Florida Moon

Lake Worth, Fla.  February 11, 1942

407 N. “M” Ave., Lake Worth, Fla.

I would like to hear from you if you have time.  c/o Mrs. Camp

Dear Irene & Dear-


Well I got here fine & on time.  Are having loads of fun but still can’t believe we are ourselves.  Went swimming in the salty brine Tuesday & got in our eyes, nose and mouth.  It smarts too.

Gee the town is just beautiful.  Palm trees with coconuts, hibiscus in bloom & several other flowers.  Are going to drive to Palm Beach this P.M.

Gee this card doesn’t hold much.

Love Vicki

P.S.  We will see no full moon while here now.  Shucks!

Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Miller

141 Goldsboro Pl. N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Vicki, tantalized by the beautiful full moon on the front of her inadequately spaced postcard, suddenly realized that she came to Florida for the moon!  Vicki-  it's called "the Sunshine State" for a reason!  Still, Vicki's style of writing calls to mind some fast-talking dame of a 1940's movie, with just the right balance of poetry and interjections.

Sadly, Vicki's winter getaway is now a parking lot for the Sacred Heart School which opened about two years after this postcard was sent.  As discovered in previous posts, the Miller's residence suffered a similar fate, so it's difficult to discover exactly who the Millers were, even though we now know Mr. Miller's wife's name.

Municipal Auditorium, Lake Worth, Florida

Lake Worth, Fla., February 17, 1942

Dear Irene:

I am a lovely shade of pink today- just mild case of sunburn.  No matter how careful I am, I manage to resemble a well-cooked lobster.  I was going to write before, but I couldn’t because I didn’t get sunburned until today.  We’re still enjoying every minute here.

Love- Ubendeer?

Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Miller

141 Goldsboro Pl. N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

This is on the top of the list for the lamest excuse for not writing.  I didn’t get sunburned, no obviously I couldn’t write.  I can only put pen to paper unless I am going through horrific agony with lasting and perhaps permanent damage to my skin.  At least she's not "Great Balls of Fire" like Vicki was in yesterday's post.

By now, the Millers are probably horrified that the unforgiving sun is charring and disfiguring their friends in Florida.  Since Miller is a common surname, and Grand Rapids is a fairly large town, I still have not found any credible clues to their identity.

The Municipal Auditiorium in Lake Worth, FL (incorporated as Lucerne in 1912 by the Palm Beach Farms Company) is now home to City Hall and is one of the prominent points of their Historic District.

Florida's Stately Royal Palms

Lake Worth, Fla. February 17, 1942

The palms are beauts!  You are good.  You get 2 cards from me.  Lucky devils

L.W. Fla. 2-16-42

Dear Irene & D.

Well, Irene how does it see, to be a stay-at-home for a change.  On the 13^th I remarked that was the last day you worked.  Al wouldn’t write what I told her to write you so I will say it.  Right now I feel like great balls of fire but am as brown as a potato. Ran into Theda Koeze? Waolker? This P.M. at the beach.  The only day she expects to spend in Lake Worth.  Strange?

82 degrees here today- still zero up there?

Love Vicki

Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Miller

141 Goldsboro Pl. N.E.

Grand Rapids, Michigan


I don't know if I've ever described a sunburn as "Great Balls of Fire," but Vicki must have had a deep tan from that burn.

The Royal Palms pictured here are native Florida species, and were planted to line the streets in many south Florida communities.  I'm sitting under one right now.

As to the Miller family- we ran across Beatrice Miller yesterday, living in Lebanon, PA.  The Michigan Geneaologist from the Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries lists a Miller and Cochran Furniture Store from 1894.  Their house no longer stands, most of it developed into a large campus of an unknown organization.  Another interesting coincidence is that a Dr. D.W. Miller, Jr. wrote a recent paper against water fluoridation that began in Grand Rapids, MI in 1945.  

The Sunken Garden, Gralynn, Miami, Fla.

Miami December 16, 1917

Miami, Fla 12/16/17

Sunday Morning and a fine one here.  I expect it is cold in P.G.  How are you all I am very well and feel fine give my regards to all

J E H

Rev.  J. W. Lynch

Penns Grove, NJ


Alas, the Sunken Gardens of Gralynn are no more.  Originally built as a residence for the Conley family, Salem Graham bought the property, remodeling it and naming it using the first three letters of his name with the last four of his wife's maiden name.  Turned into a hotel in the early 20th century, the building was demolished in 1969 and replaced with a strip mall.


Penns Grove, NJ was a fashionable resort town around the turn of the nineteenth century, and only incorporated through an act of the New Jersey State Legislature in 1894, even though Swedish immigrants had settled in the area in the 1600's.  Penns Grove has been home to both John Forsythe and Bruce Willis, the latter attending Penns Gorve High School.  The town boasts of many churches, many of them old enough to have employed the recipients of this postcard.

Strangely enough, the Reverend J. W. Lynch is hard to pinpoint in Penns Grove.  I will update this post with any reply from the Historical Society as to any survivors of Rev. and Mrs. Lynch.

A Beautiful Park in Orlando

A Beautiful Park in Florida

Delray Beach, Fla

February 27, 1954

We are having a nice vacation and we both have been feeling very well.  We’ll have to be on our way home soon.  Have been away since the 23^rd of January.  Plan on being home by April 1^st.  Hope you have been very well since we seen you last. 

Love,

Harry and Agnes

Mrs. Marie B. Sinclair

106 11^th Street

Garden City- L.I.

NY

Looks like Harry and Agnes have over a month left in Florida, unless this is the continuing groundwork for the most patient April Fool's prank ever!

Garden City was founded in 1869 by Alexander Turney Stewart, a merchant millionaire.  The city flourished in the early 20th century, and now boasts a population of over 21,000.  Marie B. Sinclair does not turn up in a basic search of public records, nor does her original house.  The current structure was built in 2004 and is valued at $1.6 million.  Judging from the neighborhood, Marie must have been doing very well for herself.  Strangely enough, a September 11, 2011 bulletin from the St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Garden City lists a Harry and Agnes Young under a schedule of Mass Intentions.

Harry and Agnes traveled over 200 miles from buying to sending this postcard.  Keep in mind, the postmark predates the construction of the Florida Turnpike by just 3 years.  (Whether our travelers had to fend off "kill the Pike" demonstrators, we'll never know.)  That would make the journey to Delray Beach and arduous and lengthy process by today's standards.  Maybe Harry and Agnes were secret civil rights organizers going to meet with Solomon D. Spady.

The SInging Tower, Lake Wales, Florida

Edward W. Bok built the Mountain Lake Bird Sanctuary and Singing Tower at Lake Wales, Florida, as a token of his appreciation and gratitude for what America had given him.  The tower weighs 5,500 tons, has a square base of 51ft. wide and rises to a height of 205 ft. 2in.  It contains a carillion of 71 bells and is built for the most part from southern materials.  It is a concrete exemplification of Mr. Bok’s creed. 

“Make the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.”

Key West February 24, 1954

St. Petersburg, Fla

Dear Clara:

We are here for month vacation and it is a very beautiful spot.  Today have travelled to Key West.  We saw turtles 500lb apiece. 

Love,

Van Clove?

Mrs. Clara Snyder

7524 Fayette St.

Phila (38

PA

The more postcard messages I transcribe, the more I realize that I’m looking at the 20^th century’s version of text messaging.  Text messaging that took days to transmit, but text messaging nonetheless.  “We are here.”  “Today have traveled to Key West.”  “We saw 500 pound turtles.”  Wait, wha?

The 1925 house, although since converted to condos, is still standing.  Ancestry.com lists a Clara Snyder who passed away in Erie, PA in 1959, but no specific results come up in a brief search. 

It is unknown if Van Clove was British and referring to what those turtles may have gone for in London, or if Florida was fending off a monster turtle attack in Lake Wales in 1954.  You may see some monster turtles if you attend the International Carillon Festival this weekend at Bok Tower Gardens?  (Again, I am not a paid sponsor.)

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

THE SINGING TOWERThe Singing Tower is located on the highest spot in Florida and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds.  –The Sanctuary.  The Tower is built of Florida coquina stone and Georgia pink marble, weight 5,500 tons, and took over two years to complete.  It contains one of the largest and finest Carillons in the world, consisting of 71 bells the smallest bell weighing 17 pounds, while the largest weighs 12 tons.  This beautiful Sanctuary and wonderful Singing Tower were given to the people by Mr. Edward W. Bok as a symbol of beauty, and as an expression of his thanks to the American Flag.  The place has been rightfully called “The Most Beautiful Spot in America.”

July 1944

Dear Davie:

Be a good boy and here’s a big kiss Honey X

Love Mommie and Daddy

Master David Topinka

2331 Charney Rd.

U. Hts. 18

Cleveland, Ohio

There’s no postmark or stamp on this postcard from the mysterious Honey X, but July 1944 is written in pencil with a December 1944 stamp.  Did this card take half a year to arrive in Cleveland?  Thinking that Master David Topinka was probably a child when he received this card, it's very probable he is still alive.  Just not in Cleveland.  His house, built in 1942 is still standing, and recently sold in a transaction that featured no one from the Topinka family.

It is very odd that this postcard declares the bells' weight to be more than the previous card from 13 years ago.  The Great Depression must have had some perverse effect on the laws of gravity.  No matter what the bells weigh these days, you can hear them this weekend if you attend the International Carillon Festival this weekend at Bok Tower Gardens?  (Again, I am not a paid sponsor.)