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.  

Lake Lucerne, Orlando, Fla.

Postmarked March 14, 1907, Jacksonville, Fla.

Mrs. Philip DeLeon?

East Greenwich, Rhode Island

East Greenwich, Rhode Island is a community in Rhode Island of about 13,000.  Founded around 1686, the town has the the highest per capita income in the state.  It's hard to make out the name of the recipient, so records for her are scant.

This card is the first of many featuring my new hometown.  I'll see if I can augment these posts with some present day photos, so you can see how time has treated buildings like the Historic Inn at Lake Lucerne seen in the distance on this card.

Cocoanut Palm in Miami, Fla.

Millboro, Mass. September 7, 1962

Sept. 5 ‘62

Hello Carrie,

We are up here for a short while.  Hope you get a chance to come see us.

Love,

The Lincolns

Miss Carrie L. Dudley

693 Hill St.

Whitinsville, Mass


I hope they got the chance to come see the Lincolns too!

Whitinsville, Massachusetts is an unincorporated village on the Mumford River, primarily known as a mill town throughout it's history.  The house where Miss Dudley lived cannot be seen on GoogleStreetView, but the address is on a winding Hill Street just outside the Historic District.  The SSDI lists a Carrie Dudley passing in 1980, but the Worcester County Land Deeds Registry shows two land transfer records from 1977 and 1978 for two properties with different addresses, one on Hill St.  It also shows she was unmarried at the time of transfer, which likely means she had no children.

As far as the ubiquitous (in south Florida) Cocoanut Palm,  it may not be a native plant.  Since its seeds can float and disperse for long periods, it's very likely to have naturally migrated to Florida where it can be seen as far north at Stuart on the east coast and Punta Gorda on the west.  There's a Monty Python joke in here somewhere...

Band Concert in Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida

Bayfront Park, famed as a showplace of tropical landscaping, is on the shore of Bay Biscayne, along the southern terminus of Biscayne Boulevard.  From conveniently placed benches under palm trees, one may gaze across Biscayne Bay, while enjoying daily free band concerts.

Miami, Fla. February 14, 1941

Dear Olga:-

I am down here for a while to get away from the cold.  It is just lovely now.

Anna Rorke?

Mrs. Olga Minor

174 Wentworth Ave.

Edgewood, R. I.

Yet another postcard from Bayfront Park, which I detailed in yesterday's post.  Here's a great essay if you wish to know more about the park.

I've also detailed Edgewood, Rhode Island in an earlier post.  The suburb of Cranston is home to many beautiful old houses, and Mrs. Minor's house at 174 Wentworth is no exception.  Zillow lists the property, built in 1920, sold in 2006, but the Providence County Property Appraisers website lists no records.  Nor are there any records for an Olga Minor is the SSDI.  Strange.  

Biscayne Boulevard and Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida

Bay Front Park completed in 1928 at ta cost of $2,500,000.  It is a haven of dense tropical foliage and blooming plants with many varieties of palms.  Almost the entire area, 62 acres, is reclaimed land.  It has a band shell where, throughout the year, concerts draw large crowds.  Beautiful Biscayne Boulevard starts at this point.

Miami Beach, Fla., March 8, 1937

3/6/37

Hello girls,

Having a swell time.  Wish you all could be here with us.  Its very hot here today.

Love, Helen

Misses Tillie, Anna and Evelyn

300 W. Madison St.

Baltimore, Md.

Helen’s having such a swell time that she forgot to get this card to the post office for two whole days!

SInce there are no surnames on this very old postcard, it's hard to find the identity of the sender or the recipients, who if they were children in 1936, could possibly still be living today.  The property at 300 W. Madison St. is across from the Maryland General Hospital, and could possibly be one of the two older buildings, but Baltimore County online records do not go back that far.  Plus, if the buildings were apartments, rather than single family structures, there would be no rental records accessible from my laptop.    

However, Bayfront Park is still around, and its Klipsch Amphitheater (which is the second replacement for the original structure) has hosted concerts by Manu Chau, Gloria Estefan, and the annual Miami JazzFest in November.  The entire park was renamed in the 1980's for Mildred and Claude Pepper, the long tenured Democratic congressman from south Florida.  

Federal Building and Post Office, Miami, Florida

Miami, Fla February 4, 1950

Sat.  

Dear Emma,

We came down here yesterday.  Martin & I drove down, stayed Tues.  It’s a long drive & I was tired when we arrived.  Its real warm here like our summers up home.  It’s a busy city and I am afraid too much traffic to suit me. 

Sincerely,

Ruth Burke

Miss Emma L. Ruth

E. Front St.

Lititz, Lanc. Co.

Pa.


Lititz, Pennsylvania was founded as a Moravian Church settlement in 1756 by Count Nicolas von Zizendorf, a figure in the renewal of the church in the 18th century.   Lititz has about 9,000 people today, so one would think it would be fairly easy to find an obituary for Ms. Emma Ruth, or some other record.    However, the state of Pennsylvania lists an old nursing license for Ruth Burke, so she would have been an excellent choice to make the pre-Interstate drive from Pennsylvania to Miami.

The Federal Courthouse pictured on the card was built in 1931.  Located at 300 Northeast 1st Avenue, the now named David Dwyer Federal Courthouse is still the largest limestone building in south Florida.  The Post Office left the building in 1976, but it is still used for Federal courts and offices.  If you're in Miami, follow Ruth Burke and check out the Mediterranean Revival building!

My 1985 Delta Airlines Flight

postmarked Tampa, FL August 6, 1985

Delta Air Lines

The wide-bodied Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, a 302-passenger airplane powered by three Rolls-Royce RB211-22B engines, has a cruising speed of over 500 miles per hour and a range of over 2475 statute miles.  Three pilots and nine flight attendants make up the TriStar crew.

Dear Mr. Vierday,

We hope you enjoyed your first trip by air.  It has been a pleasure to have you aboard Delta for your first flight and we hope to see you on many other Delta flights in the future.

Delta Air Lines

Mr. Darren Vierday

7910 N. Orleans

Tampa, FL 33604

So yes, Delta Airlines sent me this card after my first trip on an airplane.  I was 12 years old, and flew up to Nashville, TN to spend a month with my cousins who lived in Lynnville, TN about an hour south.  I wore a suit and tie, as I still do when going some place where I need to wear a suit.  I had a full meal with real silverware, and sat about three rows in front of the smoking section.   I remember looking out the window and feeling simultaneously very small observing my city from the air and very big embarking on what would be the first of many flights in my life.  

The house at 7910 N. Orleans still stands.  It was built in 1976 by Roy Vierday (my father) and sold in 2002.  Since then, it has been remodeled and painted, looking nothing like the house where I packed for my first airline trip. 

Ironically, I never flew Delta again.  This was not a conscious choice, it just worked out that way.  As a coincidence, my mother just flew from Nashville on a Delta flight, so their postcard did inspire some brand loyalty.