Wayfinding in Market Square circa 1910

More than a century old, this Market Square photo shows that we have long been searching for ways to direct our visitors to their destinations. Back when Market Square still had a drinking fountain for horses, we also had a curious bit of signage. The directory in the middle of the street read “PORTSMOUTH WELCOMES YOU.” It points visitors (from top to bottom) to Boulevard, Turnpike, Newburyport, Boston, Rye Beach, and Manchester. This tells us where visitors wanted to go in the early days of motorcars.

Good luck, trying to give a visitor directions to those spots today. I’ve cranked up the contrast on this formerly washed-out photo and turned up the magnification to see what other signs are visible. They include a large downtown sign for the HERALD and a Portsmouth Herald newspaper delivery truck, the law offices of Charles Dale, a chiropractor, a restaurant, a laundry, a druggist, the Atlantic (what’s that?), a sign on a tree pointing to Dover, an express taxi, a bookstore, a bakery, and the New Hampshire National Bank.   

Here is the full image.

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