Old Detroit Postcards

**DetroitZack** · September-24-09, 04:22 PM

Does anyone else out there like to collect old postcards? I have a larage collection. If you do feel free to post them on here. Below is a list of my Detroit ones. If there is any of them you would like me to scan and post on here, I can.

I purchased them all at antique stores or on ebay. My collection includes many Michigan and Ohio cities and some others around the country.

Belle Isle [[16)
Book Tower
Book-Cadillac [[3, 1 interior)
Briggs Stadium [[3)
Central M.E. Church
Central High School
City Hall
Detroit News Building
Dime Savings Bank Building [[2)
DIA
Fisher Building [[4)
Ford Building [[2)
Fort Wayne [[entrance)
Gladwin Park - Waterwroks Pumping Station and Tower
Gleaners Building
Grand Circus Park [[2)
Hotel Fort Shelby
Hotel Statler
Hotel Norton
Hotel Tuller [[2)
Hotel Wolverine
Kresge Admin. Building
Masonic Temple
Michigan Central Station
New Center
Pingree Monument
Post Office [[3)
Skyline [[5)
St. Clair Hotel [[2)
St. Mary's Hospital
Union Trust and Hammond Bldg
Water Works Park [[2)
Wayne County Courthouse [[2)
Wayne Univ.
Woodward Avenue Baptist Church
YMCA

Some misc.
*Heart of Detroit- this one shows the Guarding, Penobscot, Courthouse, and many other buildings.
*3 views- Ambassador Bridge, busses in tunnel and skyline
*Aerial view of downtown [[2)
*Cadillac Square, Majestic Bldg. and Real Estate Exchange
*Washington Blvd [[I love this one)
*Ice Fountain, Washington Blvd
*Woodward Ave., North from Jefferson Ave.
*Entrance to Detroit River Tunnel

**buildingsofdetroit** · September-25-09, 09:59 AM

Originally Posted by DetroitZack

Does anyone else out there like to collect old postcards? I have a larage collection. If you do feel free to post them on here. Below is a list of my Detroit ones. If there is any of them you would like me to scan and post on here, I can.

I purchased them all at antique stores or on ebay. My collection includes many Michigan and Ohio cities and some others around the country.

Belle Isle [[16)
Book Tower
Book-Cadillac [[3, 1 interior)
Briggs Stadium [[3)
Central M.E. Church
Central High School
City Hall
Detroit News Building
Dime Savings Bank Building [[2)
DIA
Fisher Building [[4)
Ford Building [[2)
Fort Wayne [[entrance)
Gladwin Park - Waterwroks Pumping Station and Tower
Gleaners Building
Grand Circus Park [[2)
Hotel Fort Shelby
Hotel Statler
Hotel Norton
Hotel Tuller [[2)
Hotel Wolverine
Kresge Admin. Building
Masonic Temple
Michigan Central Station
New Center
Pingree Monument
Post Office [[3)
Skyline [[5)
St. Clair Hotel [[2)
St. Mary's Hospital
Union Trust and Hammond Bldg
Water Works Park [[2)
Wayne County Courthouse [[2)
Wayne Univ.
Woodward Avenue Baptist Church
YMCA

Some misc.
*Heart of Detroit- this one shows the Guarding, Penobscot, Courthouse, and many other buildings.
*3 views- Ambassador Bridge, busses in tunnel and skyline
*Aerial view of downtown [[2)
*Cadillac Square, Majestic Bldg. and Real Estate Exchange
*Washington Blvd [[I love this one)
*Ice Fountain, Washington Blvd
*Woodward Ave., North from Jefferson Ave.
*Entrance to Detroit River Tunnel

I probably have about 2,000 of them and always looking for buildings I don't have.
I'd be interested to see which Hotel Norton you have.
Is it this one?
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...rds/norton.jpg
Or this one?
http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c.../nortonold.jpg

I've scanned many of them for my Web site, but I've also gone back and started scanning the backs and telling the stories of the cards on my Web site's sub-site. Check it out. And feel free to scan and share and you want to add.
www.buildingsofdetroit.com/postcards

**RickBeall** · September-25-09, 11:40 AM

Hi BuildingsOfDetroit,

I visited your site and really love it! Your short exerpts above the old postcards really capture the feel of the card and the era. They humanize the cards. Very wonderful presentation!

**buildingsofdetroit** · September-25-09, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by RickBeall

Hi BuildingsOfDetroit,

I visited your site and really love it! Your short exerpts above the old postcards really capture the feel of the card and the era. They humanize the cards. Very wonderful presentation!

Feel free to comment and join the conversation. I'll keep doing it if people dig it. Granted, I really haven't formally launched it yet. We're redesigning our Web site and will link to the postcard page off the front.

**psubliminal** · November-23-09, 06:21 PM

I got a box of hundreds of old ones from my grandmother in Mackinaw City. Most are from 1907-1915, but here's one from 1928.

**psubliminal** · November-23-09, 07:30 PM

I also recall the Ice Fountain, Washington Blvd. one, and Majestic Bldg., Detroit, Mich. Many of these postcards were sent to the Catholic Priest who baptized me. A lot of them are written in Polish. The oldest is from Rome, ca. 1895 and so far the most recent is 1952. The priest sold the house to my grandparents, and the box of postcards was found in the attic. I just love the way people wrote back then; they took such pride in their penmanship.

I'm curious what these cards generally go for. Some of the ones in my collection look like works of art.

Here's the Majestic one:

**eno** · November-23-09, 10:53 PM

A friend of mine and I got interested in old postcards about 30 years ago. Since I was working at Water Works Park Plant at the time, I focused my collection on postcards of various attractions within the Park grounds. I have over 260 postcards in my collection. I stopped searching out new cards years ago.

**buildingsofdetroit** · November-23-09, 11:06 PM

Originally Posted by psubliminal

I'm curious what these cards generally go for. Some of the ones in my collection look like works of art.

Here's the Majestic one:

That Majestic is a new one to me. I have lots of Majestic cards [[and cards with the Majestic in view), but I've never seen that one. As far as value, it really depends on the card. I sell my doubles at City Bird's store in Midtown from $1.50 for Belle Isle, Waterworks Park, etc. to $3.50 for buildings. There are some cards that are far rarer than others [[like the United Artists Building), but there's no definitive price guide for them.
And eBay really throws stuff in the air. I paid $10 for a Graystone Ballroom card that I had never seen before [[and was all excited and surprised it even existed) - and then another showed up on eBay a couple of weeks later and went for, like, $1. Some say the ones that were not postally used are "worth more," but I love reading the stories on the back.
If anyone is interested in trading doubles or something, or if they're looking for a specific building, let me know. I gave City Bird about 200 cards to sell, but I easily have another stack of 200 doubles.

**Bcscott** · November-24-09, 06:59 AM

I just started collecting about a year ago and I've got about a hundred twenty or so. One of the first dates I took my girlfriend on was a trip to the air races this year and we stayed at the Book Cadillac. I gave her a perfect, never used linen post card of the of the BC from the 30's or 40's and wrote a little message on the back. She really liked it and now its on display in her office at work. Of course I had to hunt down another BC post card to replace it later.

**buildingsofdetroit** · November-24-09, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by Bcscott

I just started collecting about a year ago and I've got about a hundred twenty or so. One of the first dates I took my girlfriend on was a trip to the air races this year and we stayed at the Book Cadillac. I gave her a perfect, never used linen post card of the of the BC from the 30's or 40's and wrote a little message on the back. She really liked it and now its on display in her office at work. Of course I had to hunt down another BC post card to replace it later.

Lemme know if you need any more B-C postcards. I have, like, tons of 'em.