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George Stewart Photo Locations

George Stewart U.S. 40 Photographs - Ohio

In 1949 and again the following year, George R. Stewart made two cross-country treks on U.S. Route 40. All told, he spent almost four months on the road photographing and documenting the landscape and everyday life along the road. His purpose was to record what he saw as he passed. His record captured the grand and the mundane. The resulting book, U.S. 40, was published in 1953. Accompanying his 114 photographs were 92 interpretive essays written in an accessible and enlightening manner. It provides readers with an armchair view of a roadtrip across the continent.

For the past 40+ years I've been revisiting all of the scenes in the book and documenting changes that have occurred since the mid-twentieth century. (In 1983 Thomas and Geraldine Vale published an update titled U.S. 40 Today that showed 72 of the 114 scenes (63%). For the past few years I have been revisiting each scene and shooting a variety of media including:

  • High resolution digital images.
  • Medium format B&W negatives and color transparencies using a camera that is an exact clone to the one Stewart used.
  • 35mm B&W negatives and color transparencies.
  • 360-degree virtual reality images of each scene.

My goal is to have these images published in the first complete update to Stewart's original book. Here are links to many of my U.S. 40 photographs. If you are a publisher and are interested in my work, please contact me.

MilepostsGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 25B - Mileposts (Middlebourne, OH)
"I was able to determine that the milestone in Stewart's photograph had been removed by an ODOT supervisor and placed in his front yard. The guy who l......"

CambridgeGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 22 - Cambridge (Cambridge, OH)
"This picturesque town is another one of my favorites. The patrons of a restaurant on Wheeling Avenue were tickled when I showed them Stewart's book......."

S-BridgeGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 23 - S-Bridge (New Concord, OH)
"This S-bridge is now closed to vehicular traffic. It is now part of an interpretive park for the National Road......."

Highway and TreeGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 24 - Highway and Tree (West Jefferson, OH)
"The large tree that is visible in Stewart's original photo came down around 1995......."

MilepostsGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 25C - Mileposts (Lafayette, OH)
"There's not much evidence to go on in Stewart's photo and this is the best approximation I can do for this site. The big old routing sign is gone (it......"

TavernGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 26 - Tavern (Lafayette, OH)
"This is one of the nicest and continously operating taverns on Route 40. I've dined here a few times and have even given a Route 40 presentation at t......"

PhonetonGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph - Phoneton (Phoneton, OH)
"This tiny community's name derives from when it was a Bell System (AT&T) switching station located at the intersection of two major trunk lines......."

Taylorsville DamGeorge Stewart U.S. 40 Photograph No. 27 - Taylorsville Dam (Vandalia, OH)
"Route 40 still rides the crest of the giant Earthen dam across the Great Miami River near Vandalia. A few years back the bridge decking over the spil......"

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Feedback: Do you have corrections or contributions for this page? Want to make a suggestion? Click here to send me an e-mail. I am espcially interested in memories, stories, postcards and photographs. Thanks!

Frank

Last updated: 2011-04-01 19:37:06

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