Featured Antique RPPC Postcard: Busy Times At The 5 & 10 Store

Interesting postcard I think;

I wonder if shopping frenzies of the olden days had casualties like our "Black Friday" stampedes today where folks will trample their fellow man for a shot at a new big screen television? That seems to be message of this postcard depicting a rather large crowd waiting outside of a 5 & 10 storefront with an horse drawn ambulance already on site. I wonder what bargains were within that store and were they worth risking one's neck for? I could understand if this were an estate sale and there were a lot of underpriced antique goodies within but alas I bet it was new goods!

Your Thoughts?
Joe

 

That's a great photo, maybe the crowd is there because of an injury? During that era there were a lot of accidents and fatalities due to horses, new fangled cars and people competing for the road, and because of alcohol. Some things never change

 

Do you have a date for this? If not, would/could you post a photograph of the back? And do you know where the scene is located? Did you notice that there are almost no women in the scene? Think it's more likely a ceremonial occasion than an actual "busy day" of shopping. Something to do with the Red Cross and World War I perhaps?

Debora

 

Many of the men seem to be in top coats & Derbys!!

 

Here is the back - Good chance the location is somewhere in Indiana, perhaps Evansville. 1912 date? I can't read cursive for the life of me.

 

I enlarged it a bit....am estimating about 10 - 15 women JUST from potential hats mostly and a very few faces with hats.....and mostly close to the store!!

​

 

CARD: But post stamped EVANSVILLE, IND.
Mailed to: Warsaw, Indiana

"Here is a card Mother showing a view from our back door
during our granite sale. I guess I told you about it in
my letter did I not.
James Grove"

It also looks like it says
FEB 5--12.....would that be 1912???​

 

Here is a card mother showing a view from our back door during our granite sale. I guess I told you about it in my letter did I not. James Grove (looks like Aquitaine beat me to the punch - LOL)

 

Wish they would bring back teaching cursive in schools!

 

They taught me, much good it did them. Too many years of taking too many notes too quickly killed my handwriting dead. I'm actually neater sometimes with the wrong hand!

 

Yes! 1912 was the cancellation date, and it was posted from Evansville, Indiana.

 

Corner of Main and 4th in Evansville, Indiana.

1 SE 4th St - Google Maps

 

I wonder if the image was taken in 1912 or if it is earlier. Not an uncommon practice for this era to put a older image, a few decades old, on postcards. I wonder when motorcar ambulances became widely utilized.

 

Good questions... it's also possible that somebody mailed a card that was a few years old. But, the note on the back makes me think it was likely to have been mailed close to the time the photo was taken. I don't know what a "granite sale" is... were they just selling granite? Or was it a phrase that meant something else, like "fire sale" or "estate sale" or "garage sale"? And I wonder why the ambulance was there?

 

Looks completely different now!

 

As the writer refers to "my letter" without a qualifier such as "last year" or "last month," I'd assume the image was taken and the card was produced close to the cancellation date. He's inferring that the letter is recent memory.

Debora

 

One cent stamps were price of postage from mid 1928 to mid 1952, but horse drawn ambulances were quickly phased out during WW1 in the US.

 

What's your source for that information?

This Wikipedia page shows the postcard postage rate being up and down through the years, and one cent was the postcard rate from 1898-1917 and 1919-1932. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_United_States_postage_rates

And here is slightly different information from the Smithsonian website:
https://siarchives.si.edu/history/featured-topics/postcard/dating-postcards

 

That makes perfect sense cuz the horse-drawn ambulances were phased out during WW1. I bet you that is the time frame right there. Thanks for letting me know that variation in the cost of postage. My fault on not knowing that.

 

You're welcome. And I hope you are enjoying the Antiquers site!