$2 Million Banyan Tree

Dania, FL

March 8, 1946

Hello,

Just a line to say we having a grand time.  We haven’t seen this tree but have seen lots of others like it.  Went on Jungle Cruise yesterday.  Irene saw an alligator in the water.  Be good and say hello to the folks.

? Irene & Ruthie

Mr. Thomas Fairbanks

King St.

Groveland, Mass.


Irene saw an alligator.  Thanks, Ruthie.

Long before Walt Disney World had it's jungle cruise, tourists would flock to places like this to take in the exotic and strange Florida landscape.  And all the sights from the 1920's through the 1950's seemed to boast of their "million dollar" qualities.  How a banyan tree got valued at 2 million dollars in Ft. Lauderdale is lost to the ages. Since Irene and Ruthie didn't provide their surnames, it is difficult to know whether they were passing through Dania, or were winter or permanent residents of the south Florida town.

As far as the Fairbanks, there is a Wayne Fairbanks living on King Street who serves on the Groveland Congregational Church's Church and Ministry Committee today (link broken-you can visit the church's website here.)  His email address is listed, and I'll update this post if he knows of any connection between Ruthie and Irene and the Fairbanks family.

Band Shell and Ocean Front, Daytona Beach, Florida

January 18, 1947

Dear Dad,

It took longer than we expected to get here but we made it O.K. only to find the bottom dropped out of the used car market and now you can’t even give one away.

Love, Herb

Mr. James A. Parker

482 Main St.

Groveland, Massachusetts

I admit that it gave me a little comfort to know that the story of being unemployed in Florida has been experienced by many people, and as far back as 1947.

This postcard is the first of two from Herb (Parker) to his Dad, James A. Parker.  I'll go over the research on what may have become of the despondent Herb in a later post, but let's focus on the elder Parker in this one.

First, the house at 482 Main Street still stands, and the earliest online record of the property from the Essex County Reigstry of Deeds shows an easement granted from James A. Parker in 1973.  James A. Parker is also listed in a 1950 book by a Sarah Parker as a World War I veteran, and the family may have been (according to Wikipedia...) descendants of a Benjamin Parker who was the second postmaster of Groveland, having relocated the post office to his store.  An 1884 atlas shows many Parkers in residence along the same area of Main Street where this card was sent.  As to what became of the store, the Parker-Hannifin Company  boasts a division in nearby Haverhill, MA amongst its worldwide locations.  It is conceivable that many Parker family members are still thriving in Groveland, and hopefully passed on that survivability to poor Herb looking for work in post-war Florida.

Ocean Front Park with the Casino in the Background Daytona Beach, Fla.

May 20, 1952

Dear Ray,

It’s hot here today.  It is a nice beach here an the way down you would ride for 30 miles on the road and see no one in Georgia and after you leave Jacksonville.

Love,

Dad

Raymond Parker

482 Main St.

Groveland, Mass


Please say hello to the Parker Family.  We're going to get to know them over the next few cards.

Ocean Front Park has changed dramatically in the past few years, as a new hotel and development surrounds most of the area between the bandshell and park.  The clock tower and pier still exist as reminders of Daytona Beach's heritage as the "world's most famous beach."

According to the almanac, the high in Daytona Beach on May 20, 1952 was 90 degrees.  I suppose that is hot if you are an older person used to the New England winters.  Raymond Parker, part of the prominent Groveland family is attached to a Parker Fence Company on Main St., but given the date of this card, the business owner must be a descendent.  

City Hall, Orlando, FL “The City Beautiful”

August 16, 1962

Dear Lois, Just a line to let you know we are all doing fine as far as you can tell.  The doctor said Joyce could come home Sat.  Sent the pkg. yesterday.  The kids left their ball at our house.  You also left all those black plastic bags.  Guess we will leave here Sun. or Monday.  It sure is pretty here.  Write a letter when I get home. 

Mom

Mrs. Jas. T. Wagner

3789 W. 117^th

Cleveland, Ohio


A small departure from the usual "Florida/weather/leaving the cold is great/beautiful/better than shoveling snow like you're doing cards.  What did the doctor tell Joyce?  What was in the mysterious package?  Were all those black plastic bags for a massive killing spree, starting with those kids who left their ball AGAIN?

Or leaves.  Leaves is a possibility.

Orlando's City Hall was famously imploded in 1992 for Lethal Weapon 3, taking great care not to damage the new City Hall directly behind it.  The marble slabs from the demolished building are still being used at the White Wolf Cafe in Orlando's Antique Row on N. Orange Avenue.  Bill Frederick, Mayor of Orlando at the time, even has a small cameo in the film as a policeman!

Cleveland, Ohio is the largest metropolitan area in the state, and has a large number of Wagners.  For example, there is a Jason Wagner who owns the Lion on Lorain Bar and Grill.  There is another Jason Wagner who was murdered in prison in 2000.  However, both of these Jason Wagner's seem to be the wrong age to receive this postcard from Mom.  Today, the house at 3789 W. 117th is home to Stan's Beauty Shop, owned by a Stan Woo.  Cuyahoga County property records do not seem to be searchable by address, and no Wagner records seem to exist for that address.  Perhaps the Wagners just rented that little corner house while Mom was vacationing in the City Beautiful.

New Florida Hotel, Lakeland, Fla.

January 9, 1947

Lakeland, Fla.

922 E. Lime St.

Dear Friends- You should load your car with eggs and come down.  75¢ a doz.  And they are shipped from Kansas.  Has been unusually warm ever since we came down. 

Gilmore (?) called one afternoon also Dr. and Mrs. Shepard

The Bilbraughs

Mr. and Mrs. Wm Leary

Remus, Mich

American Poultry Journal

WLS Chicago


The Florida Hotel in Lakeland, FL was built during Florida's land boom, opening in 1926 before the interior was fully completed.   The 9 story building quickly closed, and was re-christened as the New Florida Hotel in 1935, staying open until the early 1960's, when it became a senior center.  It has been restored into an apartment building that retains much of its historic character.

Remus, Michigan is a small community 76 miles west of Saginaw.  In 1907, the residents formed a Creamery Cooperative, and the town website has many more historic photos of the town in the middle of Michigan's lower peninsula.

The Bilbroughs were possible permanent residents of Lakeland, as indicated by a 1971 death listing and a 1972 Lakeland Ledger public notice executing the estate of a George Bilbrough.   Even though the house at 922 Lime St.  seems to exist, no property records show up for the address at the Polk County Porperty Appraiser's website.  A search for Dr. and Mrs. Shepard turns up no information, but there is a Shepard Road in Lakeland, with the same spelling, so perhaps the street was named for the Bilbrough's esteemed guests.

A William Leary is mentioned as a surviving brother in this 1967 obituary for a Mrs. Myrtie Beckwith.  The Internet Archive and Google Books have digitized several editions of the American Poultry Journal from the 1880's to the 1950's, but nothing authored by a William Leary appears.  According to this thepeoplehistory.com, the price of eggs in New Jersey was 64 cents, so perhaps the capitalistic Bilbroughs had some good advice for their northern friends, if only they could get a hold of a refrigerated truck to combat the 73 degree weather back then.

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.

Downtown Orlando, Fla. From Lake Eola Park

November 12, 1949

Dear Flo-I’m taking your place as Maine-ear? Down in sunny Florida.  Came down with Mrs. Clark by train.  Do appreciate seeing at least a few of the things that you used to write about.  I’d love to raid someone’s orange orchard!  Seeing oranges just laying on the ground make my mouth water.  Mrs. C is good enough so I can leave and tour a little by myself. 

Thinking of you,

Ruby Whitney

Mrs. Robert Coe

Harrison, Maine


The Florida sun has intoxicated Ms. Ruby Whitney so much that she is casting aside any sense of property ownership, and descending into an anarchist rage!  No arrest records or news stories from Orlando suggest she carried out her citrus-fueled crime spree, so one can assume that Mrs. C. put a stop to that.


This postcard is looking across Lake Eola Park, and you can make out some of the buildings on this list, such as the Angebilt Hotel and First Orange Bank and Trust.  Harrison, ME is a resort town of about 2,000 people just east of the White Mountain National Forest and the New Hampshire border.  


There's a handful of Ruby Whitney's in historical data from Maine, but thanks to our good friends at Maine Genealogy,  we can be fairly certain that Mrs. Robert Coe was a Florence Spaulding.  The couple was married on December 14, 1945, nearly four years before this postcard was sent.  There is another age-appropriate mention of Florence Spaulding in an archived article from the Lewiston Daily Sun including her in the contestants for the Brown Prize Speaking.