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1920 Sanborn Insurance map portion showing the 400 block of Ames
Main Street
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| Ames Intelligencer,
December 5, 1905
"His heart is in his work" is the secret
of the success of many a man's success, and of none can this be more truly
said than of Mr. C.R. Quade, proprietor of the Cottage Studio. Eight
years ago Mr. Quade began to evince an interest in photography and with
kodak in hands transversed the woods and fields and along the banks of
picturesque streams in search of beautiful scenes which he might transfer
to his films. In a short time Mr. Quade became widely known as an
amateur photographer of exceptional ability.
At
length he determined to make a study of his cherished art with the result
that three years ago he graduated from the Illinois College of Photography
at Effingham, Ill., and at once opened a modest studio. He at once
sprang into popularity from the superior work furnished by him, and the
growth of his business has been little short of phenomenal. At the
present time Mr. Quade has in his employ two assistants, both graduates
of the Effingham college of photography. A specialty is made of platino
carbon work, one of the latest and best products that has been put on the
market, and the grade of work done by Mr. Quade and his assistants is such
as to demand all the time of all three artists.
Beginning with a studio of average size,
he has twice been forced by his increased business to make additions to
the building and is planning now another and extensive addition to be made
this vacation. The new addition will be twenty by forty feet in size,
and will be erected of concrete hollow blocks. A basement will be
put under the entire building to be used as a work room. The studio
will be steam heated and newly equipped. The new wing will be used
for an operating room, and will be one of the largest in the state.
A north light, 14 by 16 feet will be put in a larger light than can be
found in any other city in the state except Des Moines, and as large as
the best and largest studios of the Capital City can boast.
Mr. Quade's work has attracted wide spread
attention. He does a large amount of college work, has been official
photographer for the last two Junior classes and the last three Senior
classes. His policy of always keeping in touch with the newest in
his art brings Mr. Quade a large amount of patronage. He is now planning
to equip a carbon room in his studio, something never furnished in our
town before. Previously he has been handicapped in this work for
lack of room, but with this improvement will be able to surpass any of
his previous efforts in this line of work. |
Self-portrait published in the 1911 ISC Bomb
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| Ames Daily
Tribune-Times, August 8, 1931
QUADE STUDIO FOUNDED AS RESULT OF CONQUERING
TYPHOID GERMS - By trade a carpenter, by preference a professional baseball
umpire, by expediency the manager of a railroad restaurant, by accident
a commercial photographer, the latter becoming the life work to which he
still clings. Thus did it occur that Charles R. Quade, venerable
citizen of Ames, churchman, business man and optimist, found himself established
in this community where his picturesque career has become a well known
story, and where his plans for expansion of his business activities are
as ambitious as if conceived by a man in the early prime of life, rather
than one approaching his seventy-fourth year. |
1905 view of the Quade residence at 417 Main Street
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| Announcement of the proposed
removal about October 1 of his studio to a new building being erected at
109 Welch avenue, close to the Iowa State college campus, for the Faculty
Women's Housing club, was made early this month. This means the abandonment
and probable sale of the property at 417 Main street where Mr. Quade has
made his home since 1890. It was here that he erected his home, doing
most of the work himself, later building his studio where he has attained
prominence in the field of commercial photography.
Mr. Quade has no thought of retiring.
Rather, it may be said that such thought would be wholly opposed to his
philosophy of life, that a man is only as old as he permits himself to
feel. He says he feels as vigorous and active as a youth in his teens.
For many years Mr. Quade has specialized
in making portraits and groups for students and for the Bomb, Iowa State
annual. He holds a contract with the annual for this work, this being
the chief reason for his seeking a location nearer the campus. Prior
to inauguration of the photographic department at the college, he did much
of the regular commercial work at the institution.
Mr. Quade was born in Providence, R.I.,
nearly three quarters of a century ago, on the spot where later was erected
the capital of that state. This fact he learned 50 years later, while
he was a delegate to the national republican convention in 1905, thru conversation
with a Rhode Island delegate. When a young man, Mr. Quade learned
the carpenter trade, and followed it for some years. But baseball
was in his blood, and in January 1884, he was one of a group of four, who
met in the Tremont house in Chicago, and organized the old Interstate league,
forerunner of the present Three-I league. The others, he recalls,
were Bill Lucas of Davenport, Bill Allen of Rockford, and Miller of Decatur.
In those days, Mr. Quade lived in Dubuque, managed the Dubuque team for
one year, and spent several seasons as a professional umpire.
1902 Advertisement
| Railroading next occupied Mr. Quade's interest.
In the fall of 1887, the Northwestern offered him the job of managing the
lunchroom it was just opening in Ames. He accepted because he was
in need of a position, and this offered steady, profitable employment.
This ended his active participation in baseball, but to this day, he maintains
live interest in all the doings of the sport and follows the various leagues
faithfully every day.
In Ames occurred the trick of fate that
led to his career as a photographer. He was stricken with typhoid
fever in 1896. During the convalescent period, his physician ordered
him to get out of doors as much as possible to recuperate. These
were the days when photography first became the toy of the amateur.
His doctor advised him to get a camera and ramble about, a means of keeping
him in the open. So thoroughly did this hobby occupy his mind, that
in 1900 he took a leave of absence from the lunch room and entered a school
of photography in Effingham, Ill. After three months, he was instructing
a class in the carbon department. He returned to Ames and erected
his first frame studio adjoining his home where many students came for
instruction, and where he almost immediately won success as a professional
photographer. But it was still a part time job and he continued to
manage the lunchroom until 1909, when it was certain his new vocation was
to become a life activity.
Mr. Quade is the only surviving charter
member of St. John's Episcopal church where he has been active since the
foundation of the congregation. He is a Mason and is a past master.
He has long been a member of the Chamber of Commerce and served as vice
president one term.
Mrs. Quade passed away three years ago.
Their son, Earl, is associated with his father in the studio. |
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Advertisement from February 22,
1929
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| Ames Daily
Tribune, June 27, 1932
PHOTOGRAPHER RESCUED BY HIS SON - Charles
R. Quade, veteran Ames photographer, was in Mary Greeley hospital Monday
afternoon recovering from the effects of gas poisoning suffered when he
was overcome in the basement of his former studio building at 417 Main
street. Mr. Quade is believed to have gone to the basement for something,
as some photographic equipment is stored there. When he failed to
return, his son, Earl, made a search and found him lying on the basement
floor about 1:45 p.m. He had been missing about two hours.
City firemen and police were summoned, but
answering the call to the Quade studio rushed to the new studio building
at 109 Welch avenue, where they learned the mistake. They raced back
with the inhalator. In the meantime, Mr. Quade's son had obtained
help and he had been brot out of the basement. A physician was at
work over him. The inhalator was brot into use, and Mr. Quade soon
showed signs of recovery. He then was taken to the hospital where
his condition was reported good.
The old studio building had been rented,
but the tenant moved out about a month ago. It is believed the basement
has been closed since then. Source of the gas leak had not been determined
Monday afternoon. |
Advertisement from September 29, 1928
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| Ames Daily
Tribune, April 7, 1943
SERVICES TO BE FRIDAY FOR CHARLES R. QUADE,
84 - Charles R. Quade, 84, died at 8:20 a.m. today in the home of his son,
Earl Quade, 1403 Kellogg. Quade, who was born Oct. 21, 1858, at Providence,
R.I., operated a photographic studio here for many years. He was
a charter member of Eastern Star and the Masonic lodge.
Funeral services will be held Friday at
10 a.m. in St. John's Episcopal church with Rev. LeRoy S. Burroughs officiating.
Interment will be in the Ames cemetery. Surviving are the son, Earl,
a member of the Ames fire department, and two brothers, Frank L. of Dubuque
and Henry of the San Juan Islands. |
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| This photo of high school students participating in the 1949 Fire
Prevention Week parade looks south from Fifth Street towards the back of
the Collegian Theatre. A portion of Quade Studio including the skylight
can be seen at right. |
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| Ames Daily
Tribune, June 29, 1962
LANDMARK IS RAZED - The old Quade studio
on Main St. next door to Collegian Theater buckled yesterday under the
onslaught of a wrecking ball. The studio, a landmark in Ames, was
built in the late 1800's. In its place will be a new two-story structure,
the KASI Building, which will house KASI-Radio studios, the Chamber of
Commerce, and several business firms. |
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