Antique & Vintage Postcards

Standing proud at a downtown Pittsfield corner, the New American hotel commands its block with five stories of warm red brick, Corinthian columns flanking the entrance, and cornices that speak of Edwardian civic confidence — three period automobiles parked at the curb anchor the scene squarely in the early 1920s. Pittsfield, the Berkshire County seat, was a prospering industrial city buoyed by General Electric's enormous presence, and the New American served travelers and businessmen arriving on the rail lines that threaded the Housatonic valley. Ground-floor storefronts, including what appears to be a drug or department store, line the facade. The card is unused, its crisp white border and undivided address field typical of white-border-era production by Chas. W. Hughes of Mechanicville, NY, a regional publisher active through the 1910s–20s.