Remember Cliffside | The Hames Studio

William Edgar Hames
Courtesy Mark Hames

In the town's very early days, from about 1900 to perhaps beyond the 1920s, William Edgar Hames ran a photography shop in Cliffside. We've run across several photos with the “Hames Studio” imprint. Now, Mark Hames, the photographer's great grandson—and son of Everett Rochelle (“Shot”) and Anne Hammet Hames— has submitted several remarkable pictures of W.E. Hames himself and of his family.

According to Mark, Hames' studio, with northern-exposed skylights, was in the upstairs “of the post office building.” We don't think this is a reference to the old mill office building, for it had no second floor until the late teens or early twenties.

Also included in this set of 16 images are Hames photos from other contributors. Not all have the Hames imprint, but they all share very similar painted backdrops and studio props. (Some of these pictues may be duplicated in other areas of this website.)

A few of the photos have commentary (in italics) that is pure fiction, from the fertile imagination of your webmaster.