The Singing Tower, Florida

Tampa, Fla, April 12, 1937

Tampa, Fla.

April 11, 1937

My sister & I are thru work down here now and sorry because we liked our job so well.

It was the most exclusive county club in Fla.  We are starting North Tues. by way of Connecticut to visit awhile.  Our mother came down by train to go back with her.  Hope you are both well.

Love, Peggy

Mr. and Mrs. Russell White

1327 Edgemont St.

Indianapolis, Indiana


Did you know the International Carillon Festival is happening right now at Bok Tower Gardens?  You can purchase tickets at the link, but I am in no way a paid sponsor for the historic landmark, nor am I going to receive any complimentary admission for posting this link.  At least not yet, anyway.  However, in accordance with the festival, welcome to the second in this week's hastily arranged series on Bok Tower Gardens.

If Peggy and her sister were working in an exclusive country club in Tampa, there are two possibilities. The Palma Ceia Country Club was founded in 1916 and is still so exclusive that even its website is members only.  The Temple Terrace Golf Club was founded in 1922, so either club could have laid off the two ladies in the midst of the Great Depression.  it's natural they travelled to one of Florida's oldest and peaceful historic landmarks to convalesce before gaining the strength to travel to Connecticut.  (Again, I am not a paid sponsor.)

There is no Edgemont St. in Indianapolis, but there is an Edgemont Ave., with an old house at the address on the card.  There is an obituary for a J. Russell White, who was a prominent attorney in Indianapolis.  Marion County's property records are difficult to obtain from more than a decade ago, so there is no record of a recent sale of the house.  

A Corner in Mr. Bok's Study in the Singing Tower

"From the Mountain Pines of Maine to the Sunny Sands of Florida"This was Mr. Bok’s private study in the Singing Tower.  The beautiful wrought iron stairway leads to the upper floors.  Except for the room for Mr. Brees, the Carillonneur, this is the only finished and liveable room in the tower.  An automatic elevator leads from it to the upper floor.

St. Petersburg, January 24, 1934

Jan 24/34

The full envelope read this A.M.

Dear Lois and poor Lydia

It’s good to be here in the sunshine.  Going to Lakeland the 25^th for the day.  These go so fast.  I feel rested & contented.  Will write soon-My love is loud, Maude?  Sadie? Looks fine.  Mrs. L. and Florence are delighted to be here.

AAV

Art Department

Syracuse Public Library

Mrs.  Maude Kissel

733 Maryland Ave.

Syracuse, N.Y.

Looks like someone really tried to censor this postcard’s text years before the invention of the Sharpie.  I don’t know what having this postcard in an art department says for the state of Syracuse’s Public Library System, but hopefully they’ve moved past owning creepy portraits of hidden Florida landmarks.

Mr. Bok’s study is actually no longer hidden- you can get a private tour for a relatively small donation to the Bok Foundation!  Maybe you can stop by and check it out when you attend the International Carillon Festival this weekend!  (Again, I am not a paid sponsor.)

According to zillow.com, the 8 bedroom house at 733 Maryland Ave was built in 1900.  It was sold in 1996, and was most likely already converted into apartments as it is today.  There are a number of Kissels in Syracuse, NY, but no historical mentions of Maude, Lois or Lydia.

The Singing Tower, Mountain Lake Sanctuary, Lake Wales, Florida

This beautiful singing Tower, on the highest elevation in Florida, in beautifully landscaped grounds known as the Sanctuary, was a gift to the people by the late Edward W. Bok.The Singing Tower Carillion has 71 bells with 53 notes, or four and one-half octaves.  The total weight of the bells is 123,264 pounds.  The tenor bell alone weighs 11 tons, and the smallest 12 pounds.  It is the finest and largest carillion ever cast.  Height of tower 205 feet, diameter at base 51 feet.

Miami, Fla. March 6, 1931

Visiting Florida

Ames Austin in

Miami & enjoying

Every minute.

Came by boat &

Bought my car.

Limes? And Fruits? From

Tillon? Here Lois

Is entertaining.

Gertrude C.

Mildred Copeland

17 Sefton Drive

Edgewood, R.I.

Now we know what the bells weigh.  The same bells you could be hearing if you attend the International Carillon Festival this weekend at Bok Tower Gardens?  (Again, I am not a paid sponsor.)

Gertrude fancies herself an imagist poet to her friend Mildred.  No historical records for Midred come up in a search, but the house comes up in Google Maps.  Edgewood is actually a neighborhood in Cranston, RI, which Seth MacFarlane states as being the inspiration for Family Guy's fictional setting of Quahog.

"Singing Tower" at Night Time, Mountain Lake Sanctuary, Lake Wales, Fla.

Postmarked Wil? Fla.  1955

The weather is de-lightful.  It was too warm for a sweater today when I went shopping.  Gib is an inspector for “Snow Crop” orange juice.  Don’t know whether this is the answer or not.

Kay.

Miss Beatrice Miller

374 N. 12^th St.

Lebanon, Pa


The weather is de-lightful!  Too bad the postmark cut off at the top- we don't know if Kay was in Williston, Wildwood, or Williamsburg- and none of those places are close to Lake Wales, or Bok Tower.  One thing is for certain, Snow Crop Orange Juice was the first of two companies to introduce frozen orange juice concentrate to U.S. consumers, so yes, Kay, Gib found the answer!

Lebanon, PA is a town of about 25,000 people in eastern Pennsylvania.  It's full of history, and even has a recent eponymous movie shot in the town.  There is a census record for Beatrice Miller, born around 1928 in Lebanon, which would put her at a plausible age to receive this card.

Bok Tower will be showing up quite a bit in my postcards, as it is one of the first tourist attractions in Florida.  I personally urge you to visit, especially if you live in Orlando.  Since you'll be seeing the Gardens quite a bit in the upcoming months, I'll transcribe the description on the card itself:

THE SINGING TOWER FROM THE NORTH,
LAKE WALES, FLORIDAThe Mountain Lake Singing Tower is located on the highest land in Florida and it is surrounded by 48 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, - the Sanctuary.The tower is built of Florida coquina rock and Georgia marble, and is 205 feet high and 51 feet in diameter at the base.  The Carillon with 71 bells varying in weight from just a few pounds to about eleven tons, is one of the finest and largest ever cast.

Oh, and here's an ad (for sale at adclassix.com!) for Snow Crop Orange Juice in 1954, just before Gib started working there.

Beautiful Water Liles

Miami, Fla, March 18, 1948

Florida sure is a beautiful place.  If you ever get a chance to see it don’t miss it.  I haven’t had a chance to take many pictures, at a lot of places cameras aren’t allowed.

Minerva

Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Good

West Main St.

New Holland, Pa.

Oh, Minerva.  The 1% don’t want your plebian camera taking pictures of their estates.  But points for a slogan that the Florida Visitors Bureau would love_ “If you ever get a chance to see it, don’t miss it.”

New Holland, PA is a borough of about 5,000 people founded in 1728 by Germans in what would become Pennsylvania's Amish Country.  They have a vibrant historical society, as do most Northeastern towns and boroughs.  Thankfully, the name Woodrow Good is an unusual name, and there's a few clues on the internet as to his identity:

From the Internet Archive, a transcribed (no photos) yearbook from William Jennings Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee shows a member of the 1955 Sophomore Class named Woodrow Good, sponsored by a Mr. and Mrs. Woodrow Good.  This would suggest that Junior was home when the folks got this card from Minerva.

Three years earlier, the Indiana (PA) Evening Gazette listed at newspaperarchive.com lists a Woodrow Good as a 4-h Club winner in the Livestock Competition at the State Fair.  This would seem to solidify the existence of the Good's son.

In 1974, the Reading Eagle (archived at GoogleNewspapers) announces the retirement of a Woodrow Good, who started working at Sperry's New Holland branch as a truck driver in 1941.  So now we know where Mr. Good worked.  That might be why Minerva is so paranoid about the camera situation.

Lastly, and more mysterious, I keep getting a hit on paid "people search" sites of a 99 year-old Woodrow Good still living in New Holland, PA.  If Mr. Good is still living, and if this is the same Mr. Good, he would have been born around 1913, starting his job in his late thirties, and retiring in his early seventies.  There's a handful of age-appropriate Woodrow Goods that could be the son, but until the New Holland Historical Society replies, his identity is still just conjecture.

Orange Avenue as seen from the roof of City Hall, Orlando Florida

Winter Park, December 12, 1962

Dear Folks-

Thought I would send you a card to let you know what Orlando looks like now- I arrived here last Wednesday will probably leave Friday- The Company here that is building some equipment for our office has very strict cleaniless control- when I go in to look at the equipment I have to take of my shoes and put on a special white uniform and a hood over my head.

Best Regards 

Fred

Mr. and Mrs.  W. E. Faulkner

Route #3

Athens, Ala.

Either Fred is involved in some high-tech endeavors, or the Klu Klux Klan in Florida was suffering from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  Points for the unintentionally ironic statement “this is what Orlando looks like now” from nearly 50 years ago.


Athens, Alabama was founded in 1818, and has a population of about 21,000 people today.  The city is part of the Huntsville-Decatur metropolitan area, and sits in Limestone County.  Nothing of the Faulkners or the Route #3 where they lived seems to turn up in a search.  There is a White Pages listing for a Frederick Faulkner in Ormond Beach, so maybe that's where old Fred retired after working with sensitive computer equipment in the 1960's.

For my Orlando readers, this view has obviously changed a lot.  You may be able recognize the Angebilt Hotel in the distance on Orange Avenue, but the buildings in the forefront have been torn down for the Suntrust Tower and the Grand Bohemian.  

Colonial Plaza's new MIllion Dollar Air-Conditioned Shopping Mall

Colonial Plaza’s new Million Dollar Air Conditioned Shopping Mall.  The largest in the South.

Color:  Jack McCullom, Orlando

Sister Bay, WI, August 10, 1981

Dear Lauretta & Red

A whole week gone already.  Got here fine & enjoying every day even tho we aren’t doing much.  Played bridge with the neighbors & also had the Shrevenbergers? over for dinner & they had us over last nite.  Had a terrific storm last nite & it rained almost all day today.  They need it here.

Thanks again for every thing.

Mr. & Mrs. F Neidelbach

926 W. MacArthur

Eau Claire, Wis. 54701

Since you can barely make out the circle over the writing that was probably an Orlando postmark, I’m going to assume that the Sister Bay, WI postmark was a receiving one, and not a failed attempt by the anonymous writer to fool our friends Lauretta and Red Neidelbach into thinking that she was braving the oppressive Orlando summer. 

It’s ironic that the dry summer was noticeable, since a week after this postcard was received, Hurricane Dennis brought significant rainfall as it traveled north along the entire Florida peninsula.

For longtime residents of Orlando,  Colonial Plaza Mall was the mall, (actually until 1973 it was the only mall.)  Other malls opened, and the property was sold to a development company that built the outdoor shopping center, Colonial Plaza Market Place by tearing down most of the mall's structure, including iconic Orlando restaurant Ronnie's.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin is a city of about 65,000 people.  It's hard to tell if the little house at 926 W. MacArthur is still standing from Google Streetview, and there is little evidence of a Neidelbach, or Neiderbach residing in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  Since the card isn't that old, it is conceivable that someone knows the recipients, or someone is still playing bridge with the Shevenbergers in sunny Orlando.