Cow Exhibits at A Century of Progress Exposition

Chicago was the host of two international expositions. The first was the Worlds's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The second was A Century of Progress International Exposition held in 1933 and 1934. The postcard and pictures in this post are all from the Century of Progress and show the cow exhibits there.

The first image (above) is a postcard from the International Harvester Company dairy exhibit in the Agricultural Building. A mechanical cow was used to demonstrate the McCormick-Deering milker. This cow was a reproduction of a Holstein that chewed its cud, moved, breathed and gave milk that could be seen through a window in the pail of the milker.

The Dairy Building was filled with dairy exhibits starring the cow as "Our Foster Mother." The next three pictures are from a souvenir book showing many of the exposition exhibits and buildings. The first picture is of the Dairy Building exterior.

The next picture is of a mural and a mechanical cow with its insides representing "nature's greatest food factory." This cow consumed roughage and turned it into milk.

The next picture claims to show the difference in growth and size when an animal was fed milk. (Believe it or Not!)

The last picture is a page from an article in the Official World's Fair Weekly. (Click the picture to enlarge it to readable size.)

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Welcome to Brazil - Indiana, USA

Brazil, Indiana was founded in 1866. It received its name from a local farm that was named Brazil. The farm was given its name in the 1840s because Brazil was often in the news at the time.

This colorful billboard is probably from the late 1950s or 1960s. The famous "Chafariz Dos Contos" is still there. This is a fountain that was a 1956 friendship gift from Brazil, South America. It is a replica of a fountain built in 1745 in Ouro Preto, Brazil.

The billboard advertised that Brazil was the "clay products center of the world." Brazil is no longer a clay products center, but in the past there were nine clay product plants within a couple of miles of Brazil. The plants made products like electrical conduits, hollow tile, silo block, face brick, interlocking brick and block, paving brick, sewer pipe, wall coping, chimney tops and bowls, segment blocks, fire clay stove pipe fittings, flue lining, drain tile and common brick.

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Cooling Off at Lake Nokomis, Minneapolis

The Minneapolis lakes must have been especially inviting in the days before air conditioning.

Lake Nokomis is one of the lakes in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The following information on Lake Nokomis is from Wikipedia:

The lake was originally named Lake Amelia in honor of Captain George Gooding’s daughter, Amelia, in 1819. Its current name was adopted in 1910 to honor Nokomis, grandmother of Hiawatha (legendary Indian hero of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, The Song of Hiawatha). The lake has an area of 204 acres (0.83 km2).When purchased in 1907, the lake was very shallow, only 5 feet (1.5 m) deep in the deepest spot. Much of it was actually marshland or slough -- a drainage area for the neighborhood. It was deepened by dredging to produce the current lake.

These lines are from Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha:

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water,
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest.

Monaco Wedding Stamps

This postcard has a night view of the Prince's Palace in the Principality of Monaco. The stamp in the upper right corner is not an actual stamp. It is an image of the stamp printed as part of the postcard design. The stamp commemorates the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco on April 19, 1956. Grace Kelly was an American movie star.

For a couple of years when I was young, I both collected stamps and was fascinated with dime stores. One Saturday my father took me to a dime store in a neighboring town. Dime stores sold packages of stamps for collectors, so of course I had to look at the stamps. That is where I bought the stamps of the Monaco royal wedding. I seem to remember I was already aware of the wedding. Maybe I saw it on TV, or maybe it was because my Girl Scout troop was making scrapbooks of movie stars that year.

Below are the real stamps from my old stamp collection.

And here is a video with news coverage of the wedding:

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog

Century of Progress Photos

The postcard above shows the "world's largest parking lot" at the Century of Progress Exposition (Chicago World's Fair) held in Chicago in 1933 and 1934.

The snapshot below has a 1934 Century of Progress border. I like to think that the women posed with the car were on the way to the fair and might have parked in the lot shown on the postcard. Although the photo has a Century of Progress border, I don't know if it actually represents a trip to the fair. I wish I knew whether the photos with this border were all connected with the fair.

The photo of the women does have a list of names on the back. Two of the names--Vera Jasmund and Hermina Wulf--are uncommon, and I was able to find the names on the 1930 census for Chicago. They were born about 1912 and 1911, which would make them in their early twenties in 1934.

The rest of my photos are from a different source. They have an 1833 - 1933 Century of Progress border. There is no information on the backs. The first photo shows two women seated at an outdoor table. The sign above the woman on the left says Restaurant Leopold. Restaurant Leopold was in the Belgian Village.

The next photo shows the women looking at the replica of Abraham Lincoln's birthplace.

The last photo is a view of the Fort Dearborn replica. Fort Dearborn was an important fort in Chicago's history.

The Century of Progress was actually a colorful place, as shown in this 1934 Chicago World's Fair in Technicolor video.

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Camp Lincoln for Boys

This postcard shows the waterfront at Camp Lincoln for Boys which is located on Lake Hubert, near Brainerd. The card was used in 1939, but the message is unrelated to the camp. The back of the postcard has this description:

Lake Hubert, 13 miles from Brainerd, is an ideal camp location with a marvelous sandy swimming beach. Big towering pines add beauty and atmosphere.

The history of Camp Lincoln goes back to 1909 when the camp was established as the Blake Camp. In 1923, the camp was purchased by a new owner and renamed Camp Lincoln. The camps 100-year anniversary was celebrated in 2009.

Picture Postcard Centenary 1894-1994

This postcard is one of a series showing British stamps that commemorate the Centenary of Picture Postcards. There are some earlier postcards with printed stamps, but 1894 is the date when adhesive stamps were first allowed on postcards. The Picture Postcards 1894-1994series of stamps was issued by Royal Mail on 12 April 1994.

The comic illustrations on the stamps are typical of the British "saucy seaside postcard." These are relatively tame compared to many of the more vulgar and tacky seaside postcards.

This series of stamp cards consists of "postcards about stamps about postcards." This card is my favorite from the series because it shows a man writing postcards. It goes a step further, being a "postcard about a stamp about a postcard about postcards."

I am participating in Sunday Stamps at Viridian's Postcard Blog