Image: Englert Theatre site, Iowa City, Iowa, c1908.

Description: The subsequent site of Englert Theatre in downtown Iowa City, Iowa, shown before 1888. The light building is Schaffer Hotel, with the open space and the area behind the hotel occupied by Foster, Graham & Schaffer livery stable. There is some doubt as to the spelling of the latter name, with a 1904 advertisement showing it as "Shaffer" while the same directory containing the ad gives a personal listing for E.C. "Schaffer" as associated with the livery. Extensive review produces no conclusion from local histories of Hiram Reid (1883 county history), Ray Aurner (1912 county history, Irving Weber (1976-1994 local history series, and Gerald Mansheim (1989 illustrated Iowa City history). See "Sources for This Article" for full citations.
Title: Englert Theatre site, Iowa City, Iowa, c1908.
Credit: This image is from a "real photo postcard" (RPPC), as opposed to a printed postcard, which typically used engraved images. The image now resides in the postcard collection in the private Hibbs Research Library of Iowa City History. The back of the card carries the handwritten note in clear dark ink without a date but perhaps soon subsequent to the Englert opening, which reads: "Schuttler Hotel, Washington St. where Englert now stands. East Fosters Livery." The "Schuttler" spelling is considered spurious. The subject hotel is without doubt the three-story light-colored structure showing between the open livery and a dark structure which was the predecessor of the 1910-11 Paul-Helen Building. The card contains no copyright nor publisher data on it, although there is a printed postage block stating "Place Stamp Here" surrounded on four sides by the separated letters "A Z O" with a small solid black triangle pointed up in each corner. Playle's Online Auctions at http://www.playle.com/realphoto/ identifies this mark as having been used during the 1904-1918 era, though the photograph could have been taken anytime before this. Limited current research does not provide a source or meaning for the "A Z O" letters, typically indicating "an unknown publisher."
Author: Unknown. Life time unknown.
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No