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A 5.5x3.5" vintage collotype 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 depicts the Soldiers\' & Sailors\' Memorial on Riverside Drive in New York City, as seen from an elevated vantage point overlooking the Hudson River. The illustration, signed by artist H.N. Petit and published by J. Koehler of New York, shows the grand Corinthian-columned rotunda monument with Riverside Park\'s promenade in the foreground, elegantly dressed Victorian-era visitors strolling nearby. The Hudson River stretches out behind, alive with steamboats, sailboats, and paddle wheelers, with industrial smoke rising from the New Jersey shore opposite. The scene captures the lively character of the river and the grandeur of Upper West Side Manhattan around the turn of the 20th century.
A handwritten message on the front reads: "The view of this monument from the Hudson River is great. Mama." The postcard is dated Oct 6, \'03 - meaning October 6, 1903 - making this a rare pre-divided back \'undivided back\' era postcard from the very earliest years of American postcard collecting.
Historical Notes
The Soldiers\' and Sailors\' Monument on Riverside Drive at 89th Street was dedicated in 1902, just one year before this postcard was mailed. Designed by architects Charles and Arthur Stoughton along with Paul E.M. Duboy, it was built to honor the Union soldiers and sailors who served in the Civil War. The monument is a marble rotunda modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates in Athens, Greece, and stands about 96 feet tall.
Riverside Drive, when this postcard was sent, was one of the most fashionable addresses in New York City. The neighborhood continued to develop rapidly through the 1910s and 1920s. The monument itself still stands today and was designated a New York City landmark in 1976. The Hudson River, shown here teeming with steamboats and sailboats, would see commercial river traffic decline sharply over the following decades as rail and automobile transport took over.
Browse our complete New York photograph collection.
Print analysis
This is a collotype or halftone lithographic postcard from the undivided back era (pre-1907), published by J. Koehler of New York. The image is a printed illustration rather than a photographic print. The back format - with \'THIS SIDE IS FOR THE ADDRESS ONLY\' and no dividing line - is characteristic of the pre-1907 undivided back period, consistent with the 1903 mailing date. This is a Type 1 period piece, produced at or very near the time it was used.
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.
