I really did go

The Common from Beacon and Park Sts., Boston, Mass, addressed to Mr. Edward D. Fallon, Long Ridge, Stamford Conn., and postmarked in Boston on July 26, 1907. Inscribed by unknown sender (initials possibly "LMS") with the message "I really did go."

According to the Biennial Report of the State Board of Fisheries and Game published in September 1908, an Edward D. Fallon of the same address applied (and was presumably given permission) to stock 200 fingerling brook trout in nearby Mill Pond Stream.

Overall, I like the mood and composition of this one a lot. The coloring of the sky is drawn from the printer's imagination, of course, but judging by the shadows of the two closest figures (if they're not artificial as well) it does appear to be late afternoon. As there's no snow and no leaves on the trees bordering the central pathway (nor on the ground), it might be early Spring. The strolling figures are just dark silhouettes.

Christ Church, Boston

Applying glitter to postcards by hand would have been a labor-intensive process for the printer, but there was a vogue for them, at least until mail handlers reportedly began complaining that the grit cut their hands. This image of a Boston landmark also known as the Old North Church, has received a liberal, if crude, sprinkling.

Boston at Work and at Play

This selection of some of the many postcards of the city that Rotograph produced begins with a picturesque but far from genteel view of the waterside district. The composition of this image is particularly appealing, as the photographer has made good use of the converging lines of the equally sized attached buildings on the left and the masts of the ships on the right.

Just a few years after the image was taken (it's copyright 1905) a photographer named Henry Donald Fisher began documenting the wharf; some of his work can be found in Andrew W. German's Down on T Wharf: The Boston Fisheries As Seen through the Photographs of Henry D. Fisher (Mystic Seaport Press). Although some sources once contended that the "Tea" Wharf was the site of the Boston Tea Party, this suggestion has apparently been firmly ruled out. Most or all of the wharf is now said to be gone.


The Vendome, above, designed by William G. Preston and completed in 1871, was a high-class hotel for many years. A 1972 fire and partial collapse on the site killed nine firefighters, but the building still stands, though no longer as a hotel.


"Good bye till I see you again — am en route to New York. Wish I might have seen you. Yours E. M. R."


In the image above you can see clearly how the printer applied the red ink using a separate plate that was a little out of register, leaving an unnatural aura around the tree branches at left.

The remaining scenes are all in Frederick Law Olmsted's Franklin Park. The interesting looking building below was known as the Refectory — a fancy word for dining hall — and the elevated ground it stood upon was known as Refectory Hill. Originally designed as an eatery, it was briefly used as a branch library (as the card indicates) before becoming a concession stand in 1928. It was torn down in 1972.


"I am still hear. Coming home Saturday. L. K."


The Overlook, above, was used as a changing area for the adjacent athletic fields and later as a station for the park police. It burned to the ground in the 1940s but its ruins are still marked on the official interactive map of the park.