Gleaming in hand-tinted color against a soft blue-green sky, the Contra Costa County Courthouse in Martinez, California commands the frame with its grand Neoclassical portico, copper-topped dome, and symmetrical stone facade — a civic monument that still stands today and anchors the seat of county government. Published by the prolific San Francisco firm of Edward H. Mitchell around 1907–1910, this undivided-to-divided-back transitional card (#1240) captures Martinez at the height of its post-earthquake rebuilding confidence, the lawns freshly clipped and the flagpole bare. The card was never sent, leaving the message side clean and the address area blank — a pristine time capsule of Edwardian California civic pride.