John Pitcher Spooner

An image of cows during the cultural fair of 1878. 

Horses pictured during the 1878 cultural fair

These two images depict the San Joaquin Valley Cultural Fair in 1878. John Spooner was very involved in photographing many events such as these, easily documenting both the atmoshpere and appearance of Stockton at the time (University of the Pacific Archives). 

In these two specific images, one can see cows and horses shown, and lots of open field around them. Stockton was still developing at this time, with less buildlings than it has currently. The animals were a large part of the festival is Spooner's pictures are anything to go by. 

The oldest church in Stockton

Another church, surrounded by trees

Spooner photographed all types of buildings in his time around Stockton, from civic buildings to ordinary churches. The two churches above are only a few of the many he photographed, with multitudes of churches all around the area. 

The oldest church in Stockton is shown in his images, although Spooner also photographed random churches like the other shown. 

Here is shown the Merchant's Exchange Building in San Francisco, with a clock tower. It shows three insurance firms. 

The San Joaquin River in the Delta. One can see the river itself, with trees in the background. 

Spooner did begin his photography career in San Francisco originally, and while he didn't remain in the city and instead moved to Stockton, he did return to get images of the city (Palmquist). Both of these photos show San Francisco and the Delta as they were developing. 

An image of Spooner himself working on his photography. 

Early in his life, John Spooner aspired to be a sailor upon a whaling ship known as the Rainbow. Lucky for Stockton and photographers everywhere, he wasn't a very good sailor, and his brother Alder Spooner encouraged him to move west and work for a photographer with him. This began Spooner's time in San Francisco as he paid his way west and apprenticed under Henry Willian Bradley and William Herman Rulofson in their gallery (Palmquist). 

Photography was to become Spooner's lifelong career as he was inspired by Stockton's newfound wealth and prosperity. He documented Stockton's civic buildlings and new development in the late 1800s (Kasser).

Despite Spooner's depiction of Stockton and its layout, he actually died as a penniless man, and later became a burden to his family. 

Displaying Spooner's Photographic Parlor from the outside, which opened in 1878. 

Spooner didn't have his own photographic gallery until 1878, as shown in the image above, but he did own galleries and studios prior to this. His first gallery was opened on September 2, 1867 with a man suspected ot be Edward Frank Brownell. Here he had sun pearls, ambrotypes, and cartes de visite available to the public. 

Later Spooner worked with J.J. Reilly, another photographer, to publish stereographs at 175 Main Street, Stockton. He would continue to establish himself at 171, 173, and 175 Main Street, and later employed other photographers to help him fill these galleries with newer works (Kasser).