Historic Hood River
Happy Birthday!
Notes
Happy Birthday, Historic Hood River!
I got a call to renew the domain name for this site which reminded me today is our 5th anniversary. The first HHR image appeared on March 9th, 2011, and the rest is history (couldn’t resist that one)! This is the 1288th image to appear on these pages. There have been over 11,000 wonderful comments adding to our understanding and enjoyment.
I don’t have good statistics for the first year, but since 2012 this site has served up about 1.2 million image views in more than a quarter million visitor sessions. 37% of the image views came from Hood River, with Portland and the Dalles in #2 and #3 spots.
The largest number of image views came on December 1, 2015 when 6155 images were served. The image that day was a view of the lift span installation on the Hood River- White Salmon Interstate Bridge.
The greatest number of session, the highest number of unique visitors and the most new visitors came on June 3, 2014. That day I posted a beautiful Jack Baldwin image of Mt. Hood, but I suspect most viewers were coming to look at the 1930’s composite view of the Hood River delta from the previous day. Google Analytics tells me the windsurfing and kiting discussion groups linked to the site that day. They were enjoying the image swiper which let them compare the 1930s delta with a modern view.
As for this image, these girls are at a birthday party for “Betty,” front and center. It’s from the Dewitt collection, if that helps anyone identify the girls.
L.E.
I remember clearly, the first HHR photo. I like history and I like old barns, so, when Arthur posted at the Hood River Weather site that he was going to start showing historic HR photos, I was impressed with that first photo.
I’ve been hooked on this site ever since, and often spend too much time googling for information about the photos.
There are the regular commenters that have become like family, and I actually worry about them if they don’t post for a few days.
I love reading comments from someone who has just discovered the site and find a family member or an old HR home that they once lived in.
And just like today’s photo, I always have some questions. I wonder if Betty’s friend in the back row was/is always a ham?
Arlen Sheldrake
Congratulations Arthur and crew….wonderful statistics that reflect a job very well done. the Museum needs to get some well deserved press coverage from todays posting.
As I work to get my slide collection converted to DVD, I continue to be reminded of how much family history is contained in photographs.
And yes L.E., we are Arthur’s "family".
Marilyn
Happy Birthday HHR. I was so excited when I found this site about 3 years ago. I promptly went to browse and looked at all the pics I’d missed. I love all the comments and the information that comes with them. Charlott seems to know everyone and everything, just amazing. Thank you everyone for starting my days out right, and thank you Arthur for taking on this monumental task. I’m hoping you will have more pictures of the Dee logging railroad.
Kenn
Regarding Marilyn’s mention of the Dee logging RR, the upper switchback is still accessible from above. Rocks do come down on the old grade but last time I was up there I could still drive in.
Charlott
We do have a lot of fun sharing information. It is like a puzzle, a little piece here and a little piece there. We get enough pieces together and we get a much clearer picture than we had when we started.
One thing that is so great is that we have a wide diversity of photos and a vast number of years involved.
My first take on this photo was "sure glad I didn’t have to make, then wash and iron the party dresses. "
Little girls of those eras were dressed like little ladies and oh yes, expected to act the part. Something certainly went amiss. Seems that no matter when ,there had to be "the clown" of the group, but that is what kept things interesting. Maybe that was the birthday girl herself and she could get away with it more and at other times….. Appears that the "bob" was in as far as hair styles.
I think this is a very elegant photo myself….
L.E.
Something else we have seen happen in the past five years…..Arthur and others have worked at scanning the Hood River Glacier, making it available for online research.
That has been a big help in finding information about some of the photos.