A 1903 Snapshot

The turn of the (twentieth) century had come and gone, and the time was now 1903. 

On the national stage, the first silent film debuted, the Ford Motor Company was established, and the Wright Brothers made their historic flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 

Closer to home, Cuba City was abuzz with word of an electric "interurban" railway that could soon connect it and other nearby Wisconsin towns with Dubuque. (Spoiler alert: it never happened.) What Cuba City DID gain that year was a bowling alley and a brand new steel water tower, erected in the city park.

1903 also saw new photographer Mark Cooper setting up shop on Main Street, likely just north of where Subway is today. It is into this studio that these dashing couples entered to have their images captured.

Mark Cooper was a transplant from the Bloomington, Wisconsin area, where he spent most of his life farming. For a few brief years, though, Cooper dabbled in photography. After working as an assistant to Bloomington photographer H. C. Brookens, the sociable young man opened the Cuba City studio in April 1903. 

Published in The Bloomington Record (March 12, 1903).

Cooper's ties to his home and former occupation meant that his stay in town was brief. By July 1904, he had sold the shop to Galena photographer E. J. Collier.

And, as for these couples in the photograph, they remain unidentified. Gold stars to anyone who recognizes them!