# A look into the past **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357 "2007-05-09T04:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/1 "2007-05-09T04:14:47Z")
What did your state, county, or city look like in the era of the [Penny Postcard](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html)? ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/2 "2007-05-09T05:12:40Z")
Wow! What a cool site, **picunurse!** Thanks for sharing it. Here’s [Lake Union,](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/wa/king/postcards/bevse2.jpg) with the Aurora Bridge (the big one) and the Fremont Bridge (the smaller one) crossing over to Queen Anne Hill on the left. When we first moved here in 1962, we lived on Queen Anne, though nowhere near the part in this shot. I also lived here as an adult until just a few years ago. The George and Dragon, the pub that some Seattle dopers like to go to for Trivia Tuesdays, is on that bit of street at the bottom center that runs diagonal to all the others. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/3 "2007-05-09T05:40:38Z")
Wow. The [Nashville night skyline then](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tn/davidson/postcards/skylin.jpg) looked absolutely spooky! The highest building was the white capitol building on the hill. Notice the fake reflections on the Cumberland River. [Nashville night skyline now](http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-98462-nashville-skyline.html). I think you can still see the capitol snuggled in among the buildings, but I’m not sure. LP Stadium, home of the Tennessee Titians is just out of sight on the right. When I came to Nashville in the mid-Sixties, there was only one “tall” building of thirty-something stories. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/4 "2007-05-09T07:00:21Z")
[This street](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/monroe/postcards/rooxst.jpg) is about half a mile from my apartment. And it still looks much like this today. I’ll try to remember to go down and get some pics in about a week when the magnolias come into full bloom. (Just drove down there today, and they’re not there, yet.) [This school](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/monroe/postcards/nazareth.jpg) is still extant today. But like many parochial schools it’s not in particularly good shape, grounds-wise. (Of course, part of the reason I say that is that I’ve seen their boilers. You can hide slim maintenance budgets with a good coat of paint. You can’t hide old, rusted boilers from your boiler water technician.) [This bridge](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/monroe/postcards/ctstbr.jpg) is still in use today, unlike most of the other bridges linked to Rochester, still the same construction as in this postcard. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/5 "2007-05-09T08:00:12Z")
That’s pretty neat. [The college](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/mo/callaway/postcards/wmwds.jpg) hasn’t changed much, although the picture is missing the 50,000 ducks that are usually waddling around the place. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/6 "2007-05-09T10:38:56Z")
My locality isn’t on that site, obviously, but [here’s](http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hampshire/botley/photos/botley_B544020.htm) what my village looked like c1955 and [here’s](http://mti.botley.com/index.php?option=com_zoom&Itemid=135&page=view&catid=2&PageNo=1&key=8&hit=1) how it looks today. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/7 "2007-05-09T10:50:44Z")
More photo comparisons: [This](http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hampshire/botley/photos/botley_B544301.htm) one of the Hambledon Hounds in the square and [this](http://www.botley.com/pictures/smallbotley.jpg) one - approximately the same viewpoint today. Also, [this](http://www.francisfrith.com/search/england/hampshire/botley/photos/botley_B544006.htm) one of the mill and [this](http://www.botleymills.co.uk/Images/mill_main_small.jpg) is how it looks now. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/8 "2007-05-09T12:25:17Z")
Thanks for the cool link! I sent it out to a bunch of friends and family. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/9 "2007-05-09T12:31:06Z")
Real postcard views from my town and that era exist – I’ve seen them (and our historical society has put them on their calendars), but none of them are on that site. Here’s the closest one – Moonlight on the Raritan River. [http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nj/middlesex/postcards/nbnite.jpg](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nj/middlesex/postcards/nbnite.jpg) That’s clearly New Brunswick, N.J., and I believe that the bridge depicted still exists and is still in use by commuter rail. The sity’s changed enormously. Heck, the city’s completely changed since the 1970s, when they essentially destroyed downtown NB and turned it into the Johnson and Johnson World Headquarters. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/10 "2007-05-09T12:41:42Z")
CalMeacham: you might want to put your historical society in touch with that website. I bet if they were willing to scan them the site would put them up. Here is one that was fascinating for me: The Madison Boulder, in Madison, NH. This is right near the lake where my family’s summer cottage is (which has been in the family since my mom was in middle school) [http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nh/carroll/postcards/mbould.jpg](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/nh/carroll/postcards/mbould.jpg) This is the Madison Boulder last summer: [http://gallery.opalcat.com/gallery/GoofingattheMadisonBoulder](http://gallery.opalcat.com/gallery/GoofingattheMadisonBoulder) In the far away shots, that’s us in the lower left–it’s huge so we’re tiny. In the closeup shots you can see all the graffiti. Sad that there is graffiti all over something in the middle of the woods in New Hampshire 😕 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/11 "2007-05-09T12:49:00Z")
Geez, **OtakuLoki** , you give pictures of Rochester but ignore their best site: The Genessee Falls: [http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/monroe/postcards/ufgen.jpg](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/monroe/postcards/ufgen.jpg) That was my complaint when I lived there – they hide those Falls away – and those falls (which gave power to the flour mills), coupled with the Erie Canal, are what _built_ that city! After I moved there, it was months before I even learned that they existed, and it took a while to find them. ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/12 "2007-05-09T13:58:24Z")
In Tuscarawas County Ohio they have a PC rendering of Dover Dam, in NE Ohio. Around 60 years ago I attended summer camps in the hills above the dam. It was a BSA camp called Tuscazoar. The name being derived from local indian tribes. The camp is still active, they have a web site, but it now seems to be a private camp. There is no mention of the BSA on their site. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/13 "2007-05-09T15:10:58Z")
Here is [Glen Street](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/warren/postcards/gfglst.jpg). Most of those buildings still stand, restored and beautiful. This is [Lake George](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/warren/postcards/bevlkg.jpg). [Finch Pruyn](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/warren/postcards/finch.jpg) paper company is still operating. I drive across this [bridge](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ny/warren/postcards/arch.jpg) from Glens Falls to So Glens Falls to work every day. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/14 "2007-05-09T15:20:59Z")
The site’s postcard of [“a typical breeding farm”](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ky/unknown/postcards/breed.jpg), I think, doesn’t look nearly as picturesque as [today’s actuality](http://www.geneburch.com/gallery/d/944-2/Calumet_horse_farm.jpg)! Calumet’s one of the few that use the white board fences. Most of the other horse farms’ fences are black. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/15 "2007-05-09T15:35:22Z")
I grew up across the street from [here](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/sanbernardino/postcards/sterlg.jpg). [This](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ca/sanbernardino/postcards/oakgln.jpg) is just up the hill from where I live now. Cool site. ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/16 "2007-05-09T16:47:26Z")
[Here’s](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ak/anchorage/postcards/4main.jpg) main street in Anchorage about 60 years ago (I’m guessing, based on the look of the cars). And [here’s](http://camera.touchngo.com/) a webcam link to the same intersection now. (I actually grew up in Seward, but spent a lot of time in Anchorage and lived there off and on for a few years.) ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/17 "2007-05-09T16:53:02Z")
Oddly enough, there are no postcards from Cleveland on that site. Nice to see other counties represented though. Fortunately, Cleveland State University has it’s own extensive collection of images from Cleveland’s history via the Cleveland Memory Project. Included is a collection of [Postcards!](http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISORESTMP=/cdm4/results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=/cdm4/item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail,A,1;title,A,1;title2,A,0;subjec,200,0;none,A,0;20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOBIB=title,A,1,N;title2,A,0,N;subjec,200,0,N;none,A,0,N;none,A,0,N;20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOTHUMB=20%20(4x5);title2,none,none,none,none&CISOTITLE=20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOHIERA=20;subjec,title2,none,none,none&CISOTYPE=browse&CISOROOT=%2Fpostcards) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/18 "2007-05-09T17:00:09Z")
As might be expected of a very traditional, Southern city, Richmond has not changed much at all since the post cards were printed. Every building shown is still standing and in use. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/19 "2007-05-09T18:01:45Z")
[QUOTE=Dorjän] Oddly enough, there are no postcards from Cleveland on that site. Nice to see other counties represented though. Fortunately, Cleveland State University has it’s own extensive collection of images from Cleveland’s history via the Cleveland Memory Project. Included is a collection of [Postcards!](http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISORESTMP=/cdm4/results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=/cdm4/item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail,A,1;title,A,1;title2,A,0;subjec,200,0;none,A,0;20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOBIB=title,A,1,N;title2,A,0,N;subjec,200,0,N;none,A,0,N;none,A,0,N;20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOTHUMB=20%20(4x5);title2,none,none,none,none&CISOTITLE=20;title2,none,none,none,none&CISOHIERA=20;subjec,title2,none,none,none&CISOTYPE=browse&CISOROOT=%2Fpostcards) [/QUOTE] There are lots of Cleveland postcards - they have their own page: [http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/cuyahoga/postcards/ppcs-cuyahoga.html](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/cuyahoga/postcards/ppcs-cuyahoga.html) [This](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/cuyahoga/postcards/bemnst.jpg) is from the town where I grew up, though there is no Main Street there (or at least there hasn’t been since the 60s), so I’m not sure exactly where this was taken. The [old pictures](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/oh/cuyahoga/postcards/arcade.jpg) of the Cleveland Arcade look the same as it does [now](http://z.about.com/d/cleveland/1/0/Z/-/-/-/arcade.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357/20 "2007-05-09T18:15:33Z")
The remains of our Civil War Ear earthernworks fort. [http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tn/rutherford/postcards/olfort.jpg](http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/tn/rutherford/postcards/olfort.jpg) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-look-into-the-past/403357.md?page=2)