Grand Ave., West of Pleasant St., Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 5 July 1919 from Beloit. From Rose[?] & Russell. to Mrs. R.[?] P. Koch, Burlington.

The picture

A wide paved business street with streetcar tracks runs straight away from the viewer; an open touring car drives toward the camera; a red-brick hotel with a white columned entrance portico lettered 'THE HILTON[?]' stands at left beneath a U.S. flag; striped awnings and a bay-windowed corner block line the right side; the street ends at a long low brick building.

• Printed caption: Grand Ave., West of Pleasant St., Beloit, Wis.
• Printing: white border · color
• Lettering in the picture: THE HILTON[?] (on the entrance portico, left); [illegible] / [illegible] (dark signboard with yellow letters, left side down the street); [illegible] (small yellow sign, right side)
• Postmark ink on the picture: gray wavy lines of a machine cancel killer across the sky, upper left (offset from another card)
• Condition: a small nick in the bottom edge at centre; light corner wear

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: 18261 · Post Card · ADDRESS
• Stamp: 1c, green, Washington
• Postmark: BELOIT / JUL 5 / 1919 / 5[?] 30 PM / WIS. (machine cancel with wavy-line killer)
• Condition: light soiling and toning, heavier at the right edge

Exact copy

Line for line as written. [?] follows an uncertain word; [illegible] marks one that cannot be read; ~~ ~~ is crossed out, ^ ^ written above the line, […] runs off the card.

Message (back of the card, left half):

Beloit Wis 7/5-19
Dear Grandma & Till[?].
Just a few lines
to let you know that
we got home all OK
and are in the best
of health and hope this
finds you the same
Rose[?] & Russell.

Address:

Mrs. R.[?] P. Koch
1517 Summer St
Burlington
Iowa.

Reading version

The message joined into sentences, the spelling lightly modernized only where it helps; uncertain words keep their marks.

Beloit, Wis., 7/5-19. Dear Grandma and Till[?], Just a few lines to let you know that we got home all OK and are in the best of health, and hope this finds you the same. Rose[?] and Russell.

Who

• Mrs. R.[?] P. Koch — recipient, 1517 Summer St, Burlington, Iowa
• Grandma — recipient (addressed in the message)
• Till[?] — recipient (addressed in the message)
• Rose[?] — sender, Beloit
• Russell — sender, Beloit

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1919-07-05	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1919-07-05	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
written	7/5-19	a date written by the sender
card-features	after 1907-03-01	divided back: allowed in the US from 1 Mar. 1907
card-features	after 1915 to before 1930	white-border era (about 1915 to 1930)

The readings

Part	Status	Readers
caption	all agree	claude, gemini, gpt
postmark	crux (the month, day still in question)	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• message, line 2: Till (or Lill, Dill) — the capital is a single looped stroke
• signature: Rose (or Rosa) — the final letter is a short open stroke
• address, line 1: R. (or N., H.) — the first initial is an open looped capital
• postmark time: 5 30 PM (or 3 30 PM) — only the top bar of the hour digit is inked
• front, portico lettering: THE HILTON — tiny lettering in the halftone; the shape of the word fits HILTON

Reader's note: The sender's own date (Beloit Wis 7/5-19) agrees with the postmark day. The front shows the Hilton hotel portico on Grand Avenue; compare pc-049 (Hilton Hotel).

Scans: 1919-07-05 - Grand Ave., West of Pleasant St., Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1919-07-05 - Grand Ave., West of Pleasant St., Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 84c9a69593e0…, 1421ca7c6a6e…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte