Streetcar Sunday - Winnipeg, Manitoba

In 1891, Winnipeg became the third Canadian city to introduce electric streetcars. All was well for a number of decades, but dissatisfaction brewed after the end of World War II. In the early 1950s, the city hired an engineering consultant to look at the various options for streetcars and to explore whether the service could be expected to pay for itself and what entity should control it. As in many North American cities, the Winnipeg streetcars had been operated by the power company, in this case the Winnipeg Electric Company.

The consultant recommended that the government take over operation of the system, which it did.  Unfortunately, people complained more about the service under government operation than they did before. At the same time, people were extolling the virtues of buses over streetcars. So many other cities were changing over to buses. Not surprisingly, Winnipeg's streetcar system was replaced by buses in 1955.

The change to buses seems very odd to many of us today, but at the time it was considered the more modern and appealing alternative. People thought the streetcars were old and clunky and the buses were newer and more comfortable, which is approximately the reverse of public perception today. Buses had greater flexibility and could pull up to the curb, which also provided greater customer safety when boarding or disembarking.  Although measures have been taken to make streetcar boarding much safer today, the appeal is still largely personal and aesthetic. Appeal is not inconsequential either; if transit is expected to draw people out of their automobiles, it has to be appealing.

More recently, the City of Winnipeg has looked at introducing an aerial tram system that would operate above the streets.

Speaking of appeal - the front of the card is fairly simple and straightforward, the back is very ornate.

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.

Louisville, Kentucky

Here's an oddity. This postcard was probably printed in about 1915, but it shows a street scene from 1850.  It really does look as if a very early photograph was used as the basis for the card, which was then colored and embellished. I've never seen anything quite like it.

There is still a Galt House in Louisville. It is the official hotel of the Kentucky Derby and is now a 25-story building with 1,300 rooms.  I don't think it's in exactly the same location either. it looks like it may have migrated across the street.

Here's the back of the card: