Two Cards that Look the Same

This is one of the aspects that I like about collecting the postcards. These two cards look like the same postcard, but they are different – sort of. They are the same view into the Royal Gorge and the Hanging Bridge.

But, the postcards have a couple of differences worthy of pointing out.
These cards were both published by the E. C. Kropp Company of Milwaukee. The publisher’s name is on both cards. On the card to the left you will find the name and a card number at the very bottom, slightly cut off in the printing. One the card to the right, the publisher has moved that information to the left margin.
This company has existed, in several forms, for a very long time. It began producing postcards as Kropp in 1898. In 1907, it changed its name to E.C. Kropp Company – just in time to catch the end of the “Address Only on This Side of Card” era. (More about that later regarding these two cards) They were bought in 1956 by L. L. Cook and today are now part of GAF Corporation. It is very interesting to hold a postcard that is over 100 years old, knowing that the company that published it is still around in one form or another.
When we turn the cards over, we can see they are also slightly different on the back. They both have the EC Kropp “bird” logo with the words Post Card on it. But, the slight differences are in two places: 1) the postage stamp square – the frame and the lettering are ever so slightly different from each other; and 2) the warnings that this side is only for the address are worded differently from each other.

These cards make we wonder which one was published first. My guess is that the one on the left came first for two reasons: 1) they discovered that their name and the postcard number were cut off in the production, so they moved them; and 2) as the time for the opportunity to write the address and a message on the back came closer – but was still not legal, they had to warn the writers that the back side of the card was still EXCLUSIVELY for the address.
Even so, as close as these two cards are to each other, I count them as separate cards in my collection because of these slight differences. I don’t see them as duplicates.

This one was used!

This card, on the back, is very similar to the last one I wrote about. It, too, belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. You can see that people are getting used to the idea that they can write both the address and a message. On the left of the card, the reminder: “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message” has been shortened to “THIS SPACE FOR MESSAGE”.
However, we know more about the age of this card because it was actually used. It as mailed on October 22, 1913 from Fort Morgan, Colorado. It is on Interstate 76 northeast of Denver. A little piece of trivia regarding Fort Morgan: Glenn Miller, who was born in Iowa, went to school here. He is the big band leader who went missing toward the end of World War II. His plane disappeared over the English Channel in bad weather.
It is being mailed to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, which is almost straight north of Fort Morgan. Scotts Bluff is on the routes of both the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail.
This picture is of the Gorge looking away from Denver.

There is another hint in this picture of an amazing engineering feat. You can see to lines at the bottom of the card that seem to go from one side of the canyon to the other. The train has just passed under the support beams for the Hanging Bridge.
This was printed, and it looks like it was also published, by the HH Tammen Company.
One thing I like about cards that have been used is the insight they give us to the lives of the people that wrote them. I like to think that this is Anna Ford writing to her husband, Walter.

Anna has gone out west to visit a friend or relative who just had a baby. While there, they received the news that her 4 year old nephew had an operation for an abscess and isn’t expected to live longer than a day. Then she reminds her husband to pick her up at the train station. On the top of the card she lets him know that it rained – “but not enough to keep the folks from working”.

100 years old?

This card also belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. You can see that people are getting used to the idea that they can write both the address and a message. On the left of the card, the reminder: “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message” has been shortened to “THIS SPACE FOR MESSAGE”.

We are still in Colorado and will be for a very long time. Volume One of my collection focuses exclusively on Colorado. The majority of the cards from Colorado are all about the Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge is a good 3 hour drive east of Denver. The Arkansas River has carved it out similar to what the Colorado River has done to the Grand Canyon, but on a much smaller scale.

This picture is another picture of the Gorge looking toward Denver. There is a hint in this picture of an amazing engineering feat. You can see to lines at the bottom of the card that seem to go from one side of the canyon to the other. These are the support beams for the, as they like to advertise, “Famous Hanging Bridge”.
This was printed, and it looks like it was also published, by the HH Tammen Company. Because it is a divided back card and there is no mention of any other company and no post marking, the best I can do to guess the age of the card is to say that it was probably printed some time between 1907 and 1915. It is approximately 100 years old.

Another Divided Back. . .

This card belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. Also, on the message side is the sentence, “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message.”

A printing company existed for a very short time (1905 – 1910) during these years. It was known as the Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. of Denver, Colorado. They published souvenir books and postcards of the western states. The company was based in Denver and this picture is of the Royal Gorge – a natural match.
I had to be quite the detective to determine some information about today’s feature card. I have seen the American flag wrapped around the staff like that on many postcards. However, not very often is there any identification about the printer included. As I researched and researched the various cards, I finally found two of them holding the secret – at least I hope it is the secret to the identity of the printer. I am not 100 percent convinced. These two cards have the logo of the Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. and the same American flag!

That would mean that this postcard was printed sometime between March 1, 1907 (when people could start writing messages on the backs of postcards) and 1910 (when the company disappeared).
The left side of the card says that it was published for Van Noy News Co. – also of Denver, Colorado. Van Noy News Co. operated under that name for a very short time. The Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began in 1914, after a series of mergers they changed their name to Van Noy News Co. on October 1, 1914. They then changed their name to Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917. This doesn’t help the theory that this card was printed between 1907 and 1910. The Van Noy News Co. only existed between 1914 and 1917.
I wonder if someone else picked up the American flag logo after Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. went by the wayside…

Back into the Royal Gorge

The previous card belongs to a group called “The Divided Back”. The pictures went right to the edge of the cards and the backs were the first backs to be divided into two parts: the right for the address and the left for a message. Sometimes there is a message on the back to remind folks that they can write on the left side of the card. This group was printed from about 1907 to 1915.

The card featured in today’s post belongs to the “White Border” group. These cards were printed from about 1915 to 1930. They were still divided on the back, but there was a noticeable change on the front. A white border appeared.
We are going back to the Royal Gorge today. This card is younger than the card in the last post. I can tell right away because it has a white border around the picture. The picture on the front of the card is of the Railroad’s East entrance – surrounded by a white border. By looking on the back of the card, I can narrow the date of printing even more.

The printer is the H. H. Tammen Curio Company. It began business in 1896 and finally wrapped up in 1953. It operated out of 1516 Arapahoe Street, in Denver, Colorado. (So it is fitting that they would promote the Royal Gorge!) You can see the little mascot in the top middle of the card and the arrow pointing up to it with H H T CO imprinted on it. These are definitive signs that point to the H.H. Tammen Curio Co.
The publisher, on the left side of the card printed sideways, is The Interstate Co., also of Denver, Colorado. The Van Noy Railway Hotel & News, which came into being in 1914, became the Van Noy News Co., after some mergers with other companies, On October 1, 1914.
In 1915, they began consolidating operations with the Interstate News Company out of New York City. The company name was changed to the Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917, under the direction of Ira C. Van Noy. The Van Noy Interstate Company began to focus on the hotel aspect of their business, including selling souvenir postcards to their guests. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company re-named one more time; now they were to be known as the Interstate Company.
All this tells me that because the name “The Interstate Co.” appears on the card, it was printed after 1926. The next phase of postcard printing began around the year 1930. So I am deducing that this card was printed sometime very close to the years 1926 and 1930.
As I hold the card in the light and close to my magnifying glass, I can see that there is a road that runs on the other side of the canyon.

I don't know much, but you are welcome to what I do...

I have learned a few things about postcards since my entry in 2009. It is amazing how much information and history can be gleaned from a postcard – when looking at it with an educated eye. I have been educating myself about the postcards in my collection and now I am ready to share what I think I know with the rest of the world – or at least you!


I am, however, starting out by humbling myself. There isn’t a lot I know about this particular postcard. I can’t even read the handwriting enough to know what the message is about. But, it is card number one in volume number one… so here I go.

I know that it belongs to the group of postcards known as those from “the divided back” era. Beginning on March 1, 1907 postcards were able to be sent through the US Mail with an actual message on the same side as the address. Prior to that date, only the address was allowed on the “back” of the card. (There are some of these to come in the future in this blog.) People were not used to this so the postcard printers added the words: “THIS SPACE CAN BE USED FOR A WRITTEN MESSAGE USING A ONE-CENT STAMP”.

This postcard demonstrates exactly that: a message on the left and the address on the right. It was sent by someone named Henry from Denver, Colorado to Marie Reinecke of Los Angeles, California in 1913. It is postmarked on June 26th at 5:30 PM. The handwriting script is beautifully elegant, but I cannot make out enough to know what the message is.

I do not even know either who the printer or the publisher were. By looking at the scrollwork around the words Post Card, I would think that I can identify at least who the printer was. But, I do not have any postcards with similar scrollwork that give away any clues. I will continue my quest.

I do know about the front of the card. It is a picture of The Royal Gorge in Colorado. This canyon is also known as the Grand Canyon (sometimes canon with out the accent over the first n) of the Arkansas River. It is 10 miles long, 50 feet wide at the bottom and about 1,250 wide at the top.

On April 19, 1878 construction, and a turf war, began as the construction crew from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad started to work on the grade for a rail line through the canyon. This began a lengthy legal battle between the D&RG and the Santa Fe – both wanting the right of way through the gorge. The Supreme Court of the US finally decided in favor of the D&RG on April 21, 1879. The first train went through the canyon on May 7, 1879.

Today, you can still ride the scenic rails through the canyon. This is the website that links you to quite the adventure. http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/ You can even pay for a ticket that allows you to be up in the cab with the engineer.

The next very many posts will be about my postcards with the theme: “The Royal Gorge”. There is a lot of history there and I hope to share some of it with you in the coming weeks.

I am ready to steam ahead!

I have been working on my collection feverishly for a couple of years now... I purchased a book in which the words "don't forget to look at the back of the postcard" were included.  I decided to look at the backs of my postcards.  There, I discovered that one can learn about the age of the card, who the printer of the card was, and who the publisher was (they aren't always the same).  On line I found many details about the printers and publishers. 

It has been a while since I posted anything. 

Now, get ready to sit back, relax and read about the postcards in my collection.  You will discover fascinating details that will bore the normal person right to sleep.  These same details will excite the nerdiest nerds and keep us up all night on the edges of our seats.

I hope you enjoy the near future on this blog.