Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tram Tuesday - Swansea, Wales

Along with the tram, this card has some great little details of High Street in Swansea including the shops of Richard Lewis, Milliner, and Jack Lewis (his brother?), as well as the Royal Hotel.


We can also see the sign for Myrddin Davies, Cash Chemist. It also appears that there is a bit of horse manure on the right side of the road.

Perhaps the young girl is shielding her nose from the smell.

Swansea has horse trams in 1878. Steam-powered trams were used briefly before the switch was made to electric traction in 1900, however the street tram system was closed in preference to buses in 1937. Recently there has been talk of reintroducing trams in Swansea. There have also been efforts to refurbish High Street and encourage mixed use developments. High Street today looks nothing like the picture above since the buildings surrounding High Street were destroyed by German bombs in World War II.

Here's the back of the card, sent to Mrs. C.E. Potter of Potter, Kansas in 1926, with the following message:

7-31-26
This from the ____ lady on the train returning from ______.
We had a most delightful voyage across - seven days on the ocean blue - It was grand -Will be traveling to Scotland + France before we return Sept 25th date of returning sail.
Fraternally - Mrs Evan Davis
Topeka


The recipient of the card was likely Charlotte Estelle Potter.
It's worth noting that the post office in Potter, Kansas opened in 1865. It was threatened with closure back in the 1970s, but didn't actually close until 2009. In 1976, Wendall Anschutz filmed a travelogue piece on Potter and its post office.

4 comments:

  1. Cash Chemist- Does that mean no checks/credit, or was he alchemist? Good to know the 'American Dream' has been collapsing for at least 3 decades per the video, I'm hoping we can milk it for a few more...

    ReplyDelete
  2. From Swansea (I didn't know the nazis bombed Wales) to Potter (so mall it isn't even google streetviewable). Nice travelogue, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like that the girls seem caught in real life, not posed stiffly. that girl does look like she's holding her nose! What people had to put up with back then (and to us looks so quaint...)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Christine, the girl holding her nose makes me think of when I visited my birth town in Wallace, Idaho, during the filming of the fiasco "Heaven's Gate." Horses and dirt -- and horse poo -- everywhere.....No wonder women were really into perfume:)

    ReplyDelete