This photograph by Marie Kendall was digitized from the glass plate negative she made with her view camera in the 1890s. By scanning the original negative, we are able to see the remarkable details of the scene, such as the train in the background, crossing the Litchfield Road overpass (look for the blur just below the flag). The site is the Robbins School, built in 1884 as a private school for boys and girls. The two school buildings are now private residences at the corner of Litchfield and Mountain Roads. The former headmaster’s house, which also housed boarding students, is visible in the right background. Kendall’s three children attended the Robbins School, and so she took many photographs of students engaged in sports and other activities. Kendall’s photographs can be seen at the Norfolk Historical Museum this summer in the exhibition An Extraordinary Legacy: The Photographs of Marie H. Kendall.

Ann Havemeyer

Photograph courtesy of the Norfolk Historical Society.