Shepherd of The Hills

This postcard folder  from Branson, Missouri was postmarked in 1925. It has lots of pictures of Marvel Cave. I won't bore you with those, but I will show you the much more interesting views from Shepherd of the Hills. The card doesn't tell you anything about Shepherd of the Hills. I think it's assumed that you already know. I didn't.

In the pictures below, we see the postmaster and Uncle Matt and Aunt Mollie, parents of young Matt. Apparently, you are already supposed to know who young Matt is, because no explanation is provided.  It turns out that this all refers to a book called The Shepherd of the Hills, written in 1907 by Harold Bell Wright. Years later the book was made into a movie starring John Wayne. The story is loosely based on the residents of the area, presumably including Uncle Matt and Aunt Mollie. You can find out more about the book here. Re-enactments of the story have been produced in Branson since 1960.

Here's another photo of Ike, the postmaster.

And here's the back of the folder.

Streetcar Sunday - K.C. Excelsior Springs

This stunning card comes from Brian over at Paper Sponge. Isn't it a beauty?

As a side note, yesterday was a very interesting blog day. According to the Statcounter, I normally get 90 - 100 unique visitors in one day. I don't ascribe a lot of importance to numbers, but I was surprised when the number of unique visitors exceeded 2,200 for the day. What the heck was going on? Well, there must have been some article somewhere that sent people scrambling for images of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier.  They all stopped by to look at this post from almost a year ago. I find it amusing, but I also know that they are not really interested in postcards and they won't be back. It's hard to believe that greater interest is generated by Grace Kelly than by this lovely interurban.

In general, Interurbans were designed to provide an alternative to the steam trains and their infrequent service. The interurbans were often luxuriously appointed with leather or velvet seats, and they were also fairly fast (in theory 80 miles per hour, although 50 or 60 represented the reality.) They allowed residents of outlying areas to reach bigger cities. They also allowed for a great deal of travel between cities, and cross-country travel for those who linked trips between interurban services. Sadly, they weren't around very long, mostly because cars came along, which seemed so much more convenient.

The Kansas City, Excelsior Springs, and St. Joseph Railway operated two light-rail lines powered by overhead wires - one between Kansas City and Excelsior Springs and another between Kansas City and St. Joseph. It ran hourly, and the fare was $1.55. It took about two hours between cities. This interurban ran from the early 1900s until 1933. Grace Kelly would have looked great riding in it.

Here's the back of the card, sent in 1921:

St Louis, Missouri

Hawthorne Boulevard in St. Louis is full of beautiful, well-preserved houses. I don't know if there are any little boys riding ponies down the street anymore, but it looks little changed since 1906 when this card was sent.

Here's the same place now:

View Larger Map

Happy Anniversary!

Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of The Daily Postcard.  My original intention was to do this blog for a year and then stop, which would make this the last post!  I'm not quite ready to do that though - maybe at the end of the calendar year. 

Since I'm up here on stage with the microphone, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have stopped by and left insightful, thoughtful, and amusing comments.  That's what really makes this interesting and worthwhile.  I also want to thank all of you who read the blog but don't leave comments.  I know you're out there and I appreciate you even if you don't talk back. Finally, I'd like to thank people everywhere who preserved a bit of history and a bit of their lives by sending postcards.

Here to help us celebrate is an unknown couple getting married at the underground wedding chapel in Thunder Mountain Park in the Ozarks. I hope they celebrated many anniversaries.  Many thanks to my favorite hillbilly over at Could it Be Madness - this? for sending me this card.

During this last year there have been just over 30,000 unique visits to The Daily Postcard and nearly 80,000 page views. Still not nearly as popular as People Magazine, but that's O.K.

Prufrock-Litton - St. Louis, Missouri

I'm sorry! If I had gotten this post to you a little earlier (100 years and a few months), you could have made it to the Prufrock-Litton sale. They were selling furniture at cost and I'm sure it was a fun event.

Prufrock-Litton was based in St. Louis, but eventually had a showroom on Fifth Ave in New York City and also a manufacturers building in Grand Rapids. According to an advertisement in Volume 50 of Furniture World (September 4, 1919), they sold overstuffed leather furniture and American and English Morrocos, tapestry and other fabrics. Not only did Prufrock-Litton occupy a full block, it also operated a French tea garden in the store.

The postcard shows the new building. I'm not sure where the old building was, but clearing it out seems to be the premise for the sale.

Prufrock-Litton was capable of some very creative marketing. The company printed many advertising postcards, and once they even sent up a huge helium balloon with their name emblazoned on it, with an attached letter that promised a free $50 chair for the finder of the the balloon. The balloon drifted 300 miles before it landed and was claimed by a man in Kentucky.