First Street 1877

View of First Street Looking Towards Sanford Avenue

An 1877 image of Sanford's First Street.

This is an especially dated dry plate photograph of approximately the same area as the 1910 cityscape. The contrast between the two images are quite striking. Taken at about the same time as the Palmetto House photograph, it is apparent that the majority of Sanford's buildings prior to the fire of 1887, were built of wood, without much structural integrity. If one were to subtract the palm trees from the photograph, this image of Sanford could easily be mistaken for a frontier mining town in the American West. The photograph shows signs of flaking emulsion, as there is mildĀ  discoloration throughout the image, and blurring along its edges.

The Early Years (1877-1895)
First Street 1877