Saturday, December 17, 2022

Vintage Ambridge Christmas postcard, circa 1918

"Christmas Greeting From Ambridge"
unposted vintage postcard
circa 1918
personal collection

In the left bottom corner of this card it says, "Christmas Greeting from Ambridge."

Shown on the card with photos' captions:

Left, top: St. Veronica's Church; bottom: Office Building American Bridge Co.

Right, top: First Presbyterian Church; bottom: City Hall, Red Cross Headquarters

Center: Legionville Hollow

Because the other four photos show notable Ambridge buildings, the choice of a scene showing three women strolling in a wooded Legionville Hollow lane as the larger center photo seems to me like an unusual choice. Maybe the scene held some special importance. Or maybe it was simply pretty. Or maybe it just fit better in the vertical space.

The American flag and bible verse at the top seem surprising for a Christmas card: "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." (Rev. 2nd - 10). So merry. But I don't claim any expertise in vintage Christmas postcards, so maybe those are typical for the time.

This divided back postcard, now faded on the right side, was unmailed and had nothing written on the back. I based the "circa 1918" date, in part, on the photo of the First Presbyterian Church showing the church's "auditorium" that was dedicated in December 1917, after it was added to the right side of the earlier "chapel."

The flag, bible verse, and the "City Hall" (Ambridge's first Municipal Building) being described as the Red Cross Headquarters added to my thinking that this postcard might date from one of the U.S.'s WWI years (1917 - 1918), but I can't say with certainty. As do the dresses worn by the women in the Legionville Hollow photo.

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