On this day in 1924, an announcement appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal that a movie with local interest was coming to Winston-Salem.
The movie, “The Covered Wagon,” would be shown the following week at the Auditorium Theatre. The movie was of interest locally because the subject of the movie was the Nissen family, makers of the wagons that hauled people and supplies across the United States. The wagons played a significant part in settling the West.
The movie opened on Broadway in New York. In advertising the movie in large cities, the wagons were used from Winston-Salem because the city had the wagons and the factory. And, the wagons were used in the opening scene.
The photograph shows a covered wagon with an advertisement about the movie. The man in the photograph is Richard Nissen, and the woman is Frances Shore. They are descendants of J. P. Nissen, founder of Nissen Wagon Works.
Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
