This photograph from the Washington State Digital Archives shows three men in front of T.C. Van Epps & Co. Real Estate Land Office, circa 1897.

Do you notice how wonderfully clean and spacious the sidewalk and building are? Maybe one of the men standing out front is T.C. Van Epps himself!

The only thing that jumps out at me as strange are the painted signs. They both have odd and unnecessary periods. Squeezing in the second period meant there wasn’t enough room for a space between the words Land and Office. Off the top of my head I can’t think of any modern sign that would include a period.