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Four years have passed since the first Chester County Post Card Album came off the press. The album appeared just before Christmas in 1980 and from reports received some people had difficulty breaking away from the book for Christmas dinner. We were quite pleased and somewhat surprised that the whole printing of one thousand five hundred copies were sold within six months. The album has now become difficult to obtain and copies demand a considerable mark-up over the publishing price. Some individuals have suggested that the Chester County Post Card Album be reprinted to meet the demand now that it is out of print. The Compilers have given some thought to this but agree that it is best to allow the first album to become a rare book and concentrate on the production of a second album using entirely different cards. Many persons have encouraged us with offers to loan material, and now the cards from eleven different collections have been gathered into a second album containing over five hundred different cards. Looking back on these past four years many cards have come to our attention which add greatly to the interest of the new album both for post card collectors and historically interested residents. Many such cards have been included in the second album, but more cards come to light every day. Just this week photograph cards of Lewisville, Strickersville, and Brandamore have been offered to the editors. Unfortunately the book was already set up and submitted to the printers. Even a third album would not include all the available material! The caliber of the color reproduction in this album is higher than in the first and the type and format have also been improved. Valley Forge has been omitted so that we could expand other sections. The West Chester section has been enlarged as have the Northern and Southern Chester County Sections. Delores Rowe of Kennett Square has added to our list of post card numbers begun in the first album. Many people have started to collect Chester County post cards since 1980, and it is our hope that the Chester County Post Card Album was an influence in their collecting. The number of different cards showing scenes of our County must be over five thousand. Different and unusual cards are being discovered all the time. Photograph post cards often of a "one-of-a-kind" variety have become increasingly sought after. We have included a number of them in the current album. The post card record of the towns and villages of Chester County and of the changes which have occurred since the turn of the century is an invaluable tool for the historian. The resident also gains satisfaction from exploring, by use of the picture post card, a world which no longer exists. This album forms a part of the printed record of our area and preserves the by now fragile cards by reproducing their images. Aside from amusement, the post card album will be an aid to Historic Preservation. Buildings, like ourselves, undergo changes brought on by aging. By showing buildings as they looked eighty years ago, these cards will aid architects in restoring exteriors to their original look. Recently a number of buildings along West Chester's Gay Street Mall have been restored to their turn-of-century appearance through the use of early post cards. The life style and standard of living of our area at the turn of the century offers many surprises when the environment recorded by the photographs on post cards is studied. Much that we take for granted is found to be of relatively recent origin. Transportation before the widespread use of the motor car is shown on these early cards. The railroad passenger station as the hub of the community in the first decade of this century is evidenced by the many local stations in this book. The passenger trains on the smaller lines in the County have of course entirely disappeared, and sometimes even the tracks, bridges and stations have been removed entirely with only memories and these cards to show that they were ever there at all. The railroads enabled certain villages to grow into towns and boroughs while other villages without rail service stayed small or disappeared. The improvement in roads and streets can be noted in that many, even in our boroughs, were unpaved during the first decade of this century. Trolley lines linked the different villages and towns with the nearby cities. Lancaster, Wilmington and Philadelphia were all linked by trolley to West Chester, our County Seat. Mrs. Francis Brinton is said to have travelled from her home on the Strasburg road west of West Chester to Boston(!) entirely by trolley in 1910. Now not a line serves our area. The automobile has given us the ability to cover distances hardly imaginable to county residents eighty years ago. Though it was possible to reach Oxford from West Chester by train, the trip was long and limited to once a day each way. Then, after a trip of only fifty miles, one stayed over in a local hotel and local hotels, judging by their numbers on old cards, did a thriving business. Now that trip could take only an hour by car, and a return that same day would be completely routine. Many other changes are to be seen if one looks carefully at the old cards The telephone and electric wires are not nearly as complicated in appearance today as early in this century. All these scenes were recorded while they were still an important part of our landscape. Post Card Parties such as were mentioned on many cards are no longer popular and I doubt if any have been held in half a century. Prior to 1907, law required all written messages to be on only the front sides of cards. Even when half the back became eligible as message space, messages remained short and often gave glimpses of life in a simpler time. In the captions we have attempted to give a little of the history of the structures appearing on the cards in this album It is impossible to know well the entire county and if any mistakes have occurred we take the responsibility We hope this album is as well received as the first and that it brings a little joy to those who read it.
West Chester Eleventh Month,
1984
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