Recklesss Driving

Here are some humorous cards from the early days of automobiles. It was quickly recognized that people didn't see as much when they were driving, and that there were resulting conflicts with pedestrians and livestock.  There also weren't any lane dividers in the very early days of the automobile, so urban driving must have been very chaotic.

On that note, I would also like to announce the winners of the GPSmycity.com walking app. giveaway for iPhones and iPods from two weeks ago. I thank you for participating, and I will be contacting you to email you the code you need to get your app. Here are the winners:
Alan Burnett and Kakihara will both be getting walking tours of New York City.
Brian (from Paper Sponge) will get a walking tour of San Francisco.
Mark S. and Christine Wallace will both get tours of Prague, and
Judy from Judy's Notebook will be getting a tour of Tokyo.
It was interesting to me to see what locations you chose - all great choices!
Happy travels, and stay on the sidewalks to avoid crazy drivers.

The first card refers to the Metropolitan Police Act of 1839, passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Section 54 addressed a long list of nuisances, but did not anticipate the advent of the automobile. They were merely trying to address the problems of wild horse-cart driving.

In addition to furious driving, here are some other activities that were outlawed:

• Driving carts on the footway.
• Selling or distributing "profane, indecent or obscene books, papers, prints, drawings, paintings or representations", or singing any songs or ballads with similar content or using language "to the annoyance of pedestrians or passengers".
• Threatening or abusive behaviour or words.
• The blowing of horns (except by guards and postmen of the General Post Office.)
• Discharging firearms, setting fireworks or lighting bonfires.
• "Wantonly disturbing" persons by ringing doorbells, knocking on doors or unlawfully extinguishing lamps.
• Flying kites or playing games to the annoyance of others.
• Making slides upon ice or snow to the danger of pedestrians.

 

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order. The first one is interesting, because it was printed just before it became permissible to write a message on the back of the card. Before March 1, 1907, you could only write the address on the back of the card, which is why many people tried to scribble a message on the front.

The second postcard is from prior to 1907. Note that there's no space for a message here.

Streetcar Sunday - Nice, France

The City of Nice in the south of France seems like the ideal place for a tram system. There are lots of tourists and a great opportunity to connect Nice with neighboring cities such as Monte Carlo and Cagnes-sur-Mer. Starting in 1879 there was a horse-drawn streetcar system in Nice that provided an urban network as well as connections to those neighboring cities and suburbs.

By 1900 the horse-drawn cars had all been replaced with electric ones, and by 1930 the system had expanded to include 90 miles of track and 183 cars. At the same time, competition from buses caused many of the coastal and suburban routes to close. By 1939 only 4 lines remained operational, with a few more brought back during World War II. After the war the streetcars were replaced by trolleybuses, with the last streetcar making its final run in 1953.

Here's another view that doesn't show the streetcar, but shows that you could connect to trains at the Nice train station.

In 2007, Nice introduced a new and very sleek streetcar system. They're very unusual and beautiful cars in my opinion. Originally the system was intended to operate with a ground-level third rail, but they instead opted for the conventional overhead wires, perhaps due to cost. Although there is currently only one line on this new system, there has been discussion about adding a line from the city to the airport.

This photo is courtesy of  Myrabella

Sepia Saturday - Grant Meyers and Family

Last week I featured my great grandparents Grant and Gertrude Meyers for Sepia Saturday. Here's another photo of them taken in the 1930s. You can see they're not in Kansas anymore.

And here's a picture of Grant's family, taken around 1895. The family was originally from Somerset, Pennsylvania, but moved first to Illinois and then to Morrill, Kansas. In this picture William Meyers (1839-1909) is wearing the striped pants. His wife, Martha Haines Meyers (1844-1916), has very thin features and is wearing a dress with a square pattern. They are surrounded by their nine surviving children, there were three more who died at an early age. Looking at this picture, I notice that the boys all seem to look like their mother, while the girls look like their father. This was perhaps a little unfortunate for the girls.

In the 1850 Census, the name is listed as Meyer for William and his family. The gravestones of William's parents both show Meyer as the name instead of Meyers, so the S seems to have been added with William's generation.

Grant is in the back row, third from the right.

Here is the full list of names:
Back row: Minerva (Willard), Milton, Sidney, Grant, William, Hans
Front row: Emma (Bowman), Martha Haines Meyers, Jessie (Moore), William, Mildred (Little)

Don't forget to check out Sepia Saturday for more interesting photos.