Lignières: Then and Now

Now we're standing behind the fountain (RACN 010-6456-00216) visible at the right in the previous page, having turned a bit counterclockwise to face the then Hôtel de la Poste (post office) and present day Restaurant de la Poste (Rue des Hautes-Bornes 8, RACN 010-6456-00055). A decade or so has elapsed; this post card was mailed in 1913. The long bar of the hitching post in front of the Pension d' été is gone, but the supports for it at the left and right remain.

The “Hôtel de la Poste” sign on the southeast (nearest) corner of the building exists today, but it's on the northeast corner now, facing the other way down the street; only the back side is visible in the “now” picture, so unless you know what you're looking for, it is easily missed. The sphere atop the pillar behind the fountain has vanished, but the post on which it once rested still protrudes from the top. You can barely make out the tower of the Hôtel de Commune in the “then” picture. The trimming back of the tree in the foreground and removal of the part of the building behind it which extended into the street has revealed it in the “now” photo. The flat tree in front of Rue des Hautes-Bornes 2, which disappeared by the time automobiles frequented the streets of Lignières, was still there around 1913. Note how when a photographer set up a camera and tripod in those days everybody would come out to get into the picture, some more successful than others in appearing nonchalant!