Kankakee Illinois-1958: Policemen and Onlookers in Smoke Outside a Burning Car Dealership

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1958
Decade1950s
LocationKankakee, Illinois, United States
Duration7s
Price$149 USD
Collection1958 · Kankakee, Illinois, United States

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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What is in this clip

fire
local disaster
community gathering
public safety
automobile retail
1950s small-town life
spectators

Shot type: medium
Camera: handheld · pan
Setting: outdoor · Downtown commercial street outside a brick car dealership and used-car lot, filled with smoke from a fire
Time and weather: day · summer · hazy with smoke
Lighting: diffuse daylight filtered through heavy smoke
People: 14 · Men in pale shirts and white T-shirts, uniformed policemen in caps, a woman in a lilac dress, other women and at least one short-haired child among the onlookers
Landmarks: Mang Motors dealership
Objects: fire hoses · water stream · painted wall signs · showroom windows · utility pole · police caps
Readable signs: MANG MOTORS · USED CARS · DE SOTO · PLYMOUTH
Colors: blue · grey · white · lilac
Master dimensions: 3840 × 2160
Audio: Silent
Date confidence: Low
Location confidence: High

Moments in the footage

Select a time to watch that moment in the preview.

Spectators and uniformed policemen stand with their backs to the camera in thick smoke.
The camera pans right to the painted MANG MOTORS USED CARS wall.
A policeman in a peaked cap walks past as a hose sprays water into the DE SOTO showroom.
A man in a white T-shirt and a woman in a lilac dress stand among onlookers below the smoky downtown skyline.

Policemen and Onlookers in Smoke Outside a Burning Car... — Clip Details

In Kankakee, Illinois, circa 1958, home movie footage shows townspeople and uniformed policemen standing in drifting smoke outside the Mang Motors used-car lot during a fire. The handheld camera moves through the crowd, past a man in a white shirt and a young man in a T-shirt, toward the dealership front signed MANG MOTORS, USED CARS and DE SOTO. A hose arcs water into the building while lines lie across the pavement and a woman in a lilac dress walks past. The single 8mm shot has a strong blue cast and soft, hazy focus.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 7s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 800000039

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Minors are visible. Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip, and a sensitive-use review is recommended.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: Yes
Logos / trademarks: Yes
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel record not linked for this clip
Date: 1958 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: Kankakee, Illinois, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Serves requests for late-1950s Midwest local news moments, especially a crowd and police at a commercial fire, for documentary, local history or automotive history productions.
Period detail: Painted DE SOTO and MANG MOTORS signs, policemen's peaked caps, men's short haircuts and white shirts, and a full-skirted lilac dress point to the later 1950s.
Home-movie behavior: The camera operator stands among neighbours rather than behind a press line, catching backs of heads, glances and people drifting through smoke as they watch.
What appears in frame: Onlookers in pale shirts, policemen in caps, a painted MANG MOTORS USED CARS wall, a DE SOTO sign band over showroom windows, a hose stream arcing into the building, and lines on the pavement.
Film character: Handheld 8mm colour with a heavy blue cast from smoke and projection, low contrast, soft focus and dust specks against the bright sky.
Edit role: Works as a reaction cutaway after shots of firemen at work, or as a short establishing beat showing the scale of the crowd at the scene.
Historical context: A dealership still signed for DeSoto, a Chrysler brand ended with the 1961 models, shows the scene was filmed before then and records a time when townspeople gathered close to a local fire.
Research note: Copyright in the film is separate from likeness: faces of adults and at least one child are recognisable, and the DeSoto and Mang Motors signs are brand names on private commercial property, so likeness and trademark questions remain.
Research search match: Matches searches like '1950s dealership fire 8mm', 'crowd watching fire Kankakee', 'DeSoto dealer sign vintage film' and 'police at small town fire home movie'.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with this reel's 'Crowd at downtown fire' and 'Firemen hosing burning DeSoto-Plymouth dealership' clips, then other Kankakee-area 1950s footage, then other small-town fire and disaster crowd scenes.

Still Frames From This Clip

Townspeople and policemen in caps watch through heavy smoke at the Mang Motors fire, Kankakee, Illinois, circa 1958 — Spectators and policemen gather in smoke at the Mang Motors fire, Kankakee, Illinois, circa 1958.
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Bystander in a white shirt in front of the painted MANG MOTORS USED CARS wall during the dealership fire, circa 1958 — The painted MANG MOTORS USED CARS wall rises behind bystanders during the fire.
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Hose stream sprays into the DE SOTO showroom of Mang Motors in Kankakee, Illinois, circa 1958, as onlookers stand by — A hose stream pours into the DeSoto showroom while onlookers stand in the haze.
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Bystanders including a woman in a lilac dress below the smoky DE SOTO dealership front, Kankakee, Illinois, circa 1958 — Bystanders mill below the dealership front and downtown rooftops as smoke hangs over the street.
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