in the State Capitol building in Washington. As you might expect, many buildings in town are of Tenino Sandstone. Today one of the old quarries is used as a community swimming pool!

 

Tenino gained a little fame in the great depression when locals issued wooden money. If you find any today, it will bring a good return on Ebay!

 

Tenino “Then and Now” is presented here for your viewing pleasure, looking west on old US 99. These are flash movies which should start immediately and loop automatically. They are fairly large files so the first loop pass may be a little jumpy on a slower connection.

 

US 99 Looking West #1

 

US 99 Looking West #2 (for some reason this one takes some time to start)

 

Keep the Show on the Road

 

Dave

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Very cool! Looks like Tenino got frozen in time shortly after the RPPCs were made. jim

 

Jim,

 

First, thanks for the come back!

 

I don’t know for sure what it is about the then and now stuff that so interests me…..and you are doing the same thing with the Michigan Road. Old US 99/ Pacific Highway/ Cowlitz Trail doesn’t have the spectacular and historic “built environment” going back to the 1800’s that your Michigan Road has, but it still has some keepers.

 

Downtown Tenino is still alive and mostly well. The feed store is now a computer shop, and Campbell and Cambell’s general store now is an interior decorator. The bank has moved across the street out of this picture, and the drug store is in a new building just behind my photo position. But the sandstone buildings still dominate downtown.

 

This was the main north south highway on the west cost for better than 100 years, if you count the Cowlitz Trail, and more than 40 years if you count only its history as a paved road. It was replaced by I-5 in the 1950’s, and I imagine Tenino declined a lot after that. It has gradually recovered as a distant suburb of Olympia.

 

Tenino retains a lot of small town charm. It has lost its importance as the railhead for the narrow gauge railroad to Olympia, but it is still on the mainline, although the train doesn’t stop anymore, and the stone depot is in the park as the museum! Hey….time moves on!

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

 

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More nice pictures. I think I see a bigger difference in the building sizes and such between the then and the now pictures of view #2 so maybe that has something to do with the slow start. Whatever, it soon smoothes out. Morphing, which you're using very well, seems to provide a quite useful for presenting (and encouraging comparison of) two views. I like it.

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More nice pictures. I think I see a bigger difference in the building sizes and such between the then and the now pictures of view #2 so maybe that has something to do with the slow start. Whatever, it soon smoothes out. Morphing, which you're using very well, seems to provide a quite useful for presenting (and encouraging comparison of) two views. I like it.

 

Denny,

 

I think it is sort of neat when a 1930's pedestrian pops up on a 2009 sidewalk! To make this work you have to be pretty much on target with matching the then and now, and I was a little off in the second shot. Your sharp eye spotted the result. But the zoom helps distract from the morph misalignment.

 

I do think the technique has some possibilities, but you really need to have the "then" photo in hand to line up the "now" photo when you take it.

 

Keep the Show on the Road!

 

Dave

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