Central Avenue, Looking West from Court House, Orlando, Fla.

postmarked February 10, 1922

2/9/22

In the centre of the city there is an open space where the men play croquet, cards, pitch quoits or just sit around all hours of the day.  It certainly looks strange.  There are three fairly good sized banks here, but I don't know how good they are.  Remember me to Mrs. Congdon.

Madeline

Mr. W. H. Congdon

Oak Lawn

Rhode Island

Madeline gives us a report on the daily activities of 1922 Orlandans, and of course the quality of the area banks.  It certainly is strange for our writer to choose the pitching of quoits (similar to horseshoes but with a ring) and the area banks to W.H. Congdon, who was a poultry judge and Treasurer of the Rhode Island Poultry Association in 1893.  

This view was most likely taken from the intersection of Court Street and Central Avenue, looking west as the card describes.  The gabled structure is the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks lodge, with unknown retail shops and the San Juan Hotel in the background.  None of these buildings survive today, with the exception of what must be the Yowell-Duckworth building on the south side of the street.  

American Legion Building, Orlando, Florida, The City Beautiful

postmarked November 7, 1925

November 6, 1925

We reached this city today.  It is dreadful warm here.  They are going without coats.  I have to put my lightweight coat on as soon as I got here.  We have just come from the Phillips Theatre.  It has a musical comedy.  We are staying at the Hotel Satsuma. 

Mother

Mrs. Harry Davie

10 Fort Street

East Norwalk, Conneticut 

The American Legion has had a presence in Orlando since 1919, when Mayor Beardall (who has a senior center named after him) commanded Post 19's formation.  The American Legion has been leasing a building near Trotter's Park off Lee Road for decades, and I can't seem to find any mention of this building still existing in Orlando, which in my opinion is a shame.  

When I read about Mother seeing a musical comedy at the Phillips Theatre in Orlando, I went to the Sandborn Fire Insurance Company Maps from 1919.  (If you don't know what Sandborn maps are, go here.)   The Phillips Theatre was started by Braxton Beacham, who built the Angebilt Hotel and Beacham Theatre, both of which are still standing.  As is the Phillips Theatre.  

Built in 1916 on the rubble of Orlando's first bank, it operated as the Philips Theatre until 1929 when it was renamed the Ritz Theatre.  The Ritz stayed open for five years, eventually becoming the department store W.T. Grants which closed in 1970.  Eventually, the theatre space became Janie Lane's Sunset Strip, and Bar Orlando until 2009, when SAK Comedy Lab returned the space to its musical comedic glory.  

Hows that for history hitting close to home?  All from a small house that may still stand in East Norwalk, Connecticut, one of the state's first colonial settlements.  

Growing Pine Apples in Punta Gorda, Fla.

Cleveland, Fla. 1929?

Best Regards

Alex Cort

Mr. Harry Post

Main St.

Farmingdale

Long Island

New York


The first pineapple was introduced to Florida in 1860.  Pineapples are not grown in significant commercial quantities in Florida, but many Florida residents, including your author has planted the top of this bromeliad in the ground and grown a fruit for the squirrels and raccoons to steal.  (Note to self:  build squirrel-proof greenhouse for spring.)

Florida does indeed have a Cleveland. Located in Charlotte County, along the confluence of the Peace River and Charlotte Harbor.  The fishing village has a population of about 3,000 people.

This postcard is the first of six that I have regarding the Post family of Farmingdale, NY.  It's a small community on Long Island on Oyester Bay in Nassau County.  

Bryan's Residence, Miami, Fla.

Miami, Fla., March 26, 1923

Miami, Fla.

Dear Friends-

We are going to start home next week.  We are having nice weather although it is rather warm.  We are all anxious to get home. 

Ellis

J.C. & L. Heflin

Fairfax, Okla.

Mrs. Fred Glass

Alexis, Illinois


Interesting that the current Indiana University director is also named Fred Glass.  Alexis, IL is small enough (only 800 people in 2000) to be easily researched, but since it straddles two counties and four townships, research is hard to come by without a physical address.  And mores, who are J.C. and L. Heflin in Fairfax, Oklahoma?  The Fairfax High School Alumni page lists a James Heflin, Class of '28, but the connection across three states and two surnames is strange.  

The William Jennings Bryan residence is still standing, registered with Miami's historic preservation department.  The estate was built in 1913, and Mr. Bryan occupied it until he died shortly after the Scopes Trial.  Just before that trial he was giving speeches daily about the sound decision to own property in Florida, and sermons in the local Presbyterian Church.

Entrance to Women’s Building, University of Illinois

October 23, 1924

Dear Florence,

Rreceived your letter to-day.  Will answer later.

Lieber Papa, Diesen Brief schneibe ich Dir aus champaign.  Heute bin ich deinen.  Brief bekommen.  Dankeschon Hoffentlich geht es sie familie gut.  Grusse sie, bitte, von mir.  Mit herzlichenn grusse.  Deine Gorther, Elma

P.S. I’m copying this from a letter in the German grammar book.)

Ms. Florence Gerlich

Hollywood, Illinois

Hollywood, Illinois is  a small community in Cook County, Illinois.  The owner of the property sold lots to attendees of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, and developed it into  a subdivision.   To transform into the community it is today, took a bit of community organizing as quoted by the Hollywood Citizen Organization:

Way back in 1915, a group of public spirited citizens residing the weed-infected, countrified, dirt road community of Hollywood, IL decided that an improvement association should be formed.  They desired representation in the Village of Brookfield board meetings, also greatly needed improvements.  Thus the Hollywood Citizens Associations was born."
-- by Edith Hyler from the History of Hollywood, IL

The University of Illinois was founded in 1867.  And both Elma and Florence Gerlich attended.  One supposes that her sister's correspondence encouraged Florence to attend.  Ancestry.com lists a Florence Gerlich from Cook County, Illinois being born in 1909, making her 15 years old when she received this postcard.  Both Florence and Elma are listed in Board of Trustee records from the University of Illinois that seem age-appropriate.  This Florence Gerlich died in 1975, and the only son listed died in Los Angeles in 1993.

Just for fun, I ran the German portion of this card through Google Translate:

Dear Dad, This letter I Schneiber champaign from you. Today I am your. Letter received. Hopefully it's already thank you family well. Grusse they ask of me. With heart lichenn salutation. Your Gorth, Elma

Fine Specimen of Palm Trees, Scene in a Florida Garden

New Smyrna, February 6, 1921

New Smyrna, Fla Feb 5^th, 1921

Dear Neighbor,

I was ever so glad to receive this letter from you folks & hope you still keep well.  We sure have had a variety of weather today rain thunder and now bright sunshine.  I have no fire and doors and windows open today.  The church ladies had a 3 days carnival this week and made enough to clear the debt on their field hall. 

Regards to you both. 

Mrs. C. C. Young

Mrs. J E. Milner

Danielson, Conn

#36 Reynolds St.

Yes, a fine specimen of palm trees, indeed, Mrs. Young!

View on Lucerne Circle, Orlando, Fla.

December 8, 1921

Dear Bros. And Sister

Arrived here to day but no mail

Didn’t you get our card

We met Billiux? to day on the street was some? glad to see some one from home and so was he.  Weather is fine but I think some snow would look pretty good.

Love, Lum?

Mrs. Melzer? Hutchinson

Clayton

Jeff. Co.

N.Y.


The house pictured on the front of this card is the Dr. Phillips House, part of the The Courtyard at Lake Lucerne in Orlando.  Known as the Peckham House, it was built in 1893 by a Colonel Peckham as a wedding present to his daughter.  Dr. Phillip Phillips, a citrus magnate of the Orlando area, moved into the house in 1912 to run his large citrus empire and organize many charitable and artistic endeavors in central Florida.  His son, Howard Phillips donated his family's wealth to a foundation that is still very prominent today.  Many areas in Orlando carry the Phillips name, such as a hospital and a high school.

Clayton, NY is a small village on the St. Lawrence River founded in 1833.  It is home to the Antique Boat Museum and was primarily a lumber town in its beginnings.  It is home to a few boat manufacturers, including a third-generation business founded in 1902, Hutchinson's Boat Works.  One can safely assume that these brothers were the recipients of this postcard from their traveling sister.  I will update this post with any replies that might shed some light on the undecipherable words on this postcard.

UPDATE:
I emailed the Hutchinson Boat Works, and Wendy LaLonde informed me that there are no actual Hutchinson's around anymore to her knowledge. Her mother-in-law's father bought out one of the Hutchinson brothers and they never changed the name due to the name recognition. The Alexandria Historical Society has an incredible display of the history of Hutchinson's boat building that will run through this summer, which may have this card as part of their display.  


I almost don't want to take this beautiful view of Lake Lucerne out of my collection, but perhaps a descendant of the Hutchinson Brothers will visit the display this summer.

Orange Avenue looking North, Orlando, Florida, the City Beautiful

Lockhart, Fl

April 7, 1927

We are starting north the 13^th.  The papers are all fixed all o.k.  Your letter received & glad to hear from you.  Johnsons left this morning.  Are carrying meat? and sweating.  96 in the shade.  Whew!

Van Tiryl?

Mrs. Lena Clarke

Oxford, N.Y.

This was the first "used" postcard I ever purchased.  As a longterm resident, I was so amazed at this picture from Orlando in the 1920's, and how much this corner had changed, writing on the back did not bother me.  

Years later, I got around to reading the back of the card.  At first, I wondered what kind of town was Oxford, NY?  What "papers" needed to be fixed?  And how interesting that it could reach 96 degrees in April back in the 1920's.  So, recently, when I bought a large lot of vintage Florida postcards in which about half of them were used, all with a variety of messages from the past.

I had already performed my share of researching, so I decided to investigate these messages and the people who sent and received them.  Most often, the trail goes cold quickly, due to common surnames, the availability of online records from the early 20th century, and the sometimes undecipherable cursive script that everyone from the era learned in penmanship class.  

General information is the easiest to find.  Oxford, New York is a village of about 1500 people in mid-state New York founded in 1791.  At the time I bought this postcard, the Woolworth's and McCrory's stores were occupied by Terror on Church Street and Q-Zar Laser Tag (now the entire block is the The Plaza condominium, office and theatre complex, just down the street from SAK Comedy Lab's new location.)  

The personal information is more difficult.  Many addresses on vintage postcards (especially to small towns) are general delivery, or without street numbers or names.  Property records for the recipient's addresses only go back so far online.  

But sometimes Google searches yield interesting information through archived news stories.  For instance, a search for "Lena Clarke" and "New York" brings this article from the New York Times archive:

Are the "papers" referred to in the postcard her sanitarium discharge papers after this sordid Orlando murder?  It most likely isn't the same Lena Clarke, but over the course of this blog, we'll discover some of these links to the past are just as fascinating.

Finding those links to the past will be the main purpose of this blog.  If you enjoy this as much as I do, please click one of the ads on this site, or drop a little in my tip jar via PayPal.  Please visit the links in my posts, especially if they visit historical societies or businesses.  If you know of further information on anyone mentioned in these postcards, please add a comment or contact me so we can update the post.  Spread the word around the social networking sites.  The blog's Facebook page is here.

Or you can just send me a postcard!