Throughout the year
2000, we highlight interesting items from Prattsville history.
This used
to be a town where many people from the city spent their summers and they
all sent postcards back home ... they also sent postcards to each other
...
... in the early 1900's, the postcard was the e-mail of the day. For
a green penny stamp, a Ben Franklin - either full face or side view, one
could send off a message in the morning: "Let's eat at the hotel
tonight". A confirmation by return mail could arrive in the
afternoon, provided the distance was short enough.
The picture postcard might cost five cents or less, but to really trim the
budget, one could use a government postcard at a total of one cent, card
and postage. Naturally, all first class mail went this fast,
speeding up business transactions in downtown New York City, where the
mail was actually delivered three times a day. In Prattsville, it
came twice a day.
Printing of the postcards was
done in Germany before World War One and locally after that. All
postcards are from collection of Milton Ballard, owner of Shirley�s
Restaurant on Main Street in Prattsville.
