Canal Street, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Two streetcars occupy the rails along Canal Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan, surrounded by horse-drawn traffic and substantial commercial buildings. A clock tower rises just right of centre, while signs for hardware, dry goods and carpetings run across the façades beyond.

Carriages and their drivers fill the immediate foreground. Along the left pavement, pedestrians appear blurred against the sharper storefronts and awnings. The paired photographs preserve considerable architectural detail, from window surrounds and cornices to the projecting shop signs above the sidewalk.

The reverse is headed “GRAND RAPIDS VIEWS.” and bears the imprint “For Copies of this View, address SCHUYLER C. BALDWIN, Kalamazoo, Mich.” Beneath it, a handwritten caption reads “In Canal st”. Together, the series heading and inscription identify the depicted street; Kalamazoo is Baldwin’s address, not the location of the view. The card is undated, and no individual printed view title or publisher’s view number is visible.

Two warm-toned photographic prints mounted side by side on an orange card with rounded corners and a pink reverse. The supplied dimensions are 7.03 × 4 inches. Both photographs are intact, and the card is clean and sound overall.