Postcards Part 1

I'm a collector of post cards. I've been mailing postcards and receiving them from friends and family my entire life so I have a nice collection.

I also collect vintage postcards. They have to very special to be a part of my collection.

A recent purchase is a vintage postcard of the LaSalle Hotel which was built in 1909, it had 22 floors. In the early part of the 20th century most hotels rivalled the grand LaSalle Hotel, it was said to be the finest and most modern hotel outside of New York City.

You'll find some historical information about the LaSalle Hotel here.

There was a devastating fire at the LaSalle Hotel in 1946. Sixty one people died, many of them were children. The fire, though not particularly unusual in the context of early-twentieth-century hotel history, was devastating enough to prompt the city of Chicago to enact several new hotel-related building codes and fire-fighting procedures. These included the installation of automatic alarm systems, the posting of instructions in all hotel rooms of what to do in case of a fire, and increased use by the fire department of two-way radio devices.

After the fire the hotel was quickly refurbished, though not quite to its former splendor. It remained in operation until July of 1976. The hotel was demolished soon thereafter.

Click here to see other postcards for the LaSalle Hotel found on-line.

Above is a vintage postcard of the Michigan Street Bridge in Sturgeon Bay, built in 1929. Its rolling bascule lift spans are unique in this country, and in 2008 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1999, the Federal Hwy Administration began considering plans to demolish and replace the bridge.

It is during this time that Citizens For Our Bridge was founded. Originally called "S.O.B."s ("Save Our Bridge"), the group was formed by citizens opposed to the destruction of the bridge. Working together with ACHP and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, CFOB proposed a plan to rehabilitate the structure. As it became apparent that more money might be needed than WisDOT was willing to spend the Steel Bridge Songfest was founded. It's an annual, three-day music festival held in Door County each summer. To read more about the Steel Bridge Songfest click here.

To see my hubby and I checking out the rebuilding of the bridge, click here. It's awesome!

Above vintage postcard (front and back) is especially interesting to me because I'd just been to Washington DC for the first time. Click here to see my happy friends and I enjoying the sites and sounds of the captial of our nation, just like Joe who mailed the above postcard in 1943.

I saved the above vintage postcard for last, it's the best! A soldier in 1944 mailed this postcard home to let his family know he was ok. Notice the postage was FREE. I suspect he picked a postcard of the train station in Washington DC because that's how he arrived at our capital.