Newsletter - South Jersey Postcard Club

South Jersey Post Card Club
Newsletter
April 2004
Serving Post Card Collectors Since 1971
Re. Vol. 4 No. Two
On the Night of April 15, 1912
by Ray Hahn
On the night of April 15, 1912, the Cunard Line steamship
Carpathia, under the command of Captain Arthur Rostron, picked up
the SOS distress call from the ill-fated liner RMS Titanic. Captain
Rostron immediately turned his ship around, and dodging the same
icebergs that sank the Titanic, sailed at full speed toward the position
given by the Titanic’s radio operator.
Upon arriving at the scene, Captain Rostron found icebergs
and several scattered lifeboats with only 705 survivors, mostly
women and children, freezing from the cold and in shock by a
nightmare none could have imagined only a few hours before. After
taking the survivors on board, Rostron set the Carpathia on a course
for New York. The heroic rescue made the Carpathia and her crew
famous throughout history as the ship that rescued the Titanic survivors.
But what was the fate of the Carpathia after her fabled dash across the North Atlantic?
Six years later, at just before midnight, on July 17th 1918, while traveling in convoy from Liverpool to Boston, the
Carpathia was struck by two torpedoes from the German U-boat #47. Minutes later, a third torpedo slammed into the
Carpathia's hull as her lifeboats were being lowered, killing five crew members .
The celebrated liner slipped beneath the sea at 12:40 a.m. July 18th. The remaining crew and 157 passengers were
picked up by the British warship HMS Snowdrop and safely taken to Liverpool.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Institute of American Deltiology
300 West Main Avenue
Myerstown, Pennsylvania 17067
Dear Editor, signed Marvin
Editor’s Note: It seems that SJPCC Newsletter [Jan. ’04
issue] was not the only recent publication with information
about the John Stetson hat factory in Philadelphia.
Club member Marvin Krupnick wrote a letter telling
me that Reminisce Magazine [February 2004 issue] had a
note from a reader who lives in Palermo, New Jersey. The
note contained the following information:
The Institute, privately incorporated December 28,
1993, is a research center, library, and gallery for the study,
display and use of picture postcards as documents of
American history, art, and culture. Donald R. Brown,
founder, is shown standing outside the Institute in 2003,
sixty years after starting to collect on August 20, 1943.
A library of books, journals, club bulletins, news
clippings and slides supports the Institute’s postcard
collection.
Call (717) 866-7747 for an appointment or email
[email protected] for additional information.
Editor’s Note: Our member Donald Brown sent this card to me
with a very complimentary note about of the SJPCC Newsletter.
Thank you!
Frank Forster, Jr. was the paymaster for the
company located in Philadelphia. Every employee was
required to wear a hat to work. Mr. Gehris, the vicepresident, started a Sunday School for less fortunate
children in the Germantown section of the city. Every June,
the company took the children to Riverview Beach Park*
near Asbury Park, NJ.
* SJPCC Newsletter readers will remember in the
July 2003 issue a full-page article about Riverview Beach
Park, which was located in Pennsville, NJ – completely
across the state from Asbury Park.
š ›
PoCax 2004
May 8, 2004
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Double Tree Guest Suites
515 Fellowship Road North, Mt. Laurel, NJ.
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
Editor’s note: As many SJPCC members know, I am a member
of a post card club in England: The Canal Card Collectors Circle.
Last summer the club president, David Moore, had a question
about a postcard showing a canal in Portage, Wisconsin. David
suggested that since I live this side of the Atlantic, that I might be
able to shed-some-light on the history of the area.
As it turned out, it is a fairly interesting story.
______________________
Twenty-five Hundred Yards That Saved Six Thousand Miles
by Ray Hahn
A postcard from Portage, Wisconsin, is not a difficult
challenge – all you do is call the public library and ask for the most
informed historian employed there. People love to talk about their
pet projects and mid-westerners are no exception. I explained that
I was only in Portage once, some years ago, and even that time
was just a drive through, so when I talked to Donna at the Public
Library and Gil at the Canal Preservation Society this is what I
learned.
Today, Portage, Wisconsin, is a town of about ten
thousand people. It is almost dead-center in southern Wisconsin
and has always had a unique locational distinction. It is the one
place in North America where the waterways of the northeast and
the waterways of the southeast reside in closest proximity – a
distance of less than a mile-and-a-half.
Early on, it was discovered that the Fox river, which
flows north into Lake Michigan at Green Bay, Wisconsin, had
navigable water inland for at least a hundred and ten miles. On
the west side of Wisconsin, along its boundary line with Iowa, the
Wisconsin River, flows wide and deep into the Mississippi, just
south of Prairie du Chien, the site of the famed Villa Louis, a
trapping and fur trading center dating back to the late 1600s. And,
the place where these two river systems came closest together
was the village of Portage.
The Ho-Chunk Indians called the place, "Wau-wau-onah," which means the land between the rivers where one
shouldered a canoe, but the French named the area, "le portage,"
and that stuck and became Portage. The great significance of this
mile-and-a-half stretch of land was that by using this connection,
any one who needed to travel could go by water all the way from
Page 2.
the Gulf of Mexico to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on the
east coast of Canada.
(To go to the other side of the village without using ‘le
portage’ the traveler would be required to undertake the five
thousand, nine hundred and ninety miles from the headwaters of
the Fox River, through the Great Lakes, along the St. Lawrence
River; then turn down south along the east coast of the United
States, go around the Florida peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico, up
the Mississippi River to the mouth of the Wisconsin River and then
up the Wisconsin to the village of Portage. I guess shouldering a
canoe for a mile-and-a-half was worth the effort.)
Throughout the history of the Great Lakes region of the
USA, great manufacturing centers developed along the shores of
the lakes – primarily on the American side, but the great freighters
and tankers bringing raw materials and taking manufactured goods
to and from Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin ports were forced to
pass through more than six hundred miles of Canadian waters.
Those miles in ‘foreign’ waters was thought unsatisfac tory and
unnecessary, thus the overland corridor at Portage, between the
two water-systems was given hard scrutiny as a possible solution
and thought a sure remedy to cost-cutting the expensive shipping
through Canada.
In 1828, the U.S. military built a fort* here to protect the
fur trade and fifty years later, a canal was cut to facilitate the
growing commercial interests of the region. One such interest was
lumber needed for a fast growing America. The railroads were
soon pressed by the logging companies and tracks were laid from
what was then the edge of the northern pinery to Portage and then
from Portage the lumber was sent by ship to big cities south and
east.
The two lock Portage
Canal runs just two blocks south
of the town center.
The
Wisconsin River Lock and the
Winnebago Lock were capable
of handling 300,000 ton orecarriers and cargo vessels. The
canal was in full operation until
1951 when the Army Corps of
Engineers
welded
the
Winnebago Lock gates closed
and ordered the operation to be abandoned.
The canal is now, with help from federal and state
granting organizations, in a continuing state of renovation after
being neglected for over five decades. Using both volunteer
workers and professional contractors, over 1.6 million dollars in
state and federal funds, are encumbered for the renovation. It is
the goal of the 100 member Canal Preservation Society to bring
the locks and canal-bed up to standards for use by recreational
boaters, to run parallel to the canal both hiking and bicycle paths,
and to complete an educational center that will be integrated into
the Ice Age Trail Project – a state sponsored recreational project
that traces the edge of the last glacier that covered Wisconsin.
For some time there were members of the community
who wanted the canal filled because they felt it contributed to an
ever worsening mosquito problem, even though the canal has
always served as a storm water drain for the entire village. With
the founding of the Portage Canal Preservation Society and the
demonstration of benefits that the restoration of the canal would
bring to Portage, the two factions within the community have come
to realize the need to preserve this important historical site.
Attempts are currently underway to have the canal added to the
federal list of historical places.
* Fort Winnebago Surgeons
Quarters, built in 1828, is the
only remaining remnant of the
fort. See picture, right.
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
Postcard Sunday – 100 Years Ago!
This is a second in a series of reprinted articles that will
appear in our newsletter. The originals appeared in the New York
Times on the dates of our club meetings - 100 years ago.
______________________
Page 3.
2. The original bridge was a closed bridge (a tube), but fumes
generated by steam locomotives created problems.
Ice Threatens Thousands in Verdun
Special to the New York Times.
MONTREAL, April 10. – Three thousand people in the village of
Verdun, adjoining the western limits of the City of Montreal, are
tonight living in the upper stories of their homes, while several
thousand more who reside in that section of the city known as
Point St. Charles are also in danger.
3. The bridge was modified to an open-air bridge in
1898. The photo to the left shows the construction site and if you
look closely you can see the new iron-work superstructure.
Early today a large quantity of ice came down from Lake
St. Louis, and jammed up against the Victoria Bridge. In just a few
minutes the water began to rise, and in a short time had reached
the top of the dike built after the last great flood, and which, up to
the present time, has been sufficient protection.
By 6 o’clock the water had reached a depth of six feet in
the streets. Thankfully by 9 o’clock the water had begun to drop
and was down to one foot. The danger, however, is by no means
yet over, for there is more ice to come.
The villages of La Prairie and Lachine are also
threatened.
š›
4. A modern view of Victoria Bridge (1960s). You can
see; little has changed in sixty years.
š›
Scattergood Baines? Who was he?
Attention Bridge Post Card Collectors
The 100th Anniversary article above is a reminder that
Mother Nature always holds the upper hand, and postcard makers
will use almost anything to sell cards. When I tried to locate post
cards for illustrations, I had no problem finding exactly what I
wanted. Here are a few samples:
1. The Victoria Railroad Bridge (below) was a major
engineering achievement in the nineteenth century. It was
completed in 1859, marking the first time Montreal had a direct rail
link to the United States and to Eastern Canada.
This is a vintage real photo postcard, circa 1940s,
featuring the cast of the Scattergood Baines Radio Program.
Pictured are Scattergood, Hipp Brown, Pliny Pickett,
Clara Potts, Ed Potts, Polly Nagle, and Squire Hooper.
Back of card says: 'SCATTERGOOD BAINES RADIO
PROGRAM. An interesting dramatization of events in the life of
'America's Best Know n Storekeeper' and his neighbors in the little
town of Coldriver. Scattergood Baines, wise and friendly meddler
in other people's affairs, is the key figure in many humorous,
romantic and exciting episodes. The program is sponsored by the
merchants who display and sell Wrigley's Spearmint Gum.
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
Page 4.
An Answer to the Philadelphia Challenge
The Iroquois Theatre Fire
In the January issue, you were challenged to tell us
about the Dock Street Fish Market. As it turns out no one has
rendered a fish story, but none other than our own John
McClintock has a tale of Dock Street. It follows
Chicago, December 30, 1903. Fire, smoke and chaos
caused by fear, killed over six hundred soles today at the new
Iroquois Theatre on Randolph Street.
Dear Editor: Your mention of Dock Street brought
forth one memory of it.
I was on Dock Street one
morning in the 1950s when I saw three men helping a
police officer get on his horse.
I asked if he was injured. , “No,” one gentleman
stated, “he has so many quarters in his coat pocket that
he couldn’t climb into the saddle without help.”
Naturally my next question was, “Well, where did he
get so many quarters?” It was explained that the only
parking allowed on Dock Street was for vendors to load
and unload, thus anyone parking a car had to give the
officer a quarter to avoid a parking ticket.
As for the officer needing help mounting his horse, I
must mention that he was very overweight to begin with.
Thanks John for sharing this great story.
š›
The Linen Corner
This linen era postcard caught my attention at the
Carney’s Point show on the weekend of March 27th. At first I
looked at the card and passed it over with the same distain that I
have for chromes and moderns. Then I remembered, when I was
in forth grade, my teacher, Mrs. Jones, took my class to
Washington, DC, on a field trip. I can’t believe it, that was fifty
years ago.
I think the reason I remember the building on this
postcard so vividly, is that when I first saw it, I thought it was the
White House. Easy mistake for a ten year old.
The building is of course the Headquarters of the
American Red Cross.
The founding of the American Red Cross in 1881 was
due to the dedication of Clara Barton. A t the Visitors Center,
located in this building on historic Red Cross Square at 1730 E
Street, NW, Washington, D. C., you can see exhibits about Miss
Barton and others involved in a hundred years of Red Cross
history.
š›
Look for the
March Club Meeting News &
April Contest Topic
at the bottom of Page 8.
That’s the way the lead story in the Chi cago Sun-Times
began on the morning of December 31, 1903. A grusome story of
death and suffering that need not have happened.
(This post card of the Iroquois Theatre is the only one
I’ve ever found. It is also used as the only illustration of the theater
on the website. Here’s the story as found on the Iroquois Theatre
Memorial Website.)
The
Iroquois
Theatre was a mere five
weeks old that day in 1903.
Located
on
Randolph
Street between State and
Dearborn, it was a magnificent palace of marble and
mahogany,
a
"virtual
temple of beauty," and had
been
advertised
as
"absolutely fireproof ."
On the afternoon
of December 30th, an
audience of 1,900 was
present to see Eddie Foy
and Annabelle Whitford in
the musical comedy "Mr.
Blue Beard". The crowd
consisted of mostly women
and children.
As the orchestra
played "Let Us Swear by
the Pale Moonlight" during
the second act, a malfunctioning arc light ignited the muslin
drapes. The fire quickly spread to the backdrops hanging above
the stage, pieces of which then fell toward the performers. The
actors fled; Eddie Foy soon returned and urged the audience to
remain calm and in their seats.
The crew tried to lower the asbestos curtain between the
stage and the audience, but midway down, it stuck - the wooden
tracks had jammed with fire debris . As the stage collapsed, the
audience panicked and ran for the twenty-seven exits, only to find
most of them locked. Those in front were trampled and crushed
against the doors, which opened inwards.
The whole tragic event happened in less that fifteen
minutes, and by the time firefighters arrived, the auditorium was
silent. Five hundred and seventy five were dead, and at least 25
more would die from their injuries.
The Iroquois fire prompted new safety standards
nationwide. Under the new laws, exits had to be clearly marked; be
openable from the inside at all times; and all exit doors were
required to open outwards.
It was the worst theatre fire in the history of the United
States, and had the highest number of deaths of any fire in
Chicago, surpassing even the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
A coroner's inquest began within a week. Over two
hundred witnesses testified. It was a national sensation, exposing
unbelievable laxity on the part of the theater and city officials
charged with public safety. Hearings revealed that 'complimentary'
tickets motivated city inspectors to ignore the fire code and let the
theater open without proper inspections.
Not one of the injured survivors or victims' relatives ever
collected a cent of damages. The only person to serve a jail term
was a tavern keeper whose nearby saloon was used as a
temporary morgue. He was convicted of robbing the dead.
The Iroquois, which sustained only light interior damage,
was repaired and reopened less than a year later as the Colonial
Theater. In 1926, it was torn down to make way for the new
“absolutely fireproof” Oriental Theatre.
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
Recently for sale on e-Bay, the World's
Online Marketplace™
Page 5.
Oh, those French. They think of everything.
We know the French take post cards seriously, because
we recently received an invitation to a postcard show on Sunday
the 18th of July 2004. It is a whole show devoted to cat postcards.
Many SJPCC club members know postcard dealer
Francis Gresse. You see him at dozens of American show s
throughout the year, most notably the Metro shows, the York show
and the Havre de Grace shows.
Suspicions are that this invitation will go unheeded, but
Francis is asking as many Americans as possible to attend his
Exposition on Cats in Fréjus, France, on July 18, 2004. Fréjus is in
Provence and is close to St. Tropez and Cannes.
If you would like a numbered postcard advertising the
event you may contact Francis at: [email protected].
š›
It seems Ernest was visiting Medford, New Jersey , in
September 1914. He mailed this card to Miss Grace Rice in
Reading, Pennsylvania. His message reads:
Finn's Point Rear Range Light, Pennsville N.J.
Dear Miss Grace,
They had what they call old home weak at
Medford. Where the x is at Raymond’s feet is him
helping to carry a float but you cannot tell him.
Ernest
Is it safe to assume that Ernest’s spelling was a bit
weak?
š›
The only postcard of Cedarville, N. J.?
In a sleepy corner of Cumberland County, New Jersey,
between the towns of Fairton and Newport, the casual traveller will
find the village of Cedarville, population: 793. Is this the only
postcard ever made of Cedarville?
Just for fun . . . here is a recent photo of the Finn’s
Point Light. Maybe one of our club’s lighthouse collectors would
venture a contribution telling the story of this unusual structure?
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
May 5, 1919
Page 6.
Japanese Art on Postcards
By Don T. Matter
Volland. A name familiar to all postcard collectors is
famous for many reasons, not the least of which is the enormously
popular Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy series of books and
dolls. But, there is a different side to the Volland Family history
and that is the story I want to tell here.
Born in Germany in 1874, Paul
Frederick Volland was only 32 years old
when he founded, in 1906, the P. F. Volland
Company to publish greeting cards. Volland
knew his business for he had apprenticed in
Germany and had a keen eye for beauty in
design and perfection in printing. Volland
maintained an office in the Garland building
along Chicago’s loop.
Circa 1907 Volland published his
first series of postcards, an artist named
McFall, had created the American Beauties pictures showing
elegantly dressed couples. These cards are rare and expensive.
Business was good; greeting cards sustained the
company, and soon both adult and childrens books began to
appear with the Volland imprint. By 1908 Volland moved the
factory to a nine-acre plot just south of Chicago and within their
first ten years they acquired exclusive contracts with authors like
Elizabeth Gordon, Elizabeth Brown Kirkland, Olive Beaupre Miller,
and Miriam Clark Potter. Volland’s roster of illustrators included M.
T. Ross, John Rae of Howard Pyle's Brandywine School, John
Gee, Rachael Robinson Elmer, Miles K. Sater, and Maginel Wright
Enright, the sister of architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
By 1914 the Volland Company was pioneering new
ideas in printing that included colorful paper and special handmade
bindings. The idea of “gift” books originated in Paul Volland’s
office, and the publishing of
artist drawn postcards came
to be when Rachael Elmer
and Miles Sater were hired to
create sets of postcards
showing familiar scenes in
New York and Chicago.
(Sater’s drawing of the Field
Museum is seen here.)
Paul Volland was married and had three children.
Gordon was born in 1899. He attended private school in Chicago
and graduated with honors. Young Volland had hoped for a career
as a Naval officer and joined the Navy. He enjoyed great success
until family matters caused him to return to Chicago in 1919.
Volland’s two daughters, Virginia, born in 1908, and
Doris, born in 1911 were precocious girls; both attended college
and, as they say, “they married well.”
The Volland Family lived very comfortably from the
Company. Paul was a member of the Chicago Athletic Club, the
South Shore Country Club, and the Chicago Yacht Club. Mrs.
Volland’s time was well spent doing charity work in the Chicago
area. She especially liked doing volunteer work in the Chicago
Arts Institute. Among Volland’s passions in life was cricket. He
was an active member of the Forty Club – known mostly today only
in exclusive circles and Europe.
Then came May 5, 1919.
On that day Paul Volland had gone to his office with
several contracts pending and he wanted to “put-an-end” to a
nagging problem that had started in his New York office nearly two
years earlier.
(In the Summer of 1917, Volland was visited by a Mrs.
Vera Trepagnier of New Orleans. She had shown him a
wonderful, 1780s , miniature painting of General George
Washington by the colonial artist, John Turnbull. Volland was
captivated by the picture and offered to make reproductions of it
and for that privilege he offered to give Mrs. Trepagnier the
royalties. Unfortunately, in one of the rare failures of Volland’s
career, the 175 Washington reproductions did not sell. No profit
was realized, and no royalties ensued.)
By Susan Lane
The
Leonard A. Lauder
collection
of
Japanese postcards
has been presented
to the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston
where 300 choice
postcards
are
presently on display
in the exhibition, Art
of the Japanese
Postcard. The cards
appearing in the
exhibit were selected
from
25,000
Japanese postcards
donated
to
the
museum in 2002 and
catalogued.
They
are being shown for the first time.
While there are many themes in Japanese postcards,
the exhibition highlights the art of the late Meiji period (1900 to
1912), the Taisho era (1912-1926) and the early Showa era (after
1926) where Art Nouveau meets Art Deco and East meets West.
The earliest of the cards are recognized as eastern in
their style, incorporating the traditional scenes and techniques
used by Japanese fine art painters and those using woodblock
designs. However, with the end of isolationism and the exposure
and inclusion of European standards in Japanese ideology, the
Japanese Ministry encouraged artists to attend the 1900
Exposition in Paris and to study and share their work with their
European counterparts.
Postcards were noticed in travels through Germany and
the Japanese artists took the small palate seriously and began
exchanging handmade miniature works of art.
Returning to Japan, two schools evolved: one in their
traditional style, and the other with this new foreign influence. Like
me, those who are not scholars of Japanese art are not familiar
with the names of their artists of the day and the same for those
unfamiliar with European works of this period. Of course there are
differences in their works, but when you look at the postcards of
European artists such as Kirchner, Meunier and Grasset and those
of Japanese artists Kuniske and Hiromtsu, one can acknowledge
and compare the influence of each culture on the other.
Works done by some of the leading Japanese artists of
the time would eventually become known as the foremost artwork
in the Modern Japanese Art movement.
The museum catalogue, Art of the Japanese Postcard,
with essays by Anne Nishimura Morse, J. Thomas Rimer and
Kendall H. Brown provides a rare look into the newly researched
area of art and Japanese postcards .
The exhibition runs through June 6, 2004.
š›
Volland had an appointment with Mrs. Trepagnier on
May 5th, but the now 60 year old grandmother arrived at his office
and introduced herself to Volland’s secretary as Mrs. Martin.
Knowing no difference, the secretary allowed “Mrs. Martin” into
Volland’s office and within sec onds a shot was heard. Forty-two
year old, Paul Frederick Volland – shot in the heart – fell dead.
When the police arrived they found Mrs. Trepagnier at
the window, watching the crowds of people pass along the street
several stories below. When questioned, her simple reply was,
“Yes, I shot him.”
She had expected to receive at least $5,000 from the
contract she had signed with Volland in New York, but since the
reproductions were a complete failure, the contract proved to be
unfavorable to her. She told the police she needed the money for
her grandson’s education.
---- Continued: See Volland: on page 7, column 2 ----
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
The Page Seven Mystery Post Card
Page 7.
One of the “Strangest” Postcards Ever!
The postcard below is truly unique. A guess would date
the card from sometime in the 1930s. It tells the story of Sarah
Bishop of North Salem, New York. (North Salem and South
Salem, New York are in the Taconic Valley, near the boundary line
with the state of Connecticut. In the most recent census, North
Salem had a population of 930; South Salem has 12,300
inhabitants. I’m betting that few have ever heard of Sarah Bishop.)
The card is currently featured on a poster being
circulated in that part of New York advertising an outing to the
unassuming abode of North Salem’s eighteenth century
hermitress! This brisk spring walk is sponsored by the North
Salem Free Public Library.
Used post card. Mailed August 22, 1964.
With a caption that reads: Music Pier and Bathing Beach, _____ _____, NJ
You Can Win This Post Card!
Be the first to correctly identify the location (city) of
this south Jers ey view. Send your answer to the return
address on this newsletter or email the editor at:
[email protected] .
š›
Desperately Seeking . . . Postcards!
John McClintok – Is looking for postcards of Roy
Knabenshue and his airship. If you can help him , write to:
P. O. Box 1765
Manassas, VA 20108
Sarah Bishop’s Rock, North Salem, N.Y.
Shortly after the Revolutionary War, a well dressed
young woman appeared in South Salem who after a time made her
home in the shelter of an overhanging rock on Long Pond,
(Waccabuc) Mt.
She enlarged the tiny cavity with stones and barks and
lived here for years, coming down to friendly households in North
and South Salem to exchange wild fruits and nuts for the
necessities of life, but avoiding strangers and accepting charity
only when indirectly offered.
She attended the Presbyterian Church in South Salem,
sometimes wearing a yellow satin dress which she had brought
with her. It was rumored that from the mountain she could look
across the Sound to her old home in L. I. the destruction of which
by the war combined with an unfortunate love affair had unsettled
her mind.
After some years her brother traced her, and tried
unsuccessfully to persuade her to return with him. She finally
perished in a snow storm in 1809.
Editor’s note: The caption is copied exactly as it
appears on the card. I have no qualm with the grammar, the
syntax nor the spelling, but if you’re standing on any mountain in
South Salem, New York, you are at least 25 miles from the nearest
point on Long Island, and at that you would have to look across
parts of two states and the entire width of Long Island Sound. Ms.
Bishop must have had extraordinary eye-sight or this is a bit of an
exaggeration.
Go figure.
š›
Volland: continued from previous page.
This example of the postcards John is looking for has a caption:
Copyright by F. W. Glazier, 1905
Roy Knabenshue, navigating his air-ship.
In the years that followed, Gordon Volland headed the
company founded by his father. In the early 1920s the firm moved
to Joliet, Illinois, and hired a young writer and illustrator named
Johnny Gruette. With Gruette’s help the Volland name and
reputation spread worldwide because Gordon Volland had the
foresight to agree when asked to publish a series of books called
the Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy.
April 2004
South Jersey Post Card Club Newsletter
Page 8.
THE GREAT HANGAR, CAPE MAY, NJ
by Don Pocher
Having grown up in Cape May, I
thought I knew just about all there was to
know about our small town. Well, I found
out, not all!
At a show, a prospective
customer as ked if I had any dirigible or
airship post cards. I told him no but that I
did have one of a dirigible hangar at
Cape May, which I then showed to him.
He then explained that this was not the
original hangar but the enlarged one.
That was all the information he had but it
was enough to send me on a quest for
more.
The Cape May Hangar contract
was awarded in August 1917 and the
building was completed in 1918. The
The Old Hanger at Cape May, New Jersey
original dimensions were: length 250
feet; width 122 feet; and height 72.5 feet.
The original purpose of the facility was to house small non-rigid blimps. However in 1921 it was decided to
enlarge the hangar to house the ZR-2, almost 700 feet in length, which was under construction in England. In order
to complete the enlargement, the
hangar at Montauk, NY was dis assembled and that, with additional
material, formed the basis of the new
building: length 710 feet; width 156
feet; width inside 106 feet; and height
110 feet.
Since the ZR-2 had a diameter
of approximately 86 feet, it would not
have left much room for handling,
especially since the site was on an
unprotected strip of land fronting on the
Atlantic Ocean.
The ZR-2 exploded and
crashed in the English Channel, killing
44 crewmen, including Lt. Charles Little,
a Cape May native. With the expected
dirigible now out of the picture, the
Great Airship Hanger, Naval Air Station, Cape May, N. J.
building was used to house aircraft. In
1930 the hangar was leased to Anton Heinen for construction of his non-rigid “Air Yachts.” Salt air and neglect took
their toll and the hangar was demolished in 1941.
Approaching Cape May by car we children would shout “I see the Hangar, I see the Admiral (Hotel).” and we
would know we were home.
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News from the March 14th Meeting
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President Judi Kearney presided with 14 members present.
PoCax Update. Partial dealers list and exhibit information
announced. Boards and sleeves will be on sale at the next
meeting. Again, this year, the exhibit will be open and
unlimited. The officers and trustees encourage every member
to exhibit at least one board.
Newsletter Update. The editor wants to thank all those who
sent Get Well wishes and extends thanks for all the kind
remarks made concerning the quality of the newsletter.
Best card contest – topic was unusual transportation. Don
Pocher with the card seen left.
50/50. Sal Fiorello.
Contest Topic for April. Artist Signed; any era, any subject.