A man sits on a horse on Main Street in Banks, Oregon circa 1910-1914. He is dressed like a cowboy, wearing sheepskin chaps, overalls, and a hat, with ropes coiled in front of him on the saddle. Signs for many small businesses in the town of Banks are visible. From left to right, they read: Michelet, Lawyer; W. C. Young's Real Estate, Insurance, and Feed Store ("Town Lots & Homes, Farms & Acreage"); Billiards; Odd Fellows Hall ("IOOF"); and the Willis Hardware & Imp. Co. The latter store has product signs posted including ones for: Carriages; Sharples Tubular Cream Separators; Phoenix Paint; and John Deere. Main Street is an unpaved dirt road, with wood plank sidewalks. A horse-drawn buggy is in the background behind the cowboy, while a boy holding a bicycle and a car with a cloth top stand on the right.
Black and white image depicting the interior of a store stocked with a great many household items, from pots and pans to croquet sets. Banners overhead announce a 'Grand Opening Sale.' A man holds the hand of a small child in the foreground, while other shoppers can be seen in the background with items in hand to purchase. The numerous floral arrangements were a typical decoration for grand opening celebrations at this time.
Black and white image of the shell of an empty furniture store being destroyed by a crane with a small wrecking ball. Painted on the wall is 'Meltebeke Furniture. Furniture, Electric Appliances, Oil Heaters. Frigidaire.' A Mercedes Benz sedan is parked in front of the building.
Black and white image of five men standing in front of a truck parked in front of an open garage door. Four of the men wear suits and hats, and the last man is dressed in a service industry uniform with a peaked hat. Painted on the side of the truck is 'J. T. Foster Co., Phone 1011. Myers Pumps - Service. Hillsboro, Ore.' and on the front of the truck it reads 'Foster's.' The neon sign behind them pointing at the main entrance adds that J. T. Foster Co. sells electrical appliances and farm equipment. A rack containing hoes and other implements can be seen in the open garage behind them. This image was part of the H. E. McMullen bequest. Herbert McMullen was a local photographer who also collected other photographs and images of daily life in the area.
Black and white image mounted on heavy, printed card stock of five men standing in a shop. On the left wall are a number of iron ingots and other implements hanging on the wall around a forge. A machine with belts and a wheel and axle running along the ceiling stands in the middle of the room, and a carriage wheel lies on the ground while a number of other carriage wheels lean against a wagon bed in the background. Four of the men wear work clothes including leather aprons while a fifth wears a suit. Bare light bulbs hang from the ceiling in a coupled of spots, and light comes in through the windows on the right and an open door to the left.
A man stands in front of a store, facing a boardwalk and a plank road. A man in a dark suit leans against one window frame to the right of the door. He wears a white shirt and bow tie, with folded corners on his collar, and a full, short beard. The store is single story, with a square wooden front bearing the legend 'R. Cave. Hardware.' Beneath a decorative eave, two four-paned windows surround a recessed door with a transom and windows on the corners. Decorative molding frames the bottom sections of the wall.
A man leans back in a chair in front of a store to the right of the open door. His feet are off the ground and his hands rest on his thighs, and he wears a dark shirt with light stripes, a light vest, and a bowler hat. He also has a waxed handlebar mustache. The store is single story, with a gabled roof and a raised, square wooden front bearing the legend 'R. Cave. Hardware and Agricultural Implements. Canton P&O Co. Plows.' Beneath a decorative eave, two four-paned windows surround a recessed door with a transom and windows on the corners. Decorative molding frames the bottom sections of the wall. A lower boardwalk runs down the side of the building between it and the wooden building next door, revealing another wooden building with the legend 'Lots 'n' Land For Sale By' across a narrow dirt road. In the hardware store, a small poster featuring the Oregonian building in Portland with the legend 'Oregonian Business Dept.' is suspended in the right front window, and signs advertising 'Oregon Stoves: the Best in the World Sold Here' is posted on the left and right front edges of the building.
