Photographer Frank Libal of Old Brooklyn
Frank Libal behind the sales counter in his shop
Pearl Street Savings and Trust under construction, 1924
Customers placing their orders at the counter and enjoying ice cream at a table at Dairy-Dell.
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A celebration in Old Brooklyn.
Men gather together for a group photo at Bowl-Mor Recreation.
Frank J. Libal, 1910-1983, was founder and president of Old Brooklyn’s United Photo, which he operated for 41 years. His interest in photography began early, when, as a 10-year-old child, he received an Eastman Kodak Hawkeye box camera for opening a savings account. During the Depression, he set up a photo processing lab in his parents' basement and sent his younger siblings to neighborhood stores to solicit photo processing jobs, promising 24-hour turnaround times. He was soon managing the camera department at Higbee's, and went on to work in commercial photography, eventually designing and making his own photographic equipment.
Mr. Libal served as historian of The Historical Society of Old Brooklyn (known at the time as the Four Corners Guild), and we are grateful to that organization for sharing a selection of his photographs with us.
Additional Resources
- The Historical Society of Old Brooklyn
- “Old Brooklyn” - article by Christopher Roy from The Cleveland Encyclopedia of History.
- Books about Old Brooklyn's history at the Michael Schwartz Library, Cleveland State University.
- Articles about what's new in Old Brooklyn from Fresh Water Cleveland.
- Google Map of Old Brooklyn
