SOUTHINGTON — The Southington Community Cultural Arts center has borrowed a 109-year-old photo booth from the Southington Historical Society that will be available for use by the public during the second weekend of the Apple Harvest Festival.
Built in 1908, the Florian Studio photo booth has been updated with modern technology to take and develop photos, SoCCA director Mary DeCroce said.
The photo booth is equipped with a touch screen and takes three photos at a time.
Southington Historical Society president Lisa Jansson said the organization outfitted the photo booth with a new camera and technology about two years ago.
“So people could see what it was like to be in the old photo booths,” she said.
Two photo strips cost $5. Jansson said the organization permitted SoCCA to borrow the photo booth to allow festival attendees to get their picture taken.
In 1903, Plantsville resident Julian Florian invented a formula for developing photographs without a negative or glass plate, according to historical archives.
Four years later, having established the Photo Machinery Co. in Southington, he began incorporating the concept into photo booths, and installed them at amusement parks, including Lake Compounce.
“The Florian Studio’s booth was an immediate success, delivering high-quality photos, cheaply and instantly,” archives state.
The formula was purchased by Eastman Kodak in 1929 but the Photo Machinery Co. continued to manufacture the machines in town until the 1940s.
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