Gruss aus den Bergen

Greetings from the mountains near Interlaken, Switzerland. This card was written in 1896, but it was never sent.

Typhoid Fever in Altoona

Besse sent this card of the Altoona Hospital and Nurses' Home in 1908.

On the front she writes:

Sept. 6. 08

Hello Cousin Kathryn and Jim. We got home O.K. and had a nice time. Would enjoy some more ice cream.

On the back, she continues:

We are having a very bad epidemic of typhoid fever, about 8 cases died since we are home, there are more than a hundred cases now. We are all much alarmed.

The outbreak of typhoid fever she described was written up in the Pennsylvania Medical Journal in 1917. It turns out that a local dairyman was a carrier and the disease was being spread to people who drank milk from his dairy. The dairyman eventually gave up the dairy business and went into railroad work.

Streetcar Sunday - Elmira, NY

It's Streetcar Sunday, so here's another postcard featuring a tram or streetcar. It seems like just about every town had one. Some still exist or have been brought back, but most have been gone for decades.

Elmira is located in upstate New York near the Pennsylvania border. Mark Twain met and married his wife here, and they continued to spend summers in Elmira for more than twenty years. They are also both buried here.

The city currently has a population of about 30,000, although it was as high as 50,000 at its peak. Elmira served as a vital transportation hub, connecting Rochester and Buffalo with Albany and New York City via railroad and canal systems. Elmira's streetcar system was discontinued in 1939.