1911-1919 Original One-of-a-Kind (OOAK) Real Sepia Photo of
St Louis Forest Park 1880s Victorian Footbridge prior to restoration
Location Description: This footbridge was built in the late 1880s to provide a pedestrian route into the Park from the nearby streetcar stop. Today, the Victorian Bridge has been lovingly restored and is a popular photo spot nestled within the Park's northeast corner.
Dimensions: 13½ x 10 in.
Taken / shot by famous photojournalist, Robert Froelich.
Very good condition
Russell Froelich, Sr. (1890–1958) was a pioneer of both early aviation and aerial photography who took thousands of lasting images of the St. Louis region for the city’s newspaper outlets from 1911 to the 1950s, helped the war effort in WWI with aerial mapping, was a color photography innovator and even invented a monoplane.
The monoplane Froelich designed and built in 1911 pioneered the fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane (in contrast to biplanes of the era) which became the most common structure of aircraft after the 1930s. In his twenties, he began both designing and helping to build airplanes with early local flyers, such as Tom Benoist of the Benoist Aircraft Company, leading to the role as official photographer for the manufacturer.
American entry into WWI led Froelich to put his talents and skills to wartime use. He began taking aerial photographs from wing-mounted cameras that he improvised to fit given situations and flight conditions, helping the US Army Signal Corps develop terrain maps of Europe.
After the War, Froelich worked as a beat photographer for St. Louis newspapers, including the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and the St. Louis Star. He eventually managed the photography team which gave him access to a wide range of subject matter and the ability to experiment with action photography and the evolution of color techniques
*OOAK = One of a Kind