Feb 14, 2016 2 min read

It doesn’t happened often, but once or twice a year our readers are stumped by the Mystery Photo, and the picture published last Monday was one of those exceptions.

We knew the photo was taken by the Weller Studio of Washington, probably during the 1930s, and “Hatfield house” was inscribed on the negative. But that’s all we knew.

We had more than a dozen readers call and email us with hunches, but none has proved to be solid. Several people were reminded of West Walnut Street, others of West Chestnut. Both streets face in the correct direction for the shadows displayed, but no existing buildings on those streets match the little bungalow in the Mystery Photo.

Hopes were raised by a call from Myra Hatfield, now a resident of the Bellmead Apartments in Washington. Her husband Walter’s parents, Allie and Cora Hatfield, lived at 666 Addison St. in the West End of Washington. They were listed as living there in the 1939 City Directory. Allie Hatfield was a fireman and later engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. Unfortunately, the house at that address is a full two stories tall.

Kathy Piszczor guessed that the house may still be standing at 770 Addison, and it’s easy to see why. That house is very similar to the Hatfield house, but there are problems. The building next to it is not at all similar to the ones in the old photo, and the slope of the street does not look as steep as the 4- or 5-degree slope in the old photo.

There are several similar houses in the 800 block of Broad Street, as one reader mentioned, but those are set too far back from the street.

There were quite a number of Hatfields listed as living in the 100 block of West Maiden Street in the 1930s, but that street is almost level.

One reader suggested that the photo may be older that the 1930s if the pipes that are visible are hitching posts. They are not. They are most likely the access pipes to underground heating oil tanks.

A new Mystery Photo will be published next Monday, and we hope readers have an easier time solving that puzzle.