Moody's Postcard Blog

State Monuments at Andersonville Georgia

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:18:00 +0000

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Andersonville Georgia is infamous as a Civil War Union POW camp, Camp Sumter. This prison was one of the largest established by the Confederacy during the Civil War and during the 14 months it was in use, over 45,000 Union soldiers were held here. Almost 13,000 of the prisoners died from disease, lack of sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding and exposure to the elements. Although the prison only covered 26 1/2 acres, the peak number of prisoners hit 32,000 in August of 1864. After the war ended, many Northern states erected monuments here to honor their native sons lost and buried here.

Today the area is the Andersonville National Cemetery and the National Prisoner of War Museum and serves as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Not only is the Cemetery a final resting place for those who died here but it is one of only two National Cemeteries that are classified as active and continue to bury veterans and their dependents.

Today's 1940s Curt Teich linen postcard shows five of the State Monuments at Andersonville and includes Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. This post card can be found in my Georgia listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Amarillo Texas Hospitals 1939

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:17:00 +0000

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Hospitals are a vital need of every town and city if they are to survive and prosper. You need only to look at the small rural towns who are fighting valiantly to keep their hospitals so they can keep and save their residents. One of the more common views on postcards are hospitals and today's post card is a great example of a town touting their hospitals. This is a 1939 Curteich linen postcard featuring three hospitals in Amarillo Texas and billing the city as the "New Southwestern Hospital Center" with the Northwest Texas Hospital, St. Anthony Hospital and the Veterans' Hospital. This postcard can be found in my Texas listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Adair County Court House Kirksville Missouri 1907

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:36:00 +0000

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It is back to Kirksville Missouri today with a circa 1907 view of the Adair County Court House. The nice thing about this post card is you can see and identify some of the stores on the square. To the left of the court house is J. F. Eckert, Tailoring & Hats, J. I. Fowler and to the right is a partial name ending in "garges" and ??? & Reed Drugs store. The postcard is postmarked 1907 from Kirksville and the back shows "Normal Book Store, Importers and Publishers, Kirksville Mo.". It is not unusual for the local publisher or photographer to have their business in the picture but that was not the case this time. This post card is available in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

American School of Osteopathy 1905

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:12:00 +0000

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The postcard for today is a circa 1905 view of The American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville Missouri. The school was founded in 1892 by Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. This was the first institution of osteopathic education and continues today as A. T. Still University. Dr. Still developed the system of therapy based on the concept that the body can develop its own cures for diseases when the body is in a normal structural relationship, has a normal environment and has good nutrition. Osteopathy takes a "holistic" approach to medical care but also embraces modern medical knowledge when needed. This postcard is available in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Pine Bluffs Wyoming Railroad Depot

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:46:00 +0000

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Today's postcard is a great view of the Union Pacific Railroad Depot and yards with a passenger train in the station in Pine Bluffs Wyoming and this postcard was mailed from there in January of 1918. Pine Bluffs was established in 1868 and was originally called Rock Ranch but Union Pacific changed the name to Pine Bluffs for the nearby bluffs. The population there was 246 in 1910, 771 in 1940 and 1,153 in 2000. Pine Bluffs is located on Interstate 80 close to the Wyoming Nebraska border and near Cheyenne Wyoming. This post card can be found in my Wyoming listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

1950s Real Photos of Your Hometown

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:21:00 +0000

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Today's postcards are great sellers because they bring back those memories of what it was like when we were growing up if you are over 50. These real photos of downtown back in the 1940s and 1950s bring back our childhood in vivid detail including the corner drugstore, old cars, cafes and gas stations when they were still "service" stations and sold gas for 29 cents a gallon. The first real photo post card is a circa 1950 view of downtown Albany Texas with lots of great cars, a cafe, hotel and a Conoco gas station.

The second real photo postcard is a 1950s view of downtown Bracketville Texas showing the Nipper Drug Store with fountain service and the Palace movie theater. This type of real photo postcard was made on many of the large and small towns so keep your eyes open. Both of these post cards can be found in my Texas listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Cody Wyoming Bridge 1907

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:54:00 +0000

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Today's postcard is what I call a "busy" postcard because there is a lot going on in this one image simply labeled "Cody Bridge". At first glance it seems pretty straight forward but a close examination reveals a significant amount of activity. At the very bottom are three freight wagons without horses and a hitching post with a least 3 horses tied up. Also near the bottom on the road is a freight wagon pulled by four horses which appears to have another wagon attached behind it. To the right in the trees is another wagon and a single horse tied to a tree. In the road before the bridge, there is a person on a horse talking to two people standing in the road and there are at least three horseback riders on the bridge. Across the Shoshone river, there is a building on the left but the main road turns right, then left and then back to the right going up the hillside and there are two wagons starting up the hill. At the top, there are at least 6 buildings visible which I assume are part of the town of Cody. My reason for pointing out all of this detail is to encourage you to use a magnifying glass of 5 to 10 power to examine your postcards and try to figure out what is there and what is going on. That is part of the fun of postcards. You can find this postcard in my Wyoming listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Callahan County Bastille in Baird Texas 1915

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:28:00 +0000

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Baird Texas was established in 1880 when the Texas & Pacific Railway came through and established a division point on the railroad with a depot,roundhouse and repair shops and replaced Belle Plain as the county seat in 1883. The post office, established in 1881 as Vickery, was renamed Baird in 1883 and the town was incorporated in 1889. The population was 1,502 in 1904 and peaked at 3,000 in 1920, declined to 1,810 in 1941 and has remained fairly steady since then with the 2000 census showing 1,623. I should mention that I was born and raised just 40 miles south of here in Coleman Texas and I am proud to say I have never been in the subject of today's postcard, the Callahan County Bastille in Baird Texas. This is a circa 1915 view of the jail and has two men and two women standing on the front porch. You can find this post card in my Texas listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Churches in Tacoma Washington 1908

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:38:00 +0000

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Today's postcards are a follow on to the last posting on Tacoma Washington landmarks. The first post card is a great view of St. Patrick's Church and is shown on circa 1908 Edward H. Mitchell postcard #664.

The second post card shows St. Luke's Church and is shown on circa 1908 Edward H. Mitchell postcard #517. Both of these views can be found in my Washington listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Tacoma Washington Court House & Seminary

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:53:00 +0000

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Today I want to share a couple of early Tacoma Washington post cards with you. The first is a View of the Annie Wright Seminary in Tacoma which was founded by C.C. Wright in 1884 when he and other Tacoma residents wanted a school where their daughters could receive a good education and the school was named after his daughter, Annie. The school is still in operation today and has a co-ed day program through grade 8 and an all girls day and boarding school in grades 9-12. This is a circa 1908 Edward H. Mitchell postcard.

The second view is also a circa 1908 Edward H. Mitchell postcard and shows the Pierce County Court House in Tacoma Washington. Both of the postcards can be found in my Washington listings on my website Moody's Postcards.

Old Hotel Wilhelmina in Arkansas

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:06:00 +0000

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Postcards are just like newspapers and blogs; you can not always believe what they say. Today's post card is an excellent example. When I originally listed this postcard on my website, I did not verify the location cited on the front of the card and being a transplanted Texan in Georgia, I had no clue that the information was wrong. As is often the case, a customer from Mena Arkansas was nice enough to email me and set me straight.

I did some research and found the old Wilhelmina Inn was actually on Rich Mountain in what is now Queen Wilhelmina State Park near Mena Arkansas. Built at a cost of $100,000 by the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf Railroad on their route from Kansas City Missouri to Port Arthur Texas, the Victorian inn had the grand opening on 22 June 1898 and was named in honor of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who was crowned in September 1898 although she never stayed there. In less than three years after opening, the railroad went broke and sold the inn to what is now the Kansas City Southern Railroad who failed to maintain it and let it languish until it closed in 1910.

The depression and World War II prevented any help until 1957 when the state created a new state park on the site and replaced the inn with a new lodge which opened on 22 June 1963, 65 years to the day after the original opening. The new lodge was not as grand as the first and also had a short life when a kitchen fire destroyed it ten years later in November 1973.

Arkansas State Parks quickly built a new $3 million dollar lodge on the original site in 1975 which is the feature attraction of the state park today. This postcard is of the original structure and is a 1913 Curt Teich or Curteich postcard and is available in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's' Postcards.

Monroe & Lafayette Louisiana High Schools

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 17:09:00 +0000

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I have several postcards of my High School; do you have a postcard of yours? High School postcards are very popular as this is the source of many of our memories of our home town. Today I want to share views of two Louisiana High Schools beginning with one from Monroe Louisiana. This is an unused 1920s E. C. Kropp postcard of the City High School.

The second post card shows the Senior High School in Lafayette Louisiana and this is a 1935 Curt Teich or Curteich postcard. Both of these postcards can be found in my Louisiana listings on my website Moody's Postcards.

Downtown El Dorado Springs Missouri 1908

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:20:00 +0000

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Being from a small town in the middle of Texas, I have a great attraction to the small town views of the early 1900s although I don't date back quite that far. This is a circa 1908 Albertype post card with a great view of downtown El Dorado Springs Missouri along South Main Street. Population was only 2,503 in the 1910 census, around 2,212 in the 1930s and 3,775 today. It appears that the town square is on the right and in the left foreground is Kelly Barnes Clothing store. The next store down is a hardware store and on the turret I can make out "BAB__" with the date of "18__". The other store signs can not be read. The picture was probably made on Sunday since there are only 2 horse drawn carriges in sight. This postcard can be found in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Veterans Hospital #99 Elcelsior Springs Missouri

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:11:00 +0000

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There has been a lot of press coverage lately on veterans health care facilities so I thought I would feature one today. This is a nice aerial view of Veterans' Hospital #99 which is located in Excelsior Springs Missouri and is billed as "Missouri's National Health and Pleasure Resort". I was unable to verify that this veterans' hospital was still in operation. This is a 1938 Curt Teich or Curteich postcard and can be found in the Missouri listings on my website Moody's Postcards.

First National Bank of Shreveport Louisiana 1912

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:07:00 +0000

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Today's post card shows the First National Bank building in Shreveport Louisiana which today would just be called an "office building". The bank probably designed, built and paid for the building and occupied the best office space location and then leased out the remainder of office space. The bank entrance is located on the corner on the street level and there is a drug store at the far right end of the building on the street level. Unfortunately, there is no signage to indicate any other occupants of the building. This is a circa 1912 Acmegraph Company postcard that was mailed from Shreveport in 1915. Acmegraph, which was in Chicago, is a lesser know publisher but, in my opinion, their postcards were high quality and the images used were excellent. This postcard can be found in my Louisiana listings along with 10,000 additional post cards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Baton Rouge Louisiana Hospital & Capitol

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:01:00 +0000

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Today we will visit Baton Rouge, "Red Stick", Louisiana with our first postcard, circa 1908, showing the old State Capitol which looks very much like a castle. Baton Rouge became Louisiana's state capital in 1849 and Architect James Dakin was hired to design the new Capital building and he opted for a Neo-Gothic medieval castle look with a view of the Mississippi River. During the Civil War, the Union forces took the capitol in 1862 without a fight and the state government was moved to Shreveport where it remained until 1880 when it returned to Baton Rouge. The new capitol was built in 1932 when Huey P. Long was governor.

The second postcard is a 1920s E. C. Kropp postcard showing Baton Rouge General Hospital. Both of these post cards can be found in my Louisiana listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Downtown Leesville Louisiana 1936

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:55:00 +0000

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Today's post card is from a small town in Louisiana and is typical of the rural towns in the South during the depression. Leesville Louisiana is the parish (county) seat of Vernon Parish and is the home to Fort Polk Army base. The 1910 population was 2,043, around 3,500 in the 1930s and had almost doubled to 6,793 by 2000 and that does not include Fort Polk. This downtown view shows the Leesville Hotel on the right with a drugstore in the hotel in the right foreground. This is a 1936 Curt Teich or Curteich postcard but this card was not mailed until 12 years later in 1948 so keep this lag time in mind when trying to date any postcards you have. The postmark only tells you the postcard is "at least" that old but it could be much older. This postcard can be found in my Louisiana listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Hannibal & Excelsior Springs MO Swimming Pools

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 15:50:00 +0000

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Summertime and HOT weather are here and there is nothing like a swimming pool to cool you down. Swimming pool post cards are very popular because they bring back those great childhood memories of summers at the pool. The first post card is a 1920s E. C. Kropp postcard showing the Indian Mound Park swimming pool in Hannibal Missouri with lots of activity including a double water slide.

The second postcard features the swimming pool at Maurer Lake in Excelsior Springs Missouri on a 1926 Curt Teich or Curteich postcard. Both of the postcards are available in my Missouri listings along with 10,000 additional postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Narrows Bridge Tacoma Washington 1950s

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:50:00 +0000

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The Tacoma Narrows Bridge is a mile long suspension bridge on State Route 16 across the Tacoma Narrows between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state. Just about everyone has seen the motion picture film of "Galloping Gertie", the first bridge across the narrows which was opened to traffic 1 July 1940 and collapsed four months later due to wind. The replacement bridge was not opened until 14 October 1950 and that is the one on the post cards shown here. This one was nicknamed "Strudy Gertie" since design changes fixed the original problems. This bridge carried both east and west bound traffic until 15 July 2007 when a second bridge was opened to handle the east bound traffic. Both of these 1950s real photo postcards can be found in my Washington listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Louisville College of Dentistry Kentucky Circa 1915

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:15:00 +0000

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In 1846 the Kentucky legislature combined the Louisville Medical Institute, the Louisville Collegiate Institution, and a newly created law school into the University of Louisville. The university would experience rapid growth in the 20th century, adding new schools in the liberal arts (1907), graduate studies (1915), dentistry (1918), engineering (1925), music (1932) and social work (1936). (Info courtesy of Wikipedia)

Today's postcard is a great circa 1915 view of the Louisville College of Dentistry in Louisville Kentucky which eventually became the University of Louisville School of Dentistry in 1918. This post card can be found in my Kentucky listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Kenton County Court House Covington Kentucky

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 15:17:00 +0000

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Covington Kentucky is located on the northern border of Kentucky in Kenton County where the Ohio River and Licking River come together. Covington is part of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area and is separated from Cincinnati by the Ohio River and from Newport by the Licking River. Covington has been a large city for a long time and had a population of 53,270 in 1910 and a population of 43,370 in the 2000 census. This size helps to explain the unusually large Kenton County Court House shown on today's 1920s post card by Kraemer Art Company. This postcard is available in my Kentucky listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Van Lear Kentucky 1910 Real Photo Postcard

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:39:00 +0000

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I have mentioned before that "Real Photo" postcards were out of favor until the last 20 years because they are black and white and kind of drab next to the pretty colored printed postcards. Eventually however, people began to understand that this was an accurate view of a moment in time at whatever location was pictured. Academics and historians were the prime buyers for a long time but others began to realize their value. Today's post card is a real photo view of Van Lear Kentucky looking West. Doesn't look like much of a town but the writing on the back, postmarked Feb 1 1910 from Van Lear KY, is from a store owner and says in part: "all well but so busy I do not get time to eat half the time. We are doing about $5,000 business now and only have two men but getting another tomorrow. ... You can see the store in this picture, also our house marked X." The marked house is the second one on the left and I assume the store is on the right. Based on the information below from Wikipedia, this postcard shows the town in its infancy.

The town was named for Van Lear Black, a director of Consolidation Coal Company (Consol). John Caldwell Calhoun Mayo bought the coal rights to the land along Miller's Creek in Johnson County which he later sold to Northern Coal and Coke which was then bought by Consol. Consol built five miles of railroad into the area with money from Van Lear Black's Fidelity Trust and five underground coal mines were opened and operated from 1910 through 1946 and the population peaked at 4,000. In 1945, Consol merged with Pittsburgh Coal Company which then sold the Miller's Creek properties. Today, about 1600 people live in unincorporated Van Lear. This postcard can be found in my Kentucky listings on my website Moody's Postcards.

1918 Cigar Factory in Ybor City Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:06:00 +0000

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The postcard for today is a circa 1918 E. C. Kropp production showing the E. Regensburg & Sons Cigar Factory in Ybor City Florida. Ybor is a historic neighborhood in Tampa Florida that was developed by a group of cigar manufacturers beginning in 1885 and orginally populated by immigrants from Cuba, Spain and Italy. The cigar factories were the primary employers up until the 1930s and the Great Depression when the immigrants began to move away and accelerated their migration after World War II. In the late 1980s, the area began a redevelopment as a nightclub and entertainment destination. (Info thanks to Wikipedia. Be sure to go there and read the fascinating history of Ybor) This postcard can be found in my Florida listings along with 10,000 more post cards on my website, Moody's Postcards.

1940s Meridian Mississippi Senior High Junior College

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Sat, 31 May 2008 17:35:00 +0000

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Today's postcard AND the subject are multi purpose and both are very well done! This post card is a dual view and displays not only the school but also the football and track stadium. The school is the new Senior High and Junior College in Meridian Mississippi. Established in 1937, the school covers grades 11, 12, 13 and 14, with a twenty-six acre campus in a residential district. The main auditorium seats 1,250, the gymnasium seats 3,000 and the stadium seats 14,000 and has lights for night games. This is an E. C. Kropp 1940s postcard which can be found in my Mississippi listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.

Centre College Danville Kentucky 1930s

noreply@blogger.com (Richard) — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:14:00 +0000

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Centre College was founded by Presbyterian leaders, was chartered in 1819 and opened for business in the fall of 1820 in "Old Centre", the first building on campus and which is still in use today. In 1862, it served as a Civil War hospital during the battle of Perryville. In 1901, Central University in Richmond Kentucky was consolidated with Centre and the Kentucky College for Women merged with Centre in 1926. Today, Centre College is an accredited private four year liberal arts college and ranked 44th nationally in the 2007 US News & World Report list. The first postcard below is was produced by Curteich in the 1930s and shows the Main building.

The second post card was also produced by Curteich in 1933 and shows Morgan Hall, the Woman's Department of Centre College. Both of these postcards can be found in my Kentucky listings along with 10,000 more postcards on my website Moody's Postcards.