The decorative cardboard mat has the embossed name Schuster Studio, Hermann, Mo. Martin Anthony Schuster was born in 1871, was a veteran of the Spanish-American War, and a widely known photographer in the Hermann area. He opened a studio there on Schiller St. in 1910. The first ad we could find for the studio noted that as well as portraiture, they offered film development and printing.
How does a marching brass band cross an unbridged Ozark river? On a cable-driven ferry, of course. This sharp focus cabinet photograph preserves the record of a lost musical tradition and a vanished transportation technology. In its entry about Fredericksburg, the Gasconade Historical Society documents the population of the tiny village in 1879 population at 40. It likely never much exceeded that.
Throughout much of the 20th century the ferry permitted crossing that bridgeless section of the Gasconade River. Originally the little barge was propelled by oars, then a cable system was followed by an outboard motor, and finally an electric motor. In the mid-20th century, a bridge at last rendered it obsolete. Both the ferry and the band survived long after their prime.
The brass band posed on the ferry was organized in 1902. An ad in the May 29, 1953, Advertiser-Courier of Hermann Missouri announced an upcoming performance:
Ice Cream
SOCIAL
St. Peter’s E. & R. Church
Fredericksburg, Mo.
Saturday, June 6,
6 p.m.
Sandwiches and Refreshments
Music by Fredericksburg Military Band
Welcome Everybody
Following the Fredericksburg band promo was the announcement that music by the Charlotte Cornet Band (an even smaller community than Fredericksburg) would be provided for an ice cream social at the Salem Presby Church at Holt, Mo. That the northeast corner of the Ozarks was heavily settled by German immigrants explains how a tiny village could supply five trombone players, four cornet players and several other wind instruments. Most Ozark highland pioneers were of Scots Irish heritage and favored stringed instruments and the ballad tradition of the British Isles.
Vintage Images is a column we provide to the monthly publication, River Hills Traveler. This photograph, along with hundreds more, are among our collection now housed at Missouri State University Libraries-Ozarks Studies Institute.