Michigan Avenue at Night

Another great postcard from Brian at Paper Sponge. This is a beautiful night-time view of Michigan Avenue in Chicago.  The Water Tower is still there, but if it hadn't served such an important role in stopping great Chicago Fire of 1871, it would probably be long gone. Public outcry thwarted the various attempts to have it demolished in 1906, 1918, and 1948.  At one time, the 154-foot tower dwarfed all the buildings around it.

Here's the same view today.

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And here's the back of the card.

Dr. Whatsisname Invites You To Smoke

Here's a big coffee table book from 1947 that was most likely distributed to doctors to put in their waiting rooms for their patients' reading pleasure. After all, it presents doctors in a very good light. What doctor wouldn't want this? It even has pictures that will keep children entertained. It just happens to also be produced by a major cigarette company, which has included some not-so-subtle advertising. This is a very large book (12" by 15"), which is hard to center on my scanner, so please forgive the crooked scans.

There are lots more illustrations, but that's it for this post.

The Ferry Landing in Windsor, Ont., Canada

It looks as if the ferry has just docked and the passengers are walking up the street past Gibson Brothers' Tobacco shop. Brian from The Paper Sponge kindly sent me this card, because he knows I love street scenes like this. They really are a slice of life, showing what people wore, the cars they drove, and what sorts of businesses were in a town. This one is especially nice, because it's a street scene in Canada, but also shows the skyline of Detroit, Michigan across the river.

If you would like to look at (or download) some great old postcard images of Windsor and nearby places, visit the Southern Ontario Image Archive.  And, be sure to check out Brian's website, The Paper Sponge; he features postcards and all sorts of other interesting ephemera. Here's the back of the card, which shows that it was printed by the famous Valentine & Sons.