Pennsylvania (Various Counties)

Postcard addressed on the other side to: "Prof. H. C. Klinger, Liverpool, Pa., R.F.D. #1." Partial transcription of the message (no year and no postmark): "Sept. 17th, 9 a.m. At Grange Park C. H. in remembrance of the hunting . . . J. J. Jordan." The Centre County Grange Encampment and Fair --usually just called the "Grange Fair"--has been held annually in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania, since 1874. For another postcard with the same ears-of-corn border, see Memorial Day .

The last line on this amusing acquaintance card refers to a song, "Any Old Place I Can Hang My Hat Is Home Sweet Home to Me," which was published as sheet music in 1901 and recorded on phonograph cylinder in 1902, making it likely that the card dates from sometime in the early 1900s. For more cards, see my album of Acquaintance Cards . For information about my book of detachable acquaintance cards, head over to my Flickr About page L. M. Arnold, Sand Patch, Pa., R.F.D. No. 1 Let's get acquainted. Capital 50 millions in my dreams. Not married. Stick to me and you will wear diamonds, Kind regards to friends and knockers. Out for a good time. Any old place I hang my hat is my home sweet home.

Consider yourself quite lucky, That you're far away in camp: If you were here in State College, Pa., You might get what I gave this stamp! Looks like that stamp is getting a licking , though I suppose she could be giving it a kiss.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of piercing, unusual, or distinctive eyes (a photo featuring someone or something with expressive eye; the eyes can belong to people, animals, or face-like objects) . Embossed at lower right: "Felker's Studio, Easton, Pa." Handwritten name and date on the back of this real photo postcard: "Harry Johnson Everitt. April 8th, 1917." With their frowns and staring eyes, this family doesn't appear to be enjoying their photo session. I'm not sure if Harry Johnson Everitt is the name of the father or the son.

Caption: "A native of Penn.'s Grand Canyon makes a call. 301." A real photo postcard by photographer Nelson Adelbert Caulkins (1874-1965). Seems a bit scary to me, but the woman doesn't appear to be too concerned that there's a bear on top of her car.

I spotted this store display of Punxsutawney Phil groundhogs rendered in solid milk chocolate at a Gardners Candies store in State College, Pennsylvania, last year. I'm pleased to report today on Groundhog Day , February 2, 2019, that the esteemed rodent has predicted an early spring this year. Despite CNN's cynicism—see Groundhog predicts an early spring. Don't get too excited, he's usually wrong —I'm optimistic that the long national nightmare of last week's polar vortex is finally over.

A poster advertising a dance with music provided by Eddie Gilligan and His Cosmopolitan Orchestra, a popular jazz band. The Final Dance of the Clover Club Summer Series Eddie Gilligan and His Cosmopolitan Orchestra In a return engagement. The band that made so decided a hit earlier in the season. Featuring Edward Tracy and Frank Crisman, youthful singing and dancing wonders of vaudeville fame! Hear them at Riverside Park, Danville, Monday, Sept. 14th. Dancing 9 to 1 Ladies, 50c. Gentlemen, 99c.

A parades photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A photo of engineering students from the Pennsylvania State College (now Penn State University) participating in a parade, probably sometime in the 1910s, The sign above the horse-drawn wagon that's carrying the first parade float (on the right-hand side of the photo) identifies it as belonging to the "Department of Mechanics and Materials of Construction," which was established in 1906. Today it's known as the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics within the University's College of Engineering. Students on the wagon appear to be operating some sort of machinery (a lathe, perhaps?). The next float (in the middle of the photo) is mounted on an automobile. A student marching in front of it is carrying a sign proclaiming, "I Can Travel 30 Miles in 10 Hours." The sign on the side of the automobile says, "Railway Mechanical Engineering," and then--as far as I can tell--repeats the student's sign: "I Can Travel 30 Miles in 10 Hours." A model of a locomotive is barely visible at the back of the float, but I'm not sure whether railway travel at 3 miles per hour for 10 hours was an engineering achievement worthy of a parade float in the early twentieth century. Finally, almost hidden in the shadows in the upper left-hand corner of the photo is another horse-drawn float with a sign for "The Thespians."

The first line of the sign on the side of this parade float says, "Railway Mechanical Engineering," and--as far as I can tell--the second line is "I Can Travel 30 Miles in 10 Hours," which is also the message on the sign that the student is carrying. A model of a locomotive is barely visible at the back of the float. Was railway travel at 3 miles per hour for 10 hours an engineering accomplishment worthy of a parade float in the early twentieth century? For more information see the full photo: Penn State Engineering Students on Parade, ca. 1910s .

Students demonstrate some sort of machinery on a parade float. For more information see the full photo: Penn State Engineering Students on Parade, ca. 1910s .

"Picnic. There will be a grand picnic held at Fairhope, July 4, 1916. We have erected a large waxed floor for those who wish to enjoy dancing. There will be refreshments of all kinds served on the grounds. Everybody cordially invited. Kennell & Sturtz, managers." This comes from a photo of a broadside framed under glass rather than a scan, and the quality of the image suffers a bit. "Sturtz," who was one of the managers of this "grand picnic" held on the Fourth of July one hundred years ago, was probably John W. Sturtz , who was my great-grandfather. I'm not exactly sure what "grounds" in the small town of Fairhope , Somerset County, Pennsylvania, might have been available as a venue for serving refreshments and erecting a "large wax floor" for dancing.

A cars and trucks photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is a real photo postcard addressed on the other side to Mr. Sam Ekey, Warren, Pa., R.D. #4, and postmarked in Warren, Pa., on March 31, 1913. Handwritten message: "Warren, Pa., 3/30, 1913. Dear Brother, Wm. Kopf would like to have his posts Saturday. If you need the money take it, 12½¢ each. Frank needs about 10 7 fts. Maybe we can give Henderson his and give Frank Henderson's from last year [meaning, as far as I can understand, that "Henderson" is going to get the fence posts originally intended for "Frank," and Frank is going to receive his ten seven-foot fence posts from among the ones that they prepared for Henderson last year]. Everything OK. Norman has the mumps. He is at home on the farm. E.E." It's likely that "E.E." was Emil Ekey (1886-1976), who was writing to older brother, Sam Ekey (1881-1965). "Frank" may have been Frank A. Ekey (1868-1959), another brother. A quick search didn't yield any information regarding the other individuals--William Kopf, Henderson, and Norman--that Emil mentions. The flooded street was the result of the Great Flood of 1913 , which "occurred between March 23 and March 26, after major rivers in the central and eastern United States flooded from runoff and several days of heavy rain." I assume that the photo shows a street in Warren , which is located in northeastern Pennsylvania at the confluence of the Allegheny River and Conewango Creek. The license plate on the car in the photo is no. "23801, Penna., 1913," and the man in the driver's seat is looking back at the photographer. Beyond the automobile there are three people--one of them only visible through the vehicle's windshield--wading through the floodwaters. To the left of the threesome is a mailbox stranded by the water, and to its left are two individuals standing in the doorway of a building. A mailman wearing waders and holding a mailbag is standing in the water on the right-hand side of the photo. Perhaps he was headed over to the mailbox to collect the mail. Emil didn't mention the flood in the note he wrote to his brother. I wonder if either of them knew any of the people in the photo. It would also be interesting to know who the photographer was.

J. M. Trout Owner and operator of fire sand quarries. Also loam beds. Landisville, Penna. G. H. Thomas, western sales agt., Latrobe, Penna. Pluck Print. David Bachman Landis, who designed and printed this business card, wrote about J. M. (Jacob M.) Trout (1858-1935) and his father, Jacob S. Trout, in " Mineral Deposits and Works of the Hempfields ," an artilce that appeared in the Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society , v. 8, no. 8 (June 3, 1904), p. 247: " . . . Jacob S. Trout discovered a valuable bed of silica or 'fire' sand, in 1870. Experiments with this sand demonstrated its superior value in the construction of furnaces and the manufacture of steel and iron. Mr. Trout shortly after opened a large trade for his sand, and regularly shipped from Landisville station many carloads of it to the great works of the Pennsylvania Steel Company, at Steelton, and other steel and iron works in Central Pennsylvania. . . . Since the death of Jacob S. Trout, in the year 1893, his son, J. M. Trout (who resides in the village of Landisville at the present time) has taken up the silica sand business and has been shipping thousands of tons to different iron workers, as far West as Chicago, Ill., and East to Massachusetts." Compare the wiry borders in the design of this card with those used in the return address on an envelope for Charles S. Frantz, Graduate Ophthalmic Optician, Watchmaker, and Jeweler, Lancaster, Pa.

Nineteenth-century scrip issued by the company store at the Indiana Iron Works (also know as Baker Furnace ), which was located near Cramer in East Wheatfield Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. For more information, see G. Robert Ganis, "Iron-Mining Store Scrip in Pennsylvania," Pennsylvania Geology vol. 19, no. 3 (June 1988) : 2-5. The Store at Indiana Iron Works Will pay to bearer ten cents on demand in dry goods & groceries. Ind. Iron Works. Jan. 1st, 1856. Ten cents. 10. 10.

A photo of mail carriers, post offices, mailboxes, etc. for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. This is an early twentieth-century real photo postcard showing four men and a boy posing in front of a building. The boy is holding the reins of two horses hitched to a wagon, and a variety of items, including benches, barrels, and tools, are visible on the porch and on the ground in front of the building. After scanning and enlarging the photo, I was able to read the lettering on the window in the middle of the building and discovered that it served as the "Leck Kill Post Office" (see a close-up view of the window ). Leck Kill is a small community located in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, and its Wikipedia entry indicates that the post office there closed in 2004. Amazingly enough, I was able to find a 2009 view of the building on Google Maps (see my composite image of old and new views ). A 2018 online real estate listing provided additional details: "Property at one time was used for the local post office with a store and tavern. Presently used as a home with apartment and still has P.O. space." So it's possible that the post office in the building was still in use as late as 2004.

Two men stand in front of the "Leck Kill Post Office" in Leck Kill, Pennsylvania, as indicated by the lettering in the window. The building also contained a store with some merchandise, such as brooms and a watering can, stored on the porch. For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard and a composite image of old and new views of the post office building.

This is a composite image of old and new views of a building in Leck Kill, Pennsylvania, that served as a post office, store, and tavern. The top view is from an early twentieth-century real photo postcard, and the bottom view is a Google Maps capture from 2009. See the full version of the real photo postcard for more information.

A cardboard poster from Danville , Montour County, Pennsylvania, that dates to the 1920s or 1930s (September 12, 19, and 26 fell on Saturdays in 1925, 1931, and 1936). For a similar poster from the same town, see Eddie Gilligan and His Cosmopolitan Orchestra, Riverside Park, Danville, Pa., Sept. 14, 1925 . Montour Park Fall Opening Third Annual Corn Roast and Dance Saturday, Sept. 12 Saturday, Sept. 19 Pfeiffer's Imperials Saturday, Sept. 26 Alexander's Orchestra, with a Charleston Contest.