Annie Crawford's Siblings

Annie Crawford lived in Battle Creek, Michigan. Her siblings, who lived in Chicago seem to have had some difficult times.

The message to Mrs. Annie Crawford, written in August, 1911, reads:

My dear Sister, your letter received this a.m. and glad to hear from you. I am at home but don't get around much, the wound is not all healed yet. I am getting along nicely, but it is very slow work. Will write you soon. Today has been the first I have written any one, and all have had postals. I get easily tired. Love to all from Maisie.

The following postcard is from her brother, sent two years later:

Dear Sister

Would you kindly do what you can to send receipts and card as soon as possible. I need them bad

your brother Charlie

Another interesting note about the first card - the conservatory shown on the front of the card was torn down in 1905, six years before the card was sent. Due to graft and neglect, the conservatory had fallen into disrepair when Jens Jensen, the prairie-style landscape architect was called in to revamp the park. He elected to have the conservatory torn down.

The Birthday Zeppelin

The message to Miss Lydia Spies reads:

Wish you a bright and happy birthday. Your friend and schoolmate,

Lena Stine

Streetcar Sunday - Sacramento, California

Streetcars have been gone from Sacramento since 1947, but they're coming back! Well, maybe.  This fall, the City's transportation department will undertake a study to look at a streetcar route to connect Sacramento to West Sacramento. So far, they have not obtained the funds to actually build the system. Sacramento has also had a light rail system in place since 1987.

This classic card shows a Sacramento streetcar sometime before 1943. Sacramento had horse-drawn cars back in the 1870s, and converted to electric batteries briefly before moving to the overhead electric trolley lines. As in many other cities, the streetcar enabled people to move out to the suburbs and still enjoy the benefits of working and shopping in Sacramento. Weekend service took people out to Joyland, an amusement park in Oak Park.

Streetcar service flourished throughout the 1920s and early 30s. It was then that competition from cars and buses began to take its toll. Some of Sacramento's streetcar lines were abandoned in the late 1930s. World War II and various resource shortages slowed down the demise of the streetcar, but as soon as the war ended, the push for cars and buses led to the rapid abandonment of streetcar lines.