By the early 1900s, Americans were embracing the picture postcard as a quick and inexpensive way to keep in touch with friends and family. Luckily for us, Cuba City residents and visitors purchased and mailed cards like crazy in the first decades of the twentieth century, and many of those were printed with photographs of local street scenes or buildings
that are invaluable glimpses into our town's past.
While postcards had many advantages, they were not without their challenges. Up until 1907, messages had to be brief, indeed, as the entire reverse of the card was reserved for the recipient's mailing address. As you can see from this example, senders often struggled with the space limitations. Note the apologetic remark: "If you can't read this send it back."
The sender was Miss Sadie Tregloan, of Carroll, Iowa, who was visiting relatives in Cuba City in the summer of 1907. Ironically, Miss Tregloan headed to Drake University in Des Moines a few months later to take a course in shorthand!
This postcard bearing the image of the Cuba City High School was published by Chicago's Curt Teich & Co., which would become one of the world's largest postcard printers. The company published postcards featuring multiple Cuba City scenes in the early 1900s.
Unlike the previous sender, Thomas F. Splinter easily managed to fit his message into the small space allotted on this early postcard, which features a real photograph of Kittoe's Drug Store and the Farmers Bank (Russell Law Office today), Donohoo Splinter & Co. (Antiques & Salvage), and Cuba City's railroad depot. Thomas Splinter was the "Splinter" of Donohoo Splinter & Co., and he mailed this postcard to his uncle, Frank Bannigan Hallock, on October 10, 1908.
Postcards could be purchased in local shops and were often commissioned or published by local business owners. The Barker Bros. Drug Co. published a series of postcards while they operated in Cuba City from 1914 to 1917. As you can see, these later postcards had divided backs, reserving just the right half of the card for an address, so senders had more room for their messages.
Henry D. Kivlahan, Cuba City photographer, motion picture operator, and musician, was another local businessman who took advantage of the popularity of postcards in the early 1900s. This image of Sisson's "resort" was published by him, likely between 1909 and 1914.
Sisson's, sometimes referred to as the Jamestown Hotel, dates back to the days of the stagecoach in the 1840s. Located north of Louisburg, the popularity of the inn persisted well into the 20th century, as we can see by Kivlahan's choice of subject matter.
The postcard above was not mailed, but it was used by an early motorist to document his Wisconsin travels in October 1914. Before
there was social media, postcards allowed travelers to share their journeys with friends and family.
Art Ricke mailed
the card below to his future wife on October 31, 1916 while visiting
relatives in Cuba City. The
postcard features the Farmers Bank (later Cuba City State Bank) and the
Post Office and was published by Chicago's H. G. Zimmerman & Co.,
circa 1910.
The sender
of the card below made use of the birds-eye view of Cuba City to mark the place he or she was staying while attending a convention in town, and admitted it was "quite a walk, but a very nice place." The
individual was likely attending a convention
of the Epworth League, a Methodist young adult association, which was
held in Cuba City on June 25-27, 1909. The card is addressed to the Rev.
A. F. Kroneman, Darlington's Methodist pastor at the time, and was published by B. H. Dingman, of Plymouth, Wisconsin.
While postcards offered travelers a way to share their journeys with others, they simultaneously allowed a town to promote
itself and present a certain image to the world. That could mean capturing scenes of bustling business districts and impressive new buildings, or showing off modern improvements like these images of Cuba City's water works and electric station, newly paved streets, and electric lighting.
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| Published by B. H. Dingman, Plymouth, Wisconsin. 1908. |
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Published by L. L. Cook, Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Circa 1915.
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Published by L. L. Cook, Lake Mills, Wisconsin. Between 1915-1919.
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If they had the means, time, and patience, people could make their own postcards by purchasing a camera, blank cards, and developing supplies. As the advertisement below proves, in 1915, Cuba City residents could find everything they needed for producing their own works of art at Florine's Drug Store.
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Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (July 2, 1915).
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The story behind this postcard of German American couple, Joseph and Mary Hauser, posing in front of their Cuba City home is unknown, but may have been a locally produced card.
Before local newspapers regularly published photographs, postcards documented the events in a community's history. Here
are three such events that occurred in Cuba City within a year's time
(1908-1909): a train wreck, the death of a beloved priest, and a
Methodist convention.
This photograph was taken at the scene of a Chicago & Northwestern passenger train wreck one and a half miles southeast of Cuba City. The derailment took place on June 6, 1908, and fortunately resulted in no injuries.
The postcard below was one of several published after the death of the
Rev. L. J. Vaughan in May 1909. In this photograph, parishioners of the St. Rose Catholic Church accompany Father Vaughan's body in a procession down Main Street.
The young men and women pictured below attended a convention for the Epworth League, a Methodist young adult association, held in Cuba City June 25-27, 1909. Perhaps they received a postcard like this as a memento of their time in the city.
While real photo postcards are so valuable to us today, they were certainly not the only types of cards sent and received by Cuba City residents in the early twentieth century. Sending holiday greetings via postcard appears to have been a popular option.
During the Christmas of 1906, the four postcards below were mailed from Chicago to a Miss Willey in Cuba City. These Santa Claus postcards were created by Franz Huld in 1906 for his
"Huld's Puzzle Series," which also included subjects such as dachshunds,
sea serpents, and skylines.
The number of old postcards still in existence speaks to the sheer number sent, as well as how treasured they must have been to their recipients. After enjoying their golden age in the first two decades of the twentieth century, postcards continued to be mailed, albeit in smaller numbers, and racks of cards still tempt tourists in gift shops and convenience stores today.
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