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In 1952, local photographer and studio owner Paul Pyle climbed atop the old City Hall building, which stood on Lincoln Street between SW Atlantic Street and the railroad, and took an iconic panoramic photograph of W. Lincoln Street and NW Atlantic. The occasion for the photograph was the Tullahoma Centennial. The photograph shows the businesses that occupied the first block of North Atlantic Street and the first block of West Lincoln Street.

Paul Pyle’s other well-known 1952 photograph, probably taken the same day, was from an elevated truck bucket just south of the West Lincoln/North Jackson Street intersection, where FMO Furniture now stands. This photo looks southeast from that location and shows the businesses on West Lincoln and North and South Jackson. The city’s wide streets are obvious. Also note the crisp painted signs on the sides of the brick buildings. Prescott Bottling Company’s Double Cola is prominent.

Both photographs are featured in the centerspread of the book Historic Tullahoma. They also appeared on the front page of the July 2, 1952, edition of The Tullahoma News and Guardian.

Mr. Pyle used a Cirkut camera, which rotated about a vertical axis, the rotation powered on a brass-geared ring apparatus. The gear mechanism is similar to that of a large wind-up clock. A large aluminum ring was attached to the top of a wooden tripod and the camera and brass mechanism rested atop that. The clockwork was wound with a key just like one used to wind a grandfather clock. The rotation arc could be adjusted, and the camera could take photos up to a full 360 degrees. Once the apparatus was wound, pushing a release button simultaneously opened a slot on the camera’s film holder and started the rotation. Once the desired arc was completed, pushing the button again stopped the rotation and closed the aperture. Interchangeable gears controlled the speed for various exposure times.

The Cirkut camera was patented by William J. Johnston in 1904 and manufactured by Rochester Panoramic Camera Company starting in 1905; during that same year, the company was acquired by Century Camera Co. (which itself was owned by Eastman Kodak at the time). The manufacture of the camera continued through 1949.

There were several models: No. 5, No. 6, No. 8, No. 10, and No. 16, named according to the maximum width of the film accepted in inches. The length of the film (corresponding to the width of the panorama) varied by a model as well, ranging up to 18 feet for No. 16, yielding a single negative with an area of more than 24 square feet.

Attempts to locate Paul Pyle’s Cirkut camera have not netted any information. Judging from the size of the photos produced and their clarity, I estimate it was one of the larger sizes, at least a No. 8.

Panoramic photographs by Paul Pyle; courtesy Sam Crimm II. Camera information courtesy of Wikipedia.

Do you have sharp pictures and interesting stories from Tullahoma’s or Coffee County’s past? If so, reach out to me at alanmayes@lighttube.net.