#PeopleofNEI: Randy and Dan, capturing Fort Wayne through time

Northeast Indiana is evolving. These are the people shaping its future. #PeopleofNEI

This week's feature:

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Randy (left) is a Fort Wayne historian and Dan (right) is a northeast Indiana photographer. They brought their talents together to create the book “Fort Wayne Though Time”. The book features 178 total images (89 historic images and 89 new images taken from the same location), as well as incredible stories about the history of Fort Wayne. Randy heads up the Fort Wayne Food Tours that sold out in 2018 and will return in April, 2019. Dan has had award-winning success photographing the landscape and architecture throughout northeast Indiana. Their book can be purchased at the History Center or Riegel’s, or online at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, or Amazon. Randy says, “We went through thousands of photos with the help of ARCH, the ACPL, the News-Sentinel, the History Center, the Journal Gazette, and private collections from locals. I remember when I would ride my bike downtown and spend the day here when I was a young teenager. I’m 67 now and I remember spending the day at Murphy’s. I remember it being so vibrant and exciting. I love that those same feelings are coming back to downtown. The resurgence has been so exciting. This has been an absolutely wonderful place to raise a family.” Dan adds, “My idea of downtown is a little bit different from his when he was a kid. I remember driving past the Santa Claus lights. Downtown was more something you drove through to get to the other side of town. I didn’t have my first Coney Dog until I was in college. It wasn’t until 15 years ago when I started coming downtown to see the architecture that I saw the beauty. It wasn’t as busy as it is now. I have been able to see it transform into something I never could have expected. It’s absolutely incredible. It’s a joy to see what Fort Wayne used to look like, and have it replicated in today’s world. This project has been a lot of fun. We photographed from the top of the Lincoln Tower, the Allen County Courthouse, the Anthony Wayne Building, and Three Rivers Apartments. There are some incredible views and stories contained in the book. It’s a total time capsule.” #PeopleofNEI
A post shared by Input Fort Wayne (@inputfortwayne) on Nov 12, 2018 at 4:19pm PST

#PeopleofNEI: Randy and Dan, capturing Fort Wayne through time

Read more articles by Stephen J. Bailey.

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