Cars and Trucks in Vintage Photos

Here's the message that's written on this real photo postcard (to read the original handwriting more easily, see the rotated version of the card): "We tended the Iowa Picnic here last Saturday. Saw lots of folks from Iowa that I knew. 10,000 people there. I can't tell when we will leave here. Too many places to go & too much to see to get away very soon. We expect to visit an old friend of mine that lives at Santa Ana, 30 miles south. We may move out here some time. Love to all. Goodbye, Leni & Mame" At first glance, it seems like Leni, Mame, and about 10,000 others attended what must have been a huge "Iowa Picnic," which presumably took place somewhere in Iowa. But what about their plans to visit a friend located thirty miles away in Santa Ana? Isn't Santa Ana a city in California? Fortunately, the results of a Google search for Iowa Picnic and California provided the answer. I found a posting about Iowa Picnics - Long Beach and Elsewhere that gives a brief history of the get-togethers that were held beginning in 1900. So many Iowans moved to California that the picnics attracted thousands of transplanted Midwesterners--as many as 100,000 attended during some years in the 1940s! So it sounds like Leni and Mame were enjoying their stay in California as they visited friends and met fellow Iowans at the picnic. Although there's no date on the card, I suspect they were traveling sometime in the late 1900s or early 1910s. For additional views of the handwritten message and photo, see a rotated version and a cropped version of the card:

This rotated version makes it easier to read the handwritten message: "We tended the Iowa Picnic here last Saturday. Saw lots of folks from Iowa that I knew. 10,000 people there. I can't tell when we will leave here. Too many places to go & too much to see to get away very soon. We expect to visit an old friend of mine that lives at Santa Ana, 30 miles south. We may move out here some time. Love to all. Goodbye, Leni & Mame" For more information about this real photo postcard, see a full version and a cropped version of the card:

A photo of the family car for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Well, I guess these family members are pretty much ready to go for a ride in the car, but I suppose they should get that broken headlight fixed if they plan to be out after dark (mouse over the image for an enlargement of the automobile and its occupants). Anyone recognize the make and model of the car?

See also the full version of this real photo postcard:

A photo of faith, hope, and charity for the Vintage Photos Theme Park (any one of these themes or all 3, post up to 3 photos) . A real photo postcard of children who are standing around a fountain and displaying their patriotism and faith by saluting a flag and cross at Bible School Park, which was located in Johnson City, New York. A posting on the Davis College History blog (see Shall We Gather at the Fountain? ) reprints this same photo and explains that the fountain was originally built as part of an amusement park. The Practical Bible Training School later bought the park, and today it's the site of Davis College , a Bible college. A second blog posting (see Postcard of the Front Drive of PBTS Looking to Riverside ) shows another postcard and a contemporary view of where the fountain stood.

A souvenir photo of three families in automobiles at Devil's Den , a rock formation located on the Gettysburg Battlefield in Adams County, Pennsylvania. For other photos, see my album of Souvenir Photos from the Gettysburg Battlefield .

A photo of people in or by distinctive trees for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. A man and woman pose with their automobile at the Wawona Tree , a giant sequoia in Mariposa Grove , Yosemite National Park, California. The sign on the left says, "Wawona, diameter 26 feet, height 227 feet, roadway cut in 1875" (Wikipedia, however, indicates that 1881 was when the opening was cut through the tree). The Wawona Tree fell to the ground in 1969 after a heavy snowfall. It was about 2,300 years old.

A steam calliope in a snapshot dated March 1971. This calliope is known as Getz's Steam Calliope after the three brothers—Noah, William, and Robert Getz—who operated it for many years. Hauled around on a tractor trailer, the calliope still makes regular appearances at parades and other events in south central Pennsylvania. Head over to YouTube to see it in action at a Homecoming Parade in Millersville, Pa., on October 13, 2012, and at the July 4th Parade in Pottstown, Pa., in 2017.

"S. S. Grand View Point Hotel. A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountain[s]. 17 miles west of Bedford, Pa. U.S. 30. Elevation 2464 feet." An aerial view of this ship-shaped hotel, once a popular stop along the Lincoln Highway in western Pennsylvania, shows just how precariously it was perched on the side of the hill. Mouse over the image for an enlarged view of the building and the cars and trucks parked along the road. For more information about the hotel, see the Grand View Ship Hotel: A Steamer in the Allegheny Mountains, 1932 . For additional postcard views, see below.

Part of a real photo postcard of the Grand View Ship Hotel (see below). Note all the vehicles parked along the road. Is that a bus with the Greyhound logo?

Caption at bottom (difficult to see): "179. Copper River Salmon, Cordova , Alaska. Photocraft." Sign on building: "Northern Meat [Market]." Addressed on the other side to Bob Bern, Seward, Alaska, and postmarked Cordova, Alaska, Sep. 30, 1937. Message: "Dear Bob, How is everybody in Seward? Cordova ain't so bad, but I haven't met any girls yet. We are about a half a mile from town so I go every day. Write some time and let me know how you are. Vic Hughes, c/o Wright & Stock, Cordova, Alaska."

A hotels/motels photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "The Glen House, Pinkham Notch, White Mountains, N.H." According to Wikipedia, " Glen House was the name of a series of grand resorts, between 1852 and 1893, in Pinkham Notch very near Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, USA." This seemed puzzling to me, since the Glen House pictured on this real photo postcard certainly wasn't one of those "grand resorts" of the nineteenth century. Fortunately, I discovered Steven Caming's book, Mt. Washington Auto Road (Arcadia Publishing, 2014), which contains a chapter about the history of the Glen House. As Caming explains, there have actually been four different Glen Houses. The one shown here was built in 1925 as the fourth Glen House and "was only a mere shadow of those grand hotels that had come before." So what happened to the previous hotels? All three of them burned to the ground, with accidental fires occurring in 1884, 1893, and 1924. This view of Glen House No, 4 was intended to illustrate what a relaxing and convenient place it was (mouse over the image above to see a cropped version ). A man and women are resting on comfortable chairs in the front yard as a small child plays nearby. Another man has parked his car right in front and is carrying a suitcase up the steps toward the entrance of the hotel. Sad to say, a fourth fire in 1967 destroyed this hotel, too, and put an end to this idyllic scene. Fifty yeas later, however, a fifth Glen House is now under construction and is scheduled to open in June 2018.

For more information, see the full version of this real photo postcard.

A snow or sand photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten caption on the back of this snapshot: "Dec. 1951. Nancy Ellen Isaacs."

Looks like they're loaded up and ready for the day's deliveries! No date or other identifying info.

A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of Baby You Can Drive My Car - woman (or young child) behind the wheel . A real photo postcard from early in the twentieth century. For a more modern woman behind the wheel, see Driven to Distraction .

Note that this automobile has a tiller rather than a wheel for steering. For a similar photo, see Tintype of Three Women in an Early Automobile .

An on the road photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. "Columbia Highway, Ore. Shepherds Dell, #254. Cross & Dimmitt ." Travelers on what is now called the Historic Columbia River Highway in Oregon stop along the road to look over the side of Shepperds Dell Bridge . See a cropped version of this real photo postcard for a closer look at the bridge and automobile.