Saturday, February 25, 2017

Real Photo Postcard Caldwell Banking & Trust Co. circa 1903-1905

Click link below to see more of the post and comments in the All Idaho group.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1465335470392310/permalink/1854034324855754/?qsefr=1

Here is another great RPPC (to me anyway) acquired with the recent batch. I have included some detail scans. I just started playing with it but here are a few first looks. A pretty rare find. Circa 1904-5.

Wish I could get a better look through those windows! Who knows where this is? Should be easy for most. I will add additional comments later.
 







Click here for more Caldwell Banking & Trust Co. on this blog

Friday, February 24, 2017

Old bridges near Caldwell Idaho

Here is a Real Photo Post Card (RPPC) of a three span bridge crossing the Boise River near Caldwell. Written on the back "Idaho OSL Railroad" and "West of Caldwell one mi crossing Boise River." We see an Oregon Short Line (OSL) train on the bridge at the time of the photograph.
In a quick search of other photos of mine and online I have not yet confirmed if the bridge still exists or location. Comparing photos as I write. If the bridge experts have any ideas please let me know.
This third photo below is one I lightened up and gave a bit more contrast.
You can find also other bridges by searching this blog. 

To see more great photos and discussion regarding this post, and where it is located, click here and visit the All Idaho group.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

"AK Steunenberg res(idence, Bro(ther) to the one that was blown up"

Sorry...initially had the reverse side posted below from the wrong postcard.

Here is another RPPC, circa 1906-1907, among a grouping of early photos of Caldwell, ID. This is the home of AK and Carrie Steunenberg and still stands in Caldwell. AK was one of the brothers of Gov. Frank Steuneneberg and was actually more the mover and shaker in family business dealings.The photo is almost identical, but not quite, to a larger original I have of the house. It remains a beautiful Caldwell landmark but has been split into apartments and has not received the upkeep and historical restoration it needs. The home had a large upstairs room, ballroom of sorts, and was the gathering place for Steunenberg holiday celebrations and other events.
Here is an excerpt from 'Big Trouble':
“At noon on Christmas Day, the governor and Belle attended the traditional family dinner at A. K.’s house. The hustling young entrepreneur and his family occupied an imposing Colonial Revival mansion, its great front portico supported by three Tuscan columns, approached by a new cement sidewalk on North Kimball Avenue, where the city’s 'quality' clustered in the lee of the Presbyterian Church.”
.....“None of these insecurities could be detected that Christmas afternoon as a gracious A.K. welcomed the boisterous clan beneath his portico. No fewer than thirty Steunenbergs gathered around the heavily laden table, headed by the seventy-two year old patriarch, Bernardus, a shoemaker by trade, a Mexican War veteran who’d come west from Iowa to join his children earlier that year. Seven of his ten offspring were there that afternoon: five sons—Frank; A.K.; Pete, the most raffish of the brothers, a part-time printer who sometimes dealt cards at the Saratoga; Will and John, lifelong bachelors and partners in a shoe store (“Fitters of Feet,” they called themselves) just behind the Saratoga—and two daughters—Elizabeth (“Lizzie”), married to Gerrit Van Wyngarden, a Caldwell contractor who’d built both Frank’s house and the new Caldwell Banking and Trust building, and Josephine (“Jo”), at thirty-four still unmarried, who made a home for John, Will, and Bernardus at her commodious house on Belmont Street, while finding time to repair Franks’ shirts as well. The “plump” and jolly” A.K. played Santa at his own festivities, distributing elaborately wrapped gifts to all the children.”

Above from 'Big Trouble-A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America' by J. Anthony Lukas

Probably the trigger for my wanting this was the note on the back (I am correcting spelling): "AK Steunenberg res(idence, Bro(ther) to the one that was blown up."
I will post a couple related blog links in comments below.

For further links, comments, etc. on the above, go to All Idaho History