The best nostalgic Dundee pictures highlighted by The Dundonian

Fort Apache at Fairmuir School was built by 12 lads at the school in 1973. Image: DC Thomson.

Step back in time with pictures from Dundee’s past.

We’ve taken a look back through the hundreds of pictures which have appeared in the Evening Telegraph’s Dundonian picture supplement over the past 12 months.

The DC Thomson archives team have picked out a few of our favourites featuring plenty of people and places which span the decades from the 1940s to the 1980s.

So grab yourself a cuppa and enjoy having another browse back through the ages.

Do they awaken any memories for you?

Back-breaking work

Three individuals carrying large bales of paper on their backs. Image: DC Thomson.

Salvage depot workers carrying large bales of paper in a warehouse.

Our first image, from April 1948, highlights what was back-breaking work, although these guys were clearly not first-timers and were making it look easy.

Work for the shilling

Ian Finlay and Angus Rouse during Bob-a-Job week in 1951. Image: DC Thomson.

In the old days it was known as Bob-a-Job Week where Cubs and Scouts would knock on people’s doors and offer to get their hands dirty in return for a shilling.

One of the usual tasks was car cleaning, although few Scouts would have had the opportunity to clean such a wonderful vehicle as the one seen in this image from 1951.

Dundee stores of days gone by

Looking down the Murraygate in 1956 with D.M. Brown on the corner. Image: DC Thomson.

It wasn’t until Edwardian times that shopping came of age in Dundee and this meant department stores including G. L. Wilson, Draffens, D.M. Brown and Smith Brothers.

Dundee’s ‘big four’ set the bar and all went from humble, hard-grafting beginnings to become lavish department stores that would have graced affluent areas of London.

Laughing in the aisles

Johnny Victory concert. Image: DC Thomson.

Smiles all round at the Caird Hall in 1959 where Johnny Victory was performing.

Victory and the entire Palace Theatre company were appearing in a People’s Journal concert for pensioners which was described as “a tonic to help them face the winter”.

On the street corner

Children playing in the street in Mid Craigie in 1963. Image: DC Thomson.

Four children sit on the street corner pavement on the Mid Craigie housing scheme.

Can you spot anyone in this picture from September 1963?

Heading out to sea

Dundee Sea Cadets walking to Stonehaven. Image: DC Thomson.

Dundee Sea Cadets Ian Fenwick, Douglas McInroy and John Harling set out to walk 50 miles to Stonehaven in March 1963 to highlight the “financial difficulty of their unit”.

Ian, 17, and Douglas, 15, got there in a time of 14 hours and 20 minutes while John, 17, gave up with blistered feet at Montrose and had to pull out of the challenge.

Feeding the pigeons

Some things have remained a constant no matter how much things change in Dundee.

People are feeding the pigeons in the City Square in July 1963 although nowadays they would be fighting off the seagulls against the strains of Fast Eddie’s mouth organ.

The famous Keiller factory

Marmalade making at the Keiller factory in December 1965. Image: DC Thomson.

Keiller’s famous factory conjured up mouth-watering aromas and sent orange marmalade and the Dundee name around the world.

Marmalade was just one of their many product lines and James Keiller & Son Ltd was at one time the biggest and most successful general confectionery business of the age.

A new estate in Whitfield

Two women and a young boy standing next to a drying rack in Whitfield in 1968. Image: DC Thomson.

The city expanded into the suburban development of green fields and the Whitfield estate was built from 1967 to accommodate the rapidly expanding population.

Outline plans for a Dundee Corporation estate in the Longhaugh-Whitfield-Kellyfield area, comprising 4,500 homes, was approved on May 11 1965.

Michelin vintage bus

Vintage bus at Camperdown. Image: DC Thomson.

All aboard now!

Passengers are pictured boarding the Michelin omnibus at Camperdown Park which was making a stop during a road safety event taking place in September 1973.

Blades of glory

Thousands of people took to the ice during the lifetime of the Kingsway Rink in Dundee which saw appearances from some of the biggest names in skating.

The complex faced demolition after being sold for £2m to make way for a William Low supermarket and the main stadium was pulled down in 1990.

Whitfield sports day

Boys posing for the camera in 1983. Image: DC Thomson.

A sports day was taking place on the school playing fields in June 1983.

It was sponsored by Barratt’s, which was building a housing estate just over the school fence.

Gowrie Street

Brothers Jim, Brian and Douglas Whittet founded Whittet Bros Ltd in 1973.

Always fascinated by cars they brought their interests into the business with them – Jim was a panel beater, Brian a paint sprayer and Douglas a mechanic.

It was a mixture of these skills that was to prove to be the basis for building a very successful business and our picture shows the staff at Gowrie Street in 1983.

It’s the final image in our 2023 “best of” gallery.

Did our pictorial trip back in time jog any memories for you?

Let us know.

Dundee retro: The best nostalgic pictures highlighted by The Dundonian in 2023