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HAPPY NEW YEAR
These postcards are available in my New Years listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Start the New Year off right!
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Today we are moving into Missouri and will start with a great circa 1908 view of the State Capitol and state seal in Jefferson City Missouri. This is a very popular state capitol series and makes a great post card set.
Our second stop is in Holden Missouri, a small town in Johnson County, which had a population of 2,007 in 1908 and 2,510 in 2000. This circa 1908 postcard shows both the Missouri Pacific Railroad Depot and the First M. E. Church. Both of these postcards can be found in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! A great way to see and learn your state capitols.
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Will our last stop on this swing through Alabama will be in Rhodes Ferry Landing, Decatur, New Decatur or Albany Alabama? The answer is YES because the circa 1908 postcard for today shows downtown New Decatur along Second Avenue and all four names have been applied to the town. In the early 1800s Dr. Henry W. Rhodes, who was an early landowner, operated a ferry there on the Tennessee River in North Alabama and in 1821 the town was incorporated and named Decatur. The city thrived due to its location on the Tennessee river and it was the eastern terminus of the Decatur Courtland Tuscumbia Railroad which was the first railroad built east of the Appalachian Mountains. But this strategic location was a liability during the Civil War and the town was leveled by fire in the Battle of Decatur in 1864 and was left with only three buildings still standing. Post war recovery brought the town of Decatur back east of the railroad tracks but the new town west of the tracks was incorporated in 1889 as New Decatur.
The two towns prospered but Decatur was not happy with New Decatur since it was settled mostly by Yankees. New Decatur was renamed Albany, after Albany New York, in 1916 and that did not improve feelings. It was the mutual need for a bridge over the Tennessee river to replace the ferry that brought the cities together in 1925 as one City of Decatur. To this day, the two sides have somewhat different cultures. This postcard can be found in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! A pictorial history awaits.
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WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER AT MOODY'S POSTCARDS WEBSITE.
HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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Our visit to Birmingham Alabama ends today with a trip downtown to two landmarks. The first of these is seen on a 1942 Curteich post card featuring the Comer Building, a twenty plus story skyscraper towering over the downtown area.
The second landmark is the Municipal Auditorium on 8th Avenue North which was built in 1923 at a cost of one million dollars and had a seating capacity of 10,000. Both of these post cards can be found in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! See your hometown develop one postcard at a time.
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In a follow on to my last article, I wanted to show you another nice home in Birmingham Alabama. The 1930s E. C. Kropp post card below shows the Massey home and elaborate garden, pools and fountain. Birmingham was founded in 1871 as an industrial center with iron and steel production as the major industries and had the nickname of "The Pittsburgh of the South". The elaborate homes and gardens provide a nice offset to the industrial base. This postcard can be found in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! The hobby for all ages.
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Today we are still touring Alabama and visiting Birmingham for a look at how the rich folks live. The first post card is a close up view of the "country home", Vestavia, of George B Ward located on the top of Shades Mountain, altitude 1,300 feet and just 6 miles from Birmingham. The "home" is a replica of the celebrated Temple of Vesta of Rome which was destroyed in the fifth century. The dimensions are 70 feet high, 186 feet in circumference with 20 columns which have a 9 feet circumference. This first postcard is a 1937 Curteich production giving a close up view.
The second view is on a 1930s E. C. Kropp postcard and gives a great aerial view of the home and estate. Both of these postcards are available in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Illustrated history at its best.
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Our next stop in Alabama is a visit to the weave room at Avondale Mills in Sylacauga Alabama. This postcard is postmarked 1941 and a lot of things have changed in the 67 years since then that have eliminated the fabric mills across the South. These mills provided millions of jobs in the United States spinning the thread, weaving the cloth and making the clothes, sheets and fabric products we depend on daily. We still have the technology, workers and will to do the job but we just could not compete with low overseas wages. We still grow the cotton here in the South but it is cheaper to ship it overseas and the finish product back to the states.
Sylacauga is in Talladega County Alabama and had a population of 1,456 in 1908, 2,141 in the 1920 and 12,616 in the 2000 census. The town's nick-name is "The Marble City" since it is located on a solid deposit, which is 32 miles long, one and a half miles wide and 400 feet deep, of the hardest, whitest marble in the world. The town is also the home town of Jim Nabors (Gomer Pyle), one of 3 Blue Bell Creameries and Ann Hodges who is the only documented case of a person being hit by an object from outer space. This post card is available in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! The educational hobby.
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Our trip across Alabama moves to Tuskegee Alabama today where Booker T. Washington at the age of 26 founded the Tuskegee Institute in 1881 as a Normal School for Negroes, both boys and girls, and served as its first principal. The students made bricks in the Institute brickyard and built many of the first buildings on the campus. George Washington Carver joined the faculty in 1896 and proceeded to revolutionize agricultural development in the South in the early twentieth century. The legacy of these two men and their accomplishments are well known today and the site became a part of the National Park System in 1974 and is located on the campus of Tuskegee University. The 1913 multiview postcard below shows Rockefeller Hall, Thasher Hall, The Four Emerys, and The Chapel of Tuskegee Institute. This post card can be found in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Have fun learning more about whatever interests you.
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Selma Alabama is our destination today with an unusual view of downtown along Broad Street on a circa 1908 postcard. I say it is an unusual view because there just aren't many people around and this is a major intersection in downtown. Notice the extra wide Broad Street as well as the extra wide sidewalk in the foreground. I can see only eleven people, two horse and buggies and the shadows are not very long so I suspect this picture was taken on a Sunday. The streetcar or trolley on the left has "Selma Street" on the side of it and the other two trolleys have numbers on the side. The tall building behind the trolley on the right is the YMCA. I always enjoy using a 5 power magnifying glass on printed post cards to find interesting facts about the scene and the people and buildings in it and I use the 10 power glass on real photos. Half the fun is finding something interesting in the image that you didn't see when you acquired the postcard. There was one postcard photographer in the 1940s and 1950s that use to always include his "woodie" station wagon in his pictures. This postcard is available in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! You can learn something from each postcard.
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I have given Mississippi postcards a good run recently so today I am moving over to Alabama. The post card below is a 1920s view of downtown Ozark Alabama which is located in the southeastern corner of Alabama near Dothan. First settled in 1822, it was named Merricks in honor of the first settler John Merrick Sr. It was later changed to Woodshop and then to Ozark in 1855. The population in 1908 was 2,229, around 2,300 in 1930 and had grown to 15,119 by the 2000 census. The 1920s view below of downtown is very typical of many small towns in the south at this time. When I first saw this postcard, I though it was Eufaula Alabama which looks very similar. Small southern towns are very popular postcard subjects and usually difficult to find. This post card can be found in my Alabama listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! The sunny South awaits.
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Today's topic is a follow on to the last one and covers the Postcard History Series of books published by Arcadia Publishing, the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Please see the previous blog for full information on the company, their outstanding postcard books and where you can find them. I will try to review these as they are published so you should be able to keep up with what is available and I promise some stunning images from each.
Today's book covers the history of Chester Pennsylvania, the first city established in Pennsylvania, and has fantastic postcard images and narrative covering the many mills, shipbuilding industry, businesses, churches and a great collection of postcards on the famous 1908 trolley strike. This is the great way to learn your local history. The book was produced by the Chester Historical Preservation Committee with many of the 200 plus postcards shown from the collection of David Guleke. The first image below shows the launching of the SS Chester Sun in 1917,the first ship built by the Sun Ship Building and Drydock Company.
The second image is a downtown view of Roders newsstand which was originally built as a cigar stand in 1880 called the Lighthouse. It was rebuilt in 1912 after a fire, renovated in 2001 and is still in operation today and nicknamed the "smallest block in America". Now that you have seen 1% of the images, I hope you will be tempted to see the other 99% in the book. Also be sure to check out my Pennsylvania postcard listings along with the 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Your hometown history awaits.
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Today I want to tell you about a series of fantastic books which zero in on individual towns throughout the United States and feature around 200 "pick of the litter" postcards on each town. I will feature the book covering Hudson Massachusetts today and next time will talk about the book covering Chester Pennsylvania. But first, lets talk about the big picture. Both of these books are published by Arcadia Publishing in their Postcard History Series and are a must have for current and former residents of the towns covered. These books are usually a combined effort between the local historians and local postcard collectors and bring accurate information and stunning images together to make local history come alive. They have already published over 500 of these so there is a pretty good chance Arcadia has a book on your home town so be sure to check out their website for your copy. The books are also available at area bookstores, independent retailers and online retailers.
The Hudson Massachusetts book was authored by Lewis Halprin, who has eight previous books about the area, with help from Katherine Johnson who is the historian from the Hudson Historical Society and the local postcard collectors. The result is an impressive display of postcards of the town and a great narrative about all of the views shown. The first postcard below shows the Hudson Town Hall and the Unitarian Church.
The second view shows Hudson's first motorized fire apparatus which was a 1913 Grout truck from the Grout Automobile Company in Orange Massachusetts.
Be sure to check out the other postcard books I have reviewed on my earlier blogs and look for a postcard on your hometown among the 10,000 postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!!! Discover your hometown history.
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Today I will end our current trip through Mississippi with a couple of large hotels. The first stop is the Eola Hotel in Natchez Mississippi and is a great multi view postcard. This is a 1940s MWM (Mid West Map Company in Aurora Missouri) linen post card showing the Main Lobby, an exterior view, the Palm Room and has the slogan "Where the old South still lives". The fine print along the bottom of the postcard indicates your room might be a little "sticky" in July and August.
The second postcard is also a 1940s MWM linen post card and shows the Hotel Pinehurst in Laurel Mississippi. The printed message on the back brags that "Laurel is known as a Chemurgic city and has over 6000 people on its industrial payroll". Both of these postcards can be found in my Mississippi listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! Visit the past now.
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Angelo's Place was one of the finest restaurants in Gulfport Mississippi and was located on US Hwy 90 facing the Gulf of Mexico. Owned and operated by Angelo Xidis, the building was built entirely of steel, tile and glass and combined the kitchen and dining room. This postcard shows the beautiful fireplace with real live oak trees on each side and incorporated into the building. This was the place to see and be seen in the 1940s. This E. C. Kropp linen postcard can be found in my Louisiana listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website at Moody's Postcards.
CATCH POSTCARD FEVER!! A great way to visit all of those famous places you have heard about.
