What's Your Name?

What I know: This photograph is from Pat Sides Jenning's collection (technically my first cousin, once removed ... but we're Southern, so "Aunt Pat"). On the left is my great-grandmother Mary Durling Mariencheck. After some confusion over the inscription and lots of digging, it's been discovered that her companion is Adeline Latsch. Mrs. Latsch's husband, John, was co-owner of  the Tennessee Belting Company along with John Philip Mariencheck. In this photograph, Mary and Adeline are walking up posh Central Avenue in Hot Springs, Arkansas. During the turn of the century, Hot Springs was The place to see and be-seen. Bath House Row (directly across from where Mary and Adeline are standing) featured numerous bath houses where men and women alike could bathe and sweat their cares away. Shopping and gambling houses filled the remaining hours. Special thanks to cousin Lynn Jennings Park for the fantastic photograph! Do you have information about John and Adeline Latsch?

Based on the businesses, perceived age of the women, and fashions (the hats! the fox stoles!), this photograph was probably taken around 1930 (SWAG).

If you look closely at the shoppes behind Mary and Adeline, you'll see that they're just past John C. Bohl's Jewelry Store and Loan Office at 514 Central. Photo from the book Hot Springs Arkansas in Vintage Photographs.

Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, wrote of Hot Springs, Ark, "Crowds swarm into these baths. A man becomes a creature of three conditions. He is about to take a bath. He is taking a bath - He has taken a bath." Quote and photograph from the book Hot Springs Arkansas in Vintage Photographs.