WLM
| history
p. 40: A busy Downtown Laramie scene from the 1920s. p. 41: L to R: Henning
Svenson; Helen, Aneleas & Lottie Svenson; Anne Brande
Svenson served as a photographic
apprentice to Ferdinand Urbahns from
1895-98. This was followed by work in
retouching in Lausanne, Switzerland and
Paris. Svenson attended the World’s Fair
in Paris, where he met Amy DuPont, who
encouraged him to come to work in her
New York City studio. In 1902, Svenson
immigrated to the United States, and created
portraits of DuPont’s New York clientele
before joining his brother in Iowa. The two
brothers opened a photography studio, with
Henning later setting out to open a branch
out west. He traveled first to Denver, but
found the city didn’t suit him; he boarded a
train north, and the rest is history – wellphotographed history, to be exact.
The thought of starting a new life in a new
community, with just a dollar in your pocket,
sets my entrepreneurial heart a-beating.
Obviously Henning felt the same way, as
he wrote his sweetheart back in Weber
City, Iowa about the beauties of Laramie
and the potential for a future while
staying in the Johnson Hotel. Securing a
$30 loan and establishing a line of credit
with his suppliers, Svenson set to work
building his business in the community.
“He knocked on over 400 doors that first
winter that he lived in Laramie,” Svenson’s
great-granddaughter, Anne Brande, says.
Svenson set up shop above the Chauncey
Root Building, and invited the Laramie
citizens to have their picture taken. The
brothers’ partnership soon ended, and
Svenson bought his brother’s stake in
the Laramie studio for $150. While the
partnership may not have worked out, one
thing did come from Iowa to Wyoming –
Marie, Svenson’s wife.
Root Building burnt to the ground (with
Svenson injured in the blaze) in 1910 due to
a boiler explosion. The studio relocated to
314 South Second Street, above a pool hall,
until Svenson built his permanent location
on the corner of Third Street & Ivinson
(where the studio sits today).
Svenson established a solid clientele and
a reputation as the premier photography
studio in the region. Henning and Marie’s
family also grew to include three daughters,
Helen, Aneleas and Lottie. The Chauncey
Eldest daughter Helen was the first to
assume ownership of the studio. Lottie
Svenson married Walter “Doc” Ludwig,
and in 1943 the couple purchased the
“My great-grandfather was unique in that
he empowered his daughters to be a part
of the family business,” Brande, who is the
current owner of the family business, says.
All three of Svenson’s daughters attended
the University of Wyoming and worked in
the studio. The older sisters became film
developers; Lottie’s talent was capturing
images alongside her father. Svenson
Photography created tens of thousands of
regional images annually, many used for
postcards, father and daughter equally
responsible for the work. Sadly, Henning
Svenson died in 1932 at the age of 52 from
lung complications, his daughters assuming
the role of studio ownership and operations.
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