http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-1900-Theatrical-Party-Hackensack-NJ-Photo-/390272557438?pt=Art_Photo_Images&hash=item5ade0ea17eThat's the seller's title.
The year and situation all appear to be guesswork on his part, since he offers no proof of either. Who knows what this is? It might be the graduating class at the old Hackensack High School, for all we know.
It might not even BE in Hackensack. The PHOTOGRAPHER was based here, but we can't be sure that this scene is in town.
I looked around for a local photographer named Van Wagner and found this:
In the 1890s, Charles Van Wagner, an Ohio native born about
1876, did professional portraiture in Englewood and Hackensack, including "at home portraits".His studio was at 104 Main St. There's a little more about him in the last image below.
While I was searching for this, I stumbled across some information about our favorite old-time local photographer, J. D. Terhune, and his brother, Albert:
Born Sept. 23, 1846, at Ho-Ho-Kus in a house that was in the family for four generations, Albert D. (A.D.”) Terhune served in the Independent Battalion, New Jersey Militia, in 1861-1862. Terhune worked as a telegrapher, then a started photo gallery in Hackensack which he sold to his brother John by 1866. He then became a traveling photographer with a horse-drawn wagon, “The Palace of Art on Wheels,” for thirty years around northern New Jersey. In his old age before his death in 1930, Terhune wrote articles on local history. John D. (AJ.D.@) Terhune was born about 1847 and operated the studio on Main Street in Hackensack until at least 1880..
