Galveston, Texas

This is a tiny postcard folder circa 1920s from Galveston, Texas. Galveston actually had a larger population then (53,000) than it does now (47,743). The city was devastated by a hurricane in 1900, but was making a comeback about the time this postcard was published. Despite Prohibition, there was plenty of drink and complementary vices for visitors to Galveston.

Main Streets in Raton and Clovis, New Mexico

Raton means rat or mouse in Spanish. I'm not sure why anyone would want to name a town after a rodent, and this doesn't even look like a place where rats would want to be (no harbor!). What a main street though! It doesn't look quite as lively today, though some of the old buildings are still standing. Raton currently has a population of about 7,200.

And here we have Clovis, another New Mexico town with a great main street. The Hotel Clovis, on the left-hand side, is still standing. And while I don't know how Raton got its name, I can tell you how Clovis was named. The town was originally called Riley's Switch, because it was a Santa Fe railroad town and it must have been the place where Riley controlled the railroad switch.

The name of the current town reportedly came from the station master's daughter who was studying Clovis, King of the Franks at the time. Isn't that sweet? - a schoolgirl gets to name a town (current population of approximately 38,000) after something she's interested in. It ended up going far beyond that though. Years later, when Indian artifacts were unearthed near Clovis, researchers named the pre-historic Paleo Indian culture after the nearby town. When you hear of the Clovis culture or the Clovis Indians (thought to be the first human inhabitants of the new world), think of that little girl. Had she been studying Napoleon at the time, they might have been called the Napoleon Indians. Had she been reading Flaubert or Emily Bronte, they might have had yet another name.

Here are the backs of the cards in the same order.

Tram Tuesday - Wiesbaden

Although there is no close-up of the tram, this card really gives you an idea of what it would be like to be standing on the street in Wiesbaden at the turn of the century.  But for the sulfurous spa waters, I would love to  be transported there. All three of these cards show the same street, the Wilhelmstrasse, named after Kaiser Wilhelm. Sadly, Wiesbaden eliminated its tram system in 1955.

 Here are the backs of the cards in  reverse order. The first one sings the praises of Wiesbaden and particularly the beautiful Wilhelmstrasse (la rue Guillaume) and its shops and foreign banks. The writer also mentions a casino along the promenade that people may visit after a concert in the park.

Inspired by the message on this card, I went to look for more information on the casino, which is still there. It seems that the casino was every bit as much of a draw as the spa and attracted all sorts of people, including Dostoyevsky, who gambled away everything he owned here in 1865. Rumor has it that both Crime and Punishment and The Gambler were written under duress to cover gambling debts.