Frederick Lincoln Knight was born around 1861 in Albany, New York to Horace Barton Knight and Mary Hillman Knight.In the 1880s, he worked as a printer in St. Louis, Missouri.He married Calista A. Shore in Lucas, Iowa on July 1, 1882.
In the 1890s, Knight continued his career as a printer in Denver, where he was employed by the Smith-Brooks Printing Company.In 1894, he acquired land on Colorado’s Eastern plains and began taking landscape views.The following year he set up his photo tent in Akron, Colorado, south of the Republican newspaper office.His photo business kept him busy until his crops were ready to harvest.
Fred L. Knight, photographer. [Sod home at an unidentified location], 1890s, silver printing out print. History Colorado, 92.175.1.In the spring of 1898, Knight acquired a photograph car and planned a summer tour of the outlying countryside.Later that year, he purchased a camera for taking small stamp photographs, which could make 28 portraits on one sheet of film.In the spring of 1901, Knight closed his gallery for the season and traveled to nearby towns, entertaining people with the largest Edison phonograph in Eastern Colorado. Later he incorporated moving pictures into the programs. He continued his entertainment tour for several years. Knight worked as a photographer in Akron through 1909.
By 1920, Knight lived in Lakeport, California, where he worked as a newspaper printer. He died in 1942.
Thank you to Jori Johnston, Aaron Marcus, and Joy Saliu at History Colorado and Beverly Brannan for proofreading this post.
I am a former curator of photography at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC, now living in Colorado. I created this blog to share my research on 19th century Colorado photographers.
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One thought on “Fred L. Knight Photographs Life on the Plains”
I enjoy all your blogposts that I’ve read. They are very well done. Thank you
I enjoy all your blogposts that I’ve read. They are very well done. Thank you