The Young Man in Sioux City, Iowa – circa 1915

An unknown young man, wearing a light-colored suit with a tie, sat for a photographic portrait at the “Day and Night Studio” in Sioux City, Iowa.

(Sioux City is in northwest Iowa, on the Missouri River which is the border with neighboring Nebraska.)

During Prohibition, Sioux City was known as “Little Chicago” for the enormous traffic in bootleg booze that was made and traded around the city.

This picture, of a very young man who appears to be somewhat apprehensive, reminds me of the large number of young men and women who ventured out on their own in the early years of the 20th century.

Economic necessity, the lack of a social safety net, unhappiness with the isolation and hard work of subsistence farming, and the confirmation of “adulthood” at an early age – many things may have contributed to the numbers of young men and women making their way in the world.

This person, in particular, may not be representative of my imagined circumstances at all.

For all we can see, he may be a local lad who is happily living in proximity to family and friends and who is adverse to adventures of any kind.

Nevertheless, we hope that his years of youth were happy and successful ones.