My goal was to write an independence themed post today and I went looking in the Library of Congress for content.

This is Independence, Missouri in 1909. It’s as turn of the century as you can get! You see tracks for a trolley,  horses and buggies, and people chatting on the street on this beautiful day, some 117 years ago. The streets are broad and the sidewalks are spotless. At the time it was photographed by Frederick J. Bandholtz, the population was about 9,800.

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What should I find but another picture from Independence in 1909, taken by Frederick J. Bandholtz… but it was a different Independence. This is Independence Kansas, population 10,400.  It doesn’t look quite as pleasant as Missouri, possibly because the glare of the sun makes it appear hotter.

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Frederick J. Bandholtz must have been on a quest. The third photograph is from Independence, Iowa in 1909.  At just 3,500 people, the population of this little town was significantly smaller than the others but it looks more active. Notice the people on the street, looking curiously in the photographer’s direction.

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Today,  Independence still exists in all three states but the little towns, which look almost identical in these little snapshots have had very different fates. Independence in Missouri is about 12 times larger than it was, with most of the growth coming directly after World War II.  In Kansas, the town of Independence has shrunk by about 20%, with people beginning to leave during the Great Depression.  And in Iowa, Independence has grown slowly and steadily and the population has nearly doubled.

But what of the photographer, Frederick J. Bandholtz? Who was this fellow who left us these glimpses into history? And what inspired his quest to find Independence all across the Great Plains?  I could find very little about him.  His friends and family called him Fred, and he was 32 years old when he went on this quest, married to a woman named Mary Ellen (Steele), and a father of four–though only two were living. The year after these pictures were taken , his fifth and last child was born, a son named Leonard.

I found this picture from years later on Ancestry–an invitation to an open house to celebrate Frederick and Mary’s Golden Anniversary.  Can you deduce anything about them from their faces? My guess is Mary wrote the invitation.  The words “No Gifts” were added later, almost certainly by another person.

Ancestry