MARTINSBURG — Old postcards are a wealth of information, capturing moments from the past and preserving them for posterity.
Today, only online photo mapping services are preserving the mundane daily life of the world, and it is by no means clear that those images will be available to future researchers. We are fortunate to have these snapshots.
The two we examine today are from Martinsburg, in Clay Township. One is from a downtown intersection looking north, in the year 1913. A man in a hat stands outside a business on the corner, while another person is about to step down from a horse and buggy parked in front of the place.
At least one if not two other buggies are parked beyond it. No sign is discernable to identify the business, though a sign saying “House” sticks out from a closer building, not included in the photo. Perhaps that was a hotel.
And, looking closer, is that a couple of chickens crossing the street? Only they can answer the perennial question about why they crossed the road. Perhaps they sensed their opportunity to become preserved for posterity.
Martinsburg’s buildings have changed greatly over the years. Even after examining the picture, I can’t tell exactly where this would have been. And what the photographer identifies as “North Main Street” isn’t that now. It is probably North Market Street. But the photographer may have been vague on information, as it appears that he or she had started to etch something onto the photographic plate, only to scrub it out and replace it with the current words.
The second postcard, lettered in the same writing is from one year earlier, and it simply says “Looking south from Martinsburg, O.” without identifying the location further. I suspect this is St. Louisville Road, shot from the field on the east side of the road, looking south. The road is unpaved, and a split-rail fence crosses the field. Today that field is a lawn with a pond in it.
The disappointing thing about the second postcard is that the photographer neglected to hire any chickens to cross the road for visual excitement. I, for one, am gratified that a year later, in 1913, the photographer was older and wiser, and knew how to up the dramatic ante to a pulse-pounding pitch.
And a note regarding last week’s column, about the 1913 test for schoolteachers: alas, I do not have access to an answer key for the test. One guesses that the examiners made sure that wasn’t published in the newspaper!
Look at the first house on the right side of the picture zoom in to the upstairs left window it’s freaky it looks like a girl in a dollhouse looking out the window… Like a ghost😬