  Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 642 Registered: 11-2005 |
A coworker of mine just got my hooked on collecting them. Anyone else on the forums collect Detroit postcards? I have a few doubles and wouldn't mind trading. Looking for long-gone Detroit hotels, mostly. Among my favorites (I plan to eventually scan all of mine and put them online): The old post office (still can't believe such a magnificent building was in Detroit, especially when you look at the post office on Fort now): [IMG]http://i152.photobucket.com/al bums/s164/rhymeswithrawk/Detro it%20postcards/sc000083c0.jpg[/IMG] The Statler Hotel (sniff): [IMG]http://i152.photobucket.com/al bums/s164/rhymeswithrawk/Detro it%20postcards/sc00004d1c.jpg[/IMG] | ||
Gtat44 Member Username: Gtat44 Post Number: 109 Registered: 02-2007 |
I have quite a few. Most of them written on from my great grandfather to his first wife and then some to his second, dating as far back as 1911. Give me a few days and I'll scan them in. | ||
Stecks77 Member Username: Stecks77 Post Number: 340 Registered: 08-2006 |
Thanks for the postcard picks Rhymeswithrawk. I love seeing the old pictures and how they are colorized. The post office was truly magnificent. | ||
Bulletmagnet Member Username: Bulletmagnet Post Number: 232 Registered: 01-2007 |
I know Harsensis is an avid collector, specializing in Detroit cards. He will some times ebay them. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 647 Registered: 11-2005 |
Thanks for the tips, gang. Stecks, I'd love to see them. I've got about 100 or so to scan still. It may take me a few weeks, but I'll post when they're done. | ||
Downtown_dave Member Username: Downtown_dave Post Number: 119 Registered: 07-2005 |
I've got four large albums of 'em - collected them a few years back until I couldn't find anything "new" to add to the group. This is a great way to learn about local history, and the personal stories and messages on the back of them are a nice bonus. For awhile I was also collecting old Detroit business letterheads. The high-quality paper back then preserved some great graphic images from grocers, automotive, warehousing and other early city businesses. | ||
Walkerpub Member Username: Walkerpub Post Number: 144 Registered: 12-2003 |
One of our titles focuses on local postcards, numerous cards of Detroit (no better view of Detroit than from Windsor!). http://walkerville.com/postcards/index.html Call us or send me an e.mail if interested and I will waive the shipping costs. sales@walkerville.com   | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 823 Registered: 10-2003 |
I have a few, am actually more interested in the images on the cards than the cards themselves. Would be happy to share them. I have many pics of Det bands, musicians and a few club interiors. Always looking for any Det jazz/music related cards, images, maps etc. Pre-1960. JamesJazz at aol.com | ||
Urbanize Member Username: Urbanize Post Number: 769 Registered: 02-2007 |
I saw SNOWFLAKES! in the first postcard (lol). | ||
Psip Member Username: Psip Post Number: 1771 Registered: 04-2005 |
Speaking about Flakes! | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2203 Registered: 10-2003 |
I've been collecting new and vintage postcards for about 40 years and have amassed a collection numbering over 15,000 cards. Among them are perhaps 600 vintage Detroit postcards. When I was in college at Wayne State, taking a museology course through the Anthropology Department, I had to create a museum display so I combined their archeological specimens found in the Pontchartrain Hotel and Renaissance Center excavations with my vintage Detroit postcards showing the sites that had stood near the excavation sites, along with some Freep or News photos of the Jefferson-Woodward intersection. That was a fun assignment!!! | ||
Mikeydbn Member Username: Mikeydbn Post Number: 343 Registered: 04-2004 |
Part of my collection: http://s119938276.onlinehome.u s/gal037672414/ | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1693 Registered: 11-2003 |
Kathleen---I don't know if you have somehow managed to index your vast postcard collection, but I am wondering if you have any postcards of the former Electric Park, the large amusement park that once occupied the property by the Belle Isle Bridge next to Brodhead Armory. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 824 Registered: 10-2003 |
The rock, I have scans of EP postcards...did you go there? What was it like? Do you remember the ballrooms? Pier, Palais de Dance? | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1694 Registered: 11-2003 |
No, I never got to Electric Park. Afraid it was a tad before my time, though I was born down the street in '36 at the Blain Clinic on E. Jefferson. My mother was a Gaukler, Gaukler Pointe etc. Arthur Gaukler owned EP, and I have some info on the park, including pictures and a website from Wayne State University (which also has a few postcards of the place.) AIW also sent me some material. It was really a huge amusement center, built in 1906 and it ended its life in the late 20's. I only met one person that actually remembers it, other than my mom. He lived down on Field Street , right off Jefferson and could walk across Jefferson and visit the place. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1695 Registered: 11-2003 |
No, I never got to Electric Park. Afraid it was a tad before my time, though I was born down the street in '36 at the Blain Clinic on E. Jefferson. My mother was a Gaukler,( Gaukler Pointe etc.) Arthur Gaukler, a bachelor, owned EP, and I have some info on the park, including pictures and a website from Wayne State University (which also has a few postcards of the place.) AIW also sent me some material. It was really a HUGE amusement center, built in 1906 and it went out of business in the late 20's. I only met one person that actually remembers it, other than my mom. He lived down on Field Street , right off Jefferson and could walk across Jefferson and visit the place. | ||
Jimg Member Username: Jimg Post Number: 825 Registered: 10-2003 |
The rock, EP is of great interest to me because the orchestras of Leroy Smith, Floyd Hickman, and Earl Walton played there. Would you be willing to share your information/pictures? I have scans of 4 EP postcards I'd be happy to send to you. JamesJazz at aol.com | ||
Walkerpub Member Username: Walkerpub Post Number: 146 Registered: 12-2003 |
For The_rock   | ||
Sehender1 Member Username: Sehender1 Post Number: 8 Registered: 04-2007 |
My wife and I have several that we've put in frames with glass on both front and back, so you can pull them off the wall and read what's written on them. We bought them at an antique show in Maryland. One of my favorites is from the late 1920's, I think; it's of the General Motors building in New Center, which would have been pretty new at the time. On the back, someone wrote about going to see the year's new models in the showroom there, and then actually buying one.. | ||
The_rock Member Username: The_rock Post Number: 1698 Registered: 11-2003 |
Thanks for the "post cards", Walker. I wish I had known "Uncle Arthur" back then, and maybe he would have let me in free.Actually, when he died, his brother Frank took over the operation. Jimg-I am out of here til late tonight, but will send you an email tomorrow. If you Google EP, you would be surprised the amount of pictures, post cards and articles that pop up, including an eBay offering of a picture of the roller coaster. | ||
Goat Member Username: Goat Post Number: 9350 Registered: 10-2003 |
The postcard collection from Walkerpub is absolutely fantastic! I own one and bought a few for family members who loved them. YOu can see some pretty interesting pictures of the Detroit skyline and of the various boats that used to ply the waters of the river. This is a must have! | ||
Walkerpub Member Username: Walkerpub Post Number: 147 Registered: 12-2003 |
Kathleen: Could you please contact me by e.mail regarding your postcard collection? chris@walkerville.com . | ||
Harsensis Member Username: Harsensis Post Number: 246 Registered: 07-2005 |
Kathleen, I have you beat. I have about 50,000 postcards a a couple of albums just of Detroit. As Bullet noted I do sell things on Ebay, but I haven't sold to many from Detroit. I might have to get some more Detroit up. I figure I might as well sell things that I don't have as much interest in or things I have doubles of. Looks like I will have to do some scanning. | ||
Walkerpub Member Username: Walkerpub Post Number: 148 Registered: 12-2003 |
Harsensis, 50,000 card is a mighty catalogue- I would love to see your "Best of" set... | ||
Ookpik Member Username: Ookpik Post Number: 178 Registered: 01-2007 |
15,000 postcards? 50,000 postcards? I guess having 10,000 negatives is "just getting started."  Those sound like great collections! | ||
Kathleen Member Username: Kathleen Post Number: 2209 Registered: 10-2003 |
Harsenis...Can't imagine having 50,000 postcards. Yet given all the other stuff I collect (Detroit history, Detroit sports, Gone With The Wind, Titanic, family memorabilia, etc.), if I just focused on the postcards, I suppose I would have plenty of room to grow that passion!! The_rock: Only one or two postcards of Electric Park and Wolff's Park. I think I passed along some info on Electric Park to AIW awhile back as I had done some research on the parks at the foot of the Belle Isle Bridge many years ago while doing my family genealogy. | ||
Harsensis Member Username: Harsensis Post Number: 247 Registered: 07-2005 |
I have a neat one of the Electric Park, I will to pull it out. If any of you have seen Mike Dixons book When Detroit Rode the Waves, I provided all but two of the postcards that are in that book. I have also let the Grosse Pointe Historical Society scan my Grosse Pointe Collection and I see many of those popping up on their website for different things. One of my cards from that group was suppose to be blown up and put on a wall of the Park Library since it was a before postcard of the site, but it looks like they didn't have a wall to put it on since I haven't seen it around there yet. | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1793 Registered: 04-2005 |
Many of the original photos that these old postcards were made from are online at Library of Congress. Just do a search for Detroit and be prepared to lose many hours browsing there. http://rs6.loc.gov/detroit/det home.html |
