Here are four photos taken from the 1957 B. & P. W. scrapbook, each showing a different view of Bradley. Following each 1957 photo is a photo taken from approximately the same place and angle on September 23, 2008.
The first is a photo taken at the intersection of Highway 160, Woodruff St., and Crabtree Lane. It shows Baker Bros. Garage (the “Esso” sign on the left) and Hamner Implement Co. In the current photo, the Bradley Medical Clinic, with the apartment buildings in the rear of the photo, is now located where Hamner Implement Co. appears in the 1957 photo.
The second photo was taken on the Bradley school campus. It shows what was then the gymnasium in the back of the left side of the photo, and the old high school building on the right side of the photo. The “new” high school building is described and pictured prominently in the B. & P. W. scrapbook, so this would have been about the time the “new” high school building was constructed. It is possible that, when this photo was taken, the old high school building had been abandoned and was awaiting demolition. When this 1957 photo is enlarged, 14 (!) buses can be counted.
The third photo is taken from the westbound lane of Fourth St./Highway 160 approximately in front of where the Post Office would have been located at that time. The sign hanging from the awning on the right side of the photo, just above the automobile, says “Kennedy Grocery.” The discoloration in the top portion of the photo is from the age of the photo, and not from a threatening sky.
The fourth photo is taken from what is now the interior of the Community State Bank, looking more or less east at the west wall of the Edwards Co. building and Fourth St./Highway 160. Prior to the construction of the second Bank of Bradley building on this location, the Arkansas Highway Department used it as a storage facility for highway resurfacing materials and equipment.
bradleyark.com 