Tram Tuesday - Frankfurt, Germany

Trams have been operating in Frankfurt since 1872.  The tram system is alive and well and integrated with light rail (U-Bahn), suburban rail (S-Bahn) and the bus system. According to Wikipedia,  two new sections have been added to the streetcar system in the past few years and additional service will be added to serve neighborhoods with medium transit needs. The reason cited is that "trams are more attractive to the traveling public than buses and cheaper to build than underground railways." It's interesting to see trams replacing bus service, a reversal of trends in the mid 20th century.

Here are some postcards showing early views of Frankfurt with streetcars. The first two are both from about 1910, showing the same church from different angles.

The next two cards both show views of Zeil, Frankfurt's vibrant shopping street. The first one was sent in 1898, at a time when there were still horse-drawn trams, as well as steam-powered and electric ones. I can't tell which kind this one is, because it's tiny and there are some carriage horses in front of it.

On the next one, sent in 1903, you can see the overhead wires.

The last card shows an electric tram in front of the magnificent Circus Schumann, which was destroyed by Allied bombs in World War II. According to Circopedia, the U.S. Army used what was left of the building (the facade, foyer, and restaurants right behind it) until 1958.  The remains of the building were demolished in 1960.

That white object in the sky to the right of the building is a highly-stylized cloud, probably the strangest one I've seen, added by the person who tinted the card. This tinting process was also used to obscure unsightly things like overhead streetcar wires.

I love it when people write dates and document other happenings on the back of cards.  If we had been around 100 years ago, we too could have celebrated Otto's birthday at Circus Schumann.

The back of the first card looks just like the one above, but with no writing, so I won't post it. Here are the backs of cards 2, 3, and 4.

Victorian Calling Cards

The year is 1870. There are no telephones and not even postcards as a way of communicating with friends and neighbors. Although you could write letters, to keep in touch with neighbors you would likely just get in your horse-drawn carriage and stop by for a visit. On a particular day, perhaps on a Sunday afternoon, you would make the rounds, observing the proper etiquette of staying for approximately 30 minutes and leaving a decorative calling card with your name on it. In the foyer, there was a tray where you could leave the card, so even if your hosts were out they would know that you stopped by. You would hope to be remembered by your friends with an attractive card bearing your name. What you would not expect is that 140 years later someone might be looking at the card and wondering who you were. Wouldn't they be surprised!

Originally I intended to just post the scans of these cards, but, of course, I couldn't help looking up some of the names. Sometimes cards like this are simply stationer's samples with invented names. In this case, they seem to be real and generally from upstate New York, with a fair number from Cortlandville, New York.

This card belonged to Miss Mary Uhlman, but I can't say for certain which Mary Uhlman. The card looks older (1860s, maybe?) than most of the others.

Assuming I found the correct Rienzi A. Crane, he seems to have died in 1877 at the age of 19 and is buried in the McGraw Rural Cemetery in Cortland County, New York.

Edward may have been his brother.

I find a Florence Vedder in the 1870 Census living in Oppenheim, New York. She was two years old then, so perhaps she handed this card out in the mid to late 1880s.

The 1880 Census shows Dewitt B. Yonker (born in 1859)  also living in Oppenheim, New York.

The same Census shows Daniel D. Donker living in Cortlandville, New York.

The card below has June 5th, 1885 written on the back. It may have belonged to Charles Truesdail,  born in 1859 in Tioga, New York according to the 1870 Census.

The designs on some of the cards bearing male names seem very feminine, like this one for Lonzo E. Clark. This may be the Lonzo E. Clark (born 1833) who was recorded living in Canandaigua, New York during the 1850 Census.

I'm not sure who H.A. Brownell was, but I like the card.

I like Asa Foster's too. The 1910 Census shows an Asa D. Foster (born in 1869) living in Smyrna, New York.

Here are some more cards with ornate script. I would imagine that it was somewhat of a status symbol (like having hundreds of friends on FaceBook) to have a tray stacked high with calling cards in your front room.

  

  

 

Civil War Revenue Stamps

Cartes de Visite were small portraits on card stock, generally measuring 2.5 by 4 inches, that were especially popular in the 1860s. If there is a revenue stamp on the back of the photograph, you can narrow the date down to the two years during which a tax was applied to photographs. The newly-created Internal Revenue Service was looking for ways to finance the Union's Civil War costs. While the Confederate States printed money and suffered from outrageous inflation, the North imposed taxes on every imaginable product and service.

All kinds of things were taxed, including playing cards, bank checks, and matches. Photographs were added relatively late (1864-1866), so they didn't have their own tax stamp. That's why you will often see a Carte de Visite with a playing-card revenue tax stamp or a more generic proprietary tax stamp on the back. A 2-cent tax stamp indicates that the photograph cost up to 25 cents. More expensive photographs might have a 3-cent stamp.

 Photographer: R.R. Rundell, Owego, New York.

Photographer: F. Smith Hooker, Havana, New York.

Photographer: D.W. Grout, Pulaski, New York.

 

Photographer: Crum & Sharp, Watkins, New York.

 Photographer W.C. Crum, Penn Yan, New York

Photographer: George W. Barnes, Rockford, Illinois (Compliments of H. White)

Photographer: Masterson & Wood, 74 and 75 Arcade, Rochester, New York