Columbus "dean of news photographers” left a lasting mark

Walter "Dude" Nice was a character who had a decades-long career as a local news photographer. While during his lifetime he was not recognized as one of the city’s biggest movers and shakers, he left an indelible mark on Columbus history.

Nice likely was the first news photographer in Columbus, and during the World War I era he was the only staff photographer for both The Dispatch and the Ohio State Journal. In 1920, he dropped the Dispatch assignment and worked solely for the Journal.

Born in 1884, he had been a star athlete in his hometown of Wooster, had a reputation for being a dapper dresser, and was active in Masonic life.

When he began his career, he used magnesium flash powder instead of flashbulbs. When he retired in 1958, he left a legacy of hundreds of glass-plate negatives and prints, often embossed with his “NICE PHOTO, COLUMBUS O” stamp. Digital cameras in the newsroom would not be standard for 40 more years.

He documented police officers, soldiers, streetcars, wardens, buildings and businesses, and was an institution covering Ohio State University football. He earned the title “Dean of Columbus news photographers” as he taught many younger staffers how to use cameras and make prints.

Among his memorable shots: The victory crowd at Broad and High as WWI ended, and again in 1945 on V-J Day; OSU football star Chic Harley punting; Barney Oldfield racing an airplane in the old Driving Park in 1910; the flood of 1913; the wreck of the Shenandoah dirigible in 1925; and the deadly Ohio Penitentiary fire in 1930.

He died in 1966 at age 81.

Contributor Linda Deitch was a Dispatch librarian for 25 years.