Old Antique Vintage Post Card 1906 Laclede Missouri MO

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Today I want to show you how to recognize a rare old antique vintage postcard when you see it in your grandmother's postcard album. The postcard for today is a circa 1906 real photo view of "downtown" Laclede Missouri and I want to discuss why I think this is a great rare postcard. One is the best things going for it is the fact that it is a real photo which gives you a high quality very detailed view and real photo postcards are highly sought after today after years of neglect. Second, the condition of the post card is very good with no damage and no writing on the front. Third, the view shown is downtown, which is probably most of downtown in this small town, with several wagons and a buggy tied up on the left in an area that appears to be a town square. Fourth is the approximate date of the photo which I have estimated at 1906 for several reasons. The back of the post card says "This Side For The Address" which means it was made before 1 March of 1907 when postal law was changed to allow the address AND the message on the back. Also on the back is what is called the "stamp box", which is where you are suppose to put the stamp, and this normally has the name of the postcard stock used to make the card. In this case it shows Ansco's "Cyko" stamp box and the style of this box places the date about 1906. The fifth important aspect is the town of Laclede Missouri which was, and is, a very small town with the 1910 census showing a population of 740 which declined to 649 in the 1930s and was down to 415 people by the 2000 census. Small towns tend to have a much smaller quantity of post cards because there just were not that many potential customers. And while that is still true today as far as potential customers go, there are five or six generations of folks that grew up in this town and some their descendants are going to want to know what the town looked like where their parents, grandparents or great grandparents grew up in order to better understand their roots and to document their family genealogy. Other potential customers are the folks that collect Missouri towns and also the Linn County collectors. I have never seen a seen a postcard on this town before, much less a great real photo postcard, and I have been through literally millions of postcards. These early real photos were not mass produced like the printed cards and many are truly one of a kind. When you find a postcard like this that has a family connection, don't pass it up because the odds are you will never see another one. Catch postcard fever now and expand your horizons! Postcard collecting is lots of fun, educational, habit forming and very affordable. This postcard is available in my Missouri listings along with over 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Kingsville Texas Old Antique Vintage Post Cards 1909 & 1929

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Kingsville Texas is the destination of choice today with two post cards on educational institutions. Kingsville is the county seat of Kleberg County, has a population of 25,575 as of the 2000 census and is located in the center of the world famous King Ranch. Henrietta King inherited the ranch from her husband, Captain Richard King, and donated the land for the original townsite. The family later made a fortune on oil and gas and Mrs. King was a major driver in Kingsville's success over the years. She also donated land for the Catholic, Baptist and Episcopal churches as well as what is now Texas A&M University Kingsville. The town is located near the gulf coast and southern tip of Texas. The first postcard is a circa 1909 view of the High School in Kingsville TX which has a distinctive mission appearance, I believe the date on the top of the building is 1909, and it also has "Henrietta M King School" over the entrance.

Our second postcard is a 1929 Curteich view of the Texas College of Arts and Industries in Kingsville which was previously the Texas State Teachers College. The teachers college was chartered in 1917 but didn't open until 1925 due to WWI. As it expanded, it changed its name in 1929 to The Texas College of Arts and Industries as shown on this postcard. In 1967, it became Texas A&I University, became a memeber of the Texas A&M University system in 1989 and formally changed its name to Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1993. Post cards of schools and colleges are very popular and many people began collecting these images of their personal past and this is one of the many portals into the world of postcard collecting. Join us!! Both of these postcards are available in my Texas listings along with over 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Cody Wyoming Old Antique Vintage 1908 Postcards

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Today we are visiting circa 1908 Wyoming with the first stop in Cheyenne at the First National Bank. While the building is impressive, the surrounding businesses are not that impressive. To the far right is a half completed small building and to the far left is a sign for the Livery stable. The corner building appears to be empty on the street level but the 4 story building behind it has a fancy marble column entrance which I assume is the location of the bank. This is a circa 1908 Pacific Novelty Company post card.

The second postcard view is near Cody Wyoming at the De Marris Hot Springs. Cody is just outside Yellowstone Park so this hot spring is probably heated just like the hot springs and geysers in the park. This one is next to the river which gives both hot and cold water and you can move between the two and get temperature that is just right for you. We use to do this in Yellowstone when I worked there many years ago but the park rangers frowned on this practice that we called "hot potting" so it was strictly a night time adventure. This view shows two ladies in the water with two more ladies and three children waiting their turn. I suspect the man in the suit is Mr. De Marris and is there to assure proper payment is received. The building is the bath house with a "sign" on the top and another on the door. These postcards can be found in my Wyoming listings along with an additional 10,000 old antique postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.Catch postcard fever and expand your horizons, tickle your grey matter or just see what your home town looked like 50 or 100 years ago. It is lots of fun, educational and very habit forming. Want more? Go to my website link above or scroll back through the hundreds of old antique vintage postcards on this blog. ENJOY!!

1928 Democratic National Convention Houston Texas

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Since the Democratic National Convention is underway in Denver Colorado, I thought it would be appropriate to show the location of the 1928 Democratic National Convention in Houston Texas. This Curteich postcard shows the flag draped auditorium, Sam Houston Hall, which was constructed in 99 days at a cost in excess of $100,000 and had a seating capacity of 25,000. This was a convention of many firsts including the first national convention by either party in the South since the Civil War and the first convention to nominate a Catholic for President, Al Smith. Smith in turn became the first Democratic nominee to lose more than one southern state in the general election since Reconstruction when he lost to Herbert Hoover due mainly to his "wet" stance, opposition to the Ku Klux Klan and his religion. The vote wasn't close with Hoover winning 444 electoral votes to 87, 40 states to 8 and 58.2% of the popular vote to 40.8%. My, how times do change. You can find this old antique post card in my Texas listings along with 10,000 addition vintage postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Ski Mass Catholic Church North Conway NH 1940s

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Today's post card falls in the unusual category even though the setting is in a church. Pictured is a "Ski Mass" at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in North Conway New Hampshire probably in the 1940s. I counted at least 14 sets of skis attending but I am not sure if the skis were necessary to get to church or if their owners are there for a little extra accident insurance. Either way, attendance is good and that is what is important. This postcard just sold but I have over 10,000 other postcards on my website Moody's Postcards. Catch postcard fever and expand your horizons, tickle your grey matter or just see what your home town looked like 50 or 100 years ago.

Camp Swift Texas WWII Post Exchange

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Camp Swift Texas was officially activated on 4 May 1942 and is located about 28 miles East of Austin and seven miles north of Bastrop Texas. It was a major combat infantry training area, home to the Tenth Mountain Division, covered 52,191 acres and at its peak reached over 90,000 servicemen. It also served as a prisoner of war, POW, camp with 4,000 prisoners captured in North Africa from Rommel's North Afrika Corps and at Normandy during the invasion of Europe. Today the camp is used as a Texas Army National Guard training site.

Today's real photo post cards show the interior of Post Exchange #1 with the first one showing a great Western theme wall mural that goes all the way to the rafters, the Roundup Bar with two great old cash registers, picnic tables in front of the bar and on the far right is the clothing sales area.

The second real photo post card shows the opposite end of the Post Exchange which also has a Western mural, a jukebox to the left and display cases with sundries for sale, including Parker & Schaffer fountain pens in the Parker Pen showcases. Both of these real photo postcards are available in my Texas listings along with 10,000 additional vintage postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Hutchinson Family Singers Milford New Hampshire

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I must admit that until I ran across today's postcard, I had no idea who the Hutchinson Family Singers were. When I went to "DogPile" to research them, I found a wealth of information about an amazing family. I'll just hit a few of the high points in hopes of getting you interested enough to check it out for yourself. John Hutchinson formed the group in 1840 which included his brothers Asa, Jesse and Judson. Jesse soon dropped out but continued to write songs and became the manager and he was replaced by his sister Abby. They sang in close four part harmony about political causes such as abolition, temperance, women's rights and slavery so they were somewhat controversial. They toured much of the Northeast and central US as well as England. Their friends and fans included P.T. Barnum, Charles Dickens, Frederick Douglas, Horace Greeley and Abraham Lincoln who they campaigned for.

The postcard that started this trek is a circa 1905 view of the birthplace of the Hutchinson family of singers home and a picture of John W. Hutchinson. This post card has been sold but I have 10,000 other post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.