Caption: "The Juniata Near Amity Hall. 9."
This is a real photo postcard with a scenic view of the Juniata River in Perry County, Pennsylvania. The road in the photo is now US 22/US 322 (U.S. Route 22 concurrent with U.S. Route 322). The location is near Amity Hall, which refers to a landmark inn that closed in the 1980s, suffered a fire in 2009, and has since been torn down.
The tire cover on the back of the automobile parked along the road says, "See Bob" and "Auto Supplies." The license plate on the car is 69M52, and I believe it's a Pennsylvania plate. Unfortunately, I was unable to make out the year, which appeared on license plates at the time the photo was taken.
On the other side of the card is an Azo stamp box (squares in each of the four corners), which indicates that the photo likely dates to sometime between the 1920s and the 1940s. There's no message, address, stamp, or postmark on this card, but other copies that I spotted online had postmarks dating to 1935 and 1939.
A Vintage Photos Theme Park photo for the theme of the long and winding road (road photos, winding or otherwise).
Tags: ephemera postcards real photo postcards rppc photos photographs found photos Juniata Juniata River rivers water autos automobiles cars roadside routes roads highways U.S. 22/U.S. 322 U.S. 22 U.S. Route 22 Route 22 U.S. 322 U.S. Route 322 Route 322 borders Amity Hall Pa. Perry County Pennsylvania 1930s antique old vintage vptp
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Handwritten note on the back of this photo: "7-26-1925. New & old Clark's Ferry Bridge."
As Wikipedia explains, the current Clark's Ferry Bridge, which was built in 1986, "carries U.S. Routes 22 and 322 across the Susquehanna River near Duncannon, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles north of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania." This photo, however, shows the two bridges that preceded the current one.
The concrete bridge in front was brand new when this photo was taken in 1925, and the older soon-to-be-demolished wooden covered bridge behind it was constructed in 1859. Drivers who crossed the privately owned bridge were charged a fee (see tickets below), but that changed in the 1940s after the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased it and discontinued tolls.
In the foreground is a curious-looking boat with a paddlewheel. After a bit of searching, I learned that this was a "paddlewheel coal digger," one of many such boats that dredged the tons and tons of anthracite coal that washed down the river from mining operations farther north in Pennsylvania. For more information, see Van Wagner's article, The Hard Coal Navy of the Susquehanna River, and his 35-minute YouTube documentary, The Billy Marks: Paddlewheel Coal Diggers on the Susquehanna River.
A bridge photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.
Tags: ephemera postcards real photo postcards rppc photos photographs found photos Clark's Ferry Bridge Clark's Ferry bridges toll bridges covered bridges concrete bridges Susquehanna River rivers paddlewheel coal diggers paddlewheels coal diggers coal diggers boats highways routes William Penn Highway U.S. Route 22 Route 22 U.S. Route 322 Route 322 Duncannon Perry County Harrisburg Pa. Dauphin County Pennsylvania July 26 1925 1920s antique old vintage vptp
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A real photo postcard showing the Tressler Orphans' Home Band. "Tressler" was part of its name beginning sometime in the nineteenth century, so I'm not sure why it's missing from the drum in this early twentieth-century photo.
For a later incarnation of the band—with spiffier uniforms and a different drumhead—see Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa.
Tags: ephemera postcards real photo postcards rppc photos photographs found photos portraits Tressler bands Tressler Orphans' Home Band Tressler Orphans' Home Orphans' Home Band orphanages orphans children boys music musicians groups musical instruments instruments drums tubas trumpets French horns clothing clothes uniforms trees outdoors religious Loysville Pa. Perry County Pennsylvania antique old vintage
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"Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa."
A real photo postcard originally posted on Ipernity: Tressler Orphans' Home Band, Loysville, Pa.
For another orphanage music group, see Girls' Saxophone Band, Evangelical Orphanage, Lewisburg, Pa.
Tags: ephemera postcards real photo postcards rppc photos photographs found photos portraits Tressler bands Tressler Orphans' Home Band Tressler Orphans' Home Orphans' Home Band orphanages orphans children boys music musicians groups musical instruments instruments drums tubas trumpets clarinets French horns clothing clothes uniforms buildings stained glass windows Jesus Jesus Christ religious Loysville Pa. Perry County Pennsylvania antique old vintage
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An undated photo by Morrows Studio, Newport, Perry County, Pa., shows schoolchildren posing in front of a blackboard.
The expressions on the kids' faces range from angelic sweetness to stoic forbearance to utter impatience. My favorite is the girl sitting third from left in the front row (see below for a close-up view of her and some of the other children). Her dramatically amusing appearance--with puffed-out cheeks, bulging eyes, and a hand over her stomach--either indicates that she's going to be sick or that she's ready for the photo session to be over.
A photo of children originally posted to the Vintage Photos Theme Park group on Ipernity: Schoolchildren Posing in Front of a Blackboard, Perry County, Pa.
Tags: ephemera photographs photos found photos portraits children boys girls groups schoolchildren students education schools desks blackboards chalkboards alphabets equations clothes clothing overalls dresses hair bows bows facial expressions expressions faces humor humorous funny amusing cute antique old vintage Morrows Morrows Studio Newport Pa. Perry County Pennsylvania photographers studios vptp interiors
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