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A 5x3.5" vintage half tone photo postcard (NOT a modern reprint) from the estate of a vintage postcard collector. This was part of a huge collection of antique New England postcards.
* We always automatically combine orders for shipping, so add as many postcards as you’d like to your order!
Photo Overview
This antique postcard offers a fine early 1900s street-level view of the Public Library in Norwalk, Connecticut. The handsome building is shown in a Tudor Revival / Richardsonian style with steeply pitched gabled rooflines, decorative half-timbering in the gable peaks, arched central entrance, and rows of multi-pane windows. A flagpole stands at the entrance, and a utility pole rises in front. Notably visible in the lower right foreground are streetcar rails embedded in the road, giving a vivid sense of the era\'s transportation infrastructure. Mature trees frame the scene on both sides, and a neighboring commercial building is visible to the right. Published by The Rotograph Co. of New York City (printed in Germany), this is an undivided-back postcard placing it firmly in the pre-1907 era.
Historical Notes
The Norwalk Public Library shown here is the original Carnegie-era building that served the city in the early twentieth century. Norwalk, Connecticut, located in Fairfield County along Long Island Sound, grew substantially through the early 1900s as a manufacturing and commercial center. The streetcar tracks visible in the foreground were part of a trolley network that connected Norwalk\'s neighborhoods - a system that was eventually dismantled, as were most American streetcar networks, by the mid-twentieth century. The Rotograph Co. was one of the most prolific American postcard publishers of the Undivided Back era (pre-1907), importing high-quality photographic postcards printed in Germany before domestic printing took over after World War I. Cards from this publisher and era are increasingly collectible as artifacts of Edwardian American town life.
Print analysis
This is a halftone collotype-style postcard printed in Germany for The Rotograph Co., New York City, during the Undivided Back era (pre-1907). The undivided back, the \'one cent domestic / two cents foreign\' stamp box wording, and the German printing all confirm an approximate date of 1900-1907. This is an original period printing of the postcard, not a later reproduction. It is best classified as a Type 1 original period postcard.
Condition
All postcards we sell are in fair to excellent vintage condition. Please see photos for any tears, folds, smudges, or other age damage that may be present.
