A large crowd gathers around the rising brick walls of a new church while masons and townspeople line the foundation and scaffolding. Horse-drawn buggies fill the foreground, with spectators clustering along the street and in neighboring yards; utility wires cross the view above.
The negative carries the maker’s caption and credit: “LAYING OF CORNER STONE” “BAPTIST CHURCH.” “Oct. 6 1912,” “Polk, Nebr.” and “Photo by NEWTON.” These inscriptions identify the event, place, and date and credit the photographer as Newton
The card is a real photo postcard. The back is printed “POST CARD,” “CORRESPONDENCE HERE,” “NAME AND ADDRESS HERE,” with an AZO “PLACE STAMP HERE” box. It is unmailed.
- Title on card
- “LAYING OF CORNER STONE” BAPTIST CHURCH. Oct. 6 1912, Polk, Nebr.
- Medium
- RPPC
- Subject
- Collection, Faith, neb, Nebraska, Outdoor Scene, Cranford Rare
- Dimensions
- 5.41 × 3.42 in (137.3 × 86.9 mm)
- Condition
- No visible tears, losses or major creases; unmailed.
- Catalogue no.
- MRPPC3490
Catalogue details
Location
Polk, Nebraska · Polk, Nebraska, United States
Photographed subject · Locality (town) · 80% confidence
““LAYING OF CORNER STONE” BAPTIST CHURCH. Oct. 6 1912, Polk, Nebr” was not located; pinned on the town as a placeholder. Looked up as "Polk, Nebraska" → Polk, Polk, NE 68654, USA. Order tried: caption-landmark: "“LAYING OF CORNER STONE” BAPTIST CHURCH. Oct. 6 1912, Polk, Nebr, Nebraska" → only region; caption-town: "Polk, Nebraska" → city ✓; Live research: The negative’s own caption names the event and place: “LAYING OF CORNER STONE” “BAPTIST CHURCH” Oct. 6, 1912, Polk, Nebr. An independent History Nebraska catalog record describes the same scene—“a large crowd … laying of the cornerstone for the Baptist Church in Polk, Nebraska on October 6, 1912”—confirming the subject and date. A later Polk Progress item also reproduces/notes the 1912 cornerstone photograph, corroborating the local identification. Local church history further shows that Polk’s First Baptist Church was active in town in this period, consistent with a 1912 building project. Together these sources fix the depicted plac
Source: Card caption (town only)
