Antique & Vintage Postcards

Shot from an elevated vantage above the triangular park where Washington Boulevard meets Michigan Avenue, this vibrant hand-tinted Detroit Publishing card captures the Motor City just as it was finding its footing as the automobile capital of the world — open touring cars and a handful of horse-drawn vehicles still sharing the broad brick-paved streets radiating outward from a small ornamental park anchored by a flag-draped Civil War monument and a fountain ringed with flower beds. The tall terracotta-clad hotel visible mid-background and the "EDISON" sign at right anchor the scene firmly in 1910s Detroit, a city then exploding in population and commercial energy. Mailed on June 17, 1916 — postmarked Detroit the same day — the card carries a charming message from Harriet and Rudolph to "Sis and all" in Oakfield, New York, reporting their arrival by Great Lakes passenger boat from Cleveland and declaring "We are having a grand time." The Detroit Publishing Co. / Famous Superior Quality imprint confirms this as a premium-quality chromolithographic production from one of America's most celebrated postcard publishers.