Leo Henry Bock was born in Brooklyn, NY on September 3rd, 1880. He moved to 19 South Franklin Ave in Lynbrook, NY on March 17th, 1911 along with his wife Lillian and their two children, Walter and Marie. Bock remained a Lynbrook resident until he died on April 10th, 1973.
Soon after moving to Lynbrook, Bock was asked to join the Lynbrook Civic Association. At this time he was working for the Tiffany Studios as a photographer. When the Civic Association discovered his profession, he was made the official photographer of the association. During this time from roughly 1911-1917 he photographed events throughout Lynbrook and the surrounding areas. These events included a baseball game between the Lynbrook and East Rockaway Civic Associations, the 1915 Fourth of July parade and the Boy Scout rally that followed, the Lynbrook Home Defense Corps which months later turned into Company B of the 23rd regiment of the New York Guard, Memorial Day celebrations in Lynbrook in 1949, as well as his home life from 1912 into the 1940s.
Most notably, Bock photographed a Four Day Camp and Rally of the Nassau County Council of the Boy Scouts of America from August 31-September 1-3, 1917 at the Mineola Fair Grounds. The photographs from this event feature an image of President Theodore Roosevelt that is unique to this collection.
Bock closed his photography business in September 1917 due to the lack of business and frustration with the Village of Lynbrook. He was never compensated for his work. He went on to work for the art dealership P.W. French & Company and the Republican Aviation Corporation. Any photographs in the collection after 1917 were done for pleasure, past time, and occasionally the newspaper.
