Grand Ave. Looking West, Beloit, Wis.

Mailed 19 Sept. 1923 from Beloit. From H. Priest to George B. Davis, Indianapolis.

The picture

An elevated view down a wide paved business street with streetcar tracks; two- and three-story commercial blocks line both sides; automobiles in the roadway; pedestrians on the sidewalks; American flags fly from tall poles on rooftops at left and right; smokestacks rise at the left skyline.

• Printed caption: Grand Ave. Looking West, Beloit, Wis.—32
• Number: 32 (at the end of the caption)
• Printing: white border · color
• Lettering in the picture: HOLAHANS (projecting sign at left); DRUGS (sign at the right-hand corner); K[illegible] (vertical sign beside DRUGS)
• Condition: corner and edge wear; light soiling in the border

The back

• Layout: divided back (message at left, address at right)
• Printed: Post Card · 27577N · E. C. KROPP CO., MILWAUKEE
• Stamp: 1c, green, Washington (profile in an oval)
• Postmark: BELOIT, WIS. / SEP 19 / 4 50 PM / 1923 (machine cancel with wavy-line killer)
• Condition: light soiling; a faint crease at the lower right

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):

Dear Member.
Received your card
today. Sure very glad
to receive it.
This card shows the
main St of Beloit.
Grand ave by name.
Beloit has no real
tall buildings the
highest being four
stories. Population
over 21000. about 1/3[?]
of the people are Italians.
many negros live here.
Will close.
Always
H. Priest
126 Oak Grove ave

Address:

George B. Davis.
3030 N. Capital ave
Indianapolis
Ind.

A later hand (a pencil figure, probably a dealer's price, top center, above the postmark): 3-

Reading version

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

Dear Member. Received your card today. Sure very glad to receive it. This card shows the main St. of Beloit, Grand Ave. by name. Beloit has no real tall buildings, the highest being four stories. Population over 21,000. About 1/3[?] of the people are Italians. Many negros live here. Will close. Always, H. Priest, 126 Oak Grove Ave.

Who

• George B. Davis — recipient, addressed as 'Dear Member', 3030 N. Capital Ave., Indianapolis, Ind.
• H. Priest — sender, 126 Oak Grove Ave., Beloit, Wis.

When

How	Date	Basis
filename	1923-09-19	the date in the scan's file name
postmark	1923-09-19	postmark, as read: the day the card was mailed, not the day the picture was made
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	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
address	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
message	majority	claude, gemini, gpt
signature	in message	claude, gemini, gpt

Uncertain readings:

• message, line 12: 1/3 (or ⅓, 1 3) — a small 1 above a 3, slanted, at the end of the line
• message, signature: H. Priest (or K. Priest) — the initial is a looped capital
• postmark, time: 4 50 PM (or 4 30 PM) — the small minute figures are faint; the first looks more like 5 than 3
• message, line 1: Dear Member. — read as written; 'Member' suggests a postcard-exchange club correspondent

Reader's note: The message describes Beloit for a distant correspondent ('Dear Member', apparently a postcard-exchange club): no tall buildings, the highest four stories; population over 21,000; about a third Italian; 'many negros live here'. These are the sender's own claims, not checked. The front caption ends with the view number 32.

Scans: 1923-09-19 - Grand Ave. Looking West, Beloit, Wis. - 01.png and 1923-09-19 - Grand Ave. Looking West, Beloit, Wis. - 02.png (sha256 d790aee2f0b6…, fef007242bb8…). Media: front — the scan, byte for byte; back — the scan, byte for byte