Madison Square, New York

Here we are at Broadway and 5th at Madison Square in New York City.  The 5th Avenue Hotel, shown on the left on both cards, had one of the world's first elevators. The cards are both prior to 1907. The first one is from 1906, since the company only printed cards in 1906 and 1907, and a 1907 card  would have had a back divided into two sections for address and message.
The 5th Avenue Hotel, built in 1859 at 200 Fifth Avenue, was demolished in 1908. The site is currently occupied by the Toy Center Building, built in 1909.

On the second card, you can still see the Fifth Ave. Hotel on the left, but you can also see the tower from Madison Square Garden off on the right. Madison Square Garden was designed by Stanford White, who was also murdered there in 1906, about the time this postcard was published. White was murdered by millionaire, Harry Kendall Thaw, over White's affair with Thaw's actress wife Evelyn Nesbitt.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order as above:

Streetcar Sundays - Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania

This card shows downtown Pittsburgh at the turn of the century. You can see the streetcar tracks and what looks to be a streetcar down the line.  On July 4, 1897 there was a serious streetcar accident in Pittsburgh.  This excerpt is from GenDisasters, a website that chronicles the disasters that shaped our ancestors' lives. Warning: it is a little graphic. I am also puzzled by their willingness to predict who will die.

Streetcar Wreck on an Incline at Pittsburg.

PITTSBURG, July 7. -- Four people were fatally injured and 18 or 20 others were more or less injured in a streetcar wreck on the Forbes street line of the Consolidated Traction company last night.  The names of the seriously injured are:
Michael Doyle, motorman, top of head torn away, two ribs and a leg broken; will die.
W. A. Manly, employed in the circulating department of The Times, scalp laid bare and hurt internally; probably die.
Miss Smith, skull fractured; will die.
C. C. Rogers, leg and arm broken and hurt internally; will die
Mrs. Mary H. Wilson, Allegheny, two ribs, right leg and left ankle broken; may recover.
The full list of injured is not ascertainable.
The wreck occurred on the Soho hill at the time when the immense crowds which attended the fireworks display at Schenley Park were returning home.
An Atwood streetcar had gone about half way down the hill when it jumped the track, closely following it came an open summer car with a trailer, both densely packed with people.  Before the second train could be stopped it crashed into the derailed car. Hardly had the first collision happened before a third car, heavily laden, came down the hill at full speed and forced its way into the wreck ahead.  It was the second crash that did most of the damage and the scene was indescribable.
Fort Wayne News, Fort Wayne, In 7 Jul 1897

I'm not going to go into the details of Pittsburgh's illustrious streetcar history, in part because there are a few existing web pages that do a very nice job of it. One is an article written in 2006 by Matthew Campbell for Carnegie Mellon's student newspaper. Here's the link: Streetcars define Pittsburgh's transportation history. And then of course, there's Wikipedia, which also has an impressive amount of information.

The Oaks - Portland, Oregon

The Oaks or Oaks Park as it is now known, is still a nice place to spend time on a sunny day, but this lovely boardwalk no longer exists. The Oaks Amusement Park was opened in 1905 and is still operational and a popular destination.  It's a great place, with a definite old-time charm.

There is also a roller skating rink in the park that has two very special features:
1. The wood skating rink can be detached from the foundation so that in case of a flood, the floor will float on top of the water. This technique was last employed in 1996.
2. The rink has a Wurlitzer pipe organ and a live organist to accompany the skaters on Thursday evening and all day Sunday.

If you're at all interested in the Wurlitzer, the people who play it, or the rink, you should check out this inspirational 10-minute documentary entitled Pipe Dreams by Mark Tunby.  It's just like being there.

The water slide doesn't exist anymore, but there is a great old roller coaster.
The back of this card is notable in that it was sent from Dothan, Oregon. I had never heard of Dothan before, probably because it is now a ghost town. It was located in Douglas County near Westfork, which doesn't seem to exist anymore either.

The message, sent in 1910, reads:

6/21/10 Dothan, OR

Dear friend received your letter to day and Mrs. Holcomb was here then (?)

she received your letter. I am glad to hear you are well and happy

West Fork and all its surroundings are the same as when you were here.

Yours truly

Mrs. J. Barry

Here's the back of the first card: