Photos

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school Roulette 1906 noIDs BillyPfeiffer phgs

Roulette High School, 1906
If you can identify any of these students, please send an email to the address at the bottom of this page.

20200131HAv- http://www.paintedhills.org/POTTER/RoulettePics/BillyPfieffer.htm
Photos of Billy Pfeiffer
Roulette, Potter County
Submitted by: Barb Hyde
Photos courtesy of the Potter County Historical Society

On January 31, 1894 in Olean, William Pfeiffer, better known as Billy, married Nellie Boyington Walley of Roulette and moved to Roulette to be the first superintendent of the Roulette Telephone Company. This enterprising couple was interested in everything and they became two of the most enthusiastic boosters of Roulette.

Billy must have had a passion for new technology. Over a hundred years ago, he helped bring the telephone to Roulette, was an assistant engineer for the infant North Penn Gas Company, and was an expert electrician. He was also a photographer when that field was new. He had a studio in his home where he photographed most of Roulette's citizens at one time or another. Billy also took his equipment on the road. For over 40 years, at a time when a camera and all of its baggage could weight 30 pounds, he roamed all over the Roulette area taking pictures of buildings, demolitions, panoramas, and anything else that interested him or that a client requested.

His photography equipment was glass plate. As you can see from the pictures on this page, it produced remarkably high-quality prints. Over 100 years later, the prints are clear and true. (I wonder if anything we have today will last as well.) Equally interesting is that his photography style was what was in demand at the time and not out on the fringes of the field. Because of that, Billy's photographs provide a clear look at Roulette and its people as the century changed.

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