A yellow "Depot" streetcar bearing a "Petrofone Fair" placard trundles down a sun-dappled Oakland Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan, circa 1905 — elm trees arching overhead, a handsome Romanesque stone church anchoring the right side of the frame, and a lone early automobile just visible in the dusty distance. This Litho-Chrome card, printed in Germany for the Pontiac Book Store, captures Pontiac at the height of its streetcar era, just before the automobile industry that would define the city forever transformed its streets. On June 30, 1905, a writer named Laura penned a detailed neighborhood update to a friend named Alice at the Spanish Ranch in Plumas, California — mentioning a neighbor's stroke, her son's wife writing letters for her, and a mutual acquaintance named "Dar" asking after someone the previous week.