Tag Archives: 1940s

Corn Palace Exterior, Mitchell, South Dakota

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This image is of another year’s decorations on the front entrance of the Mitchell, South Dakota Corn Palace. Like many such images of this era, this is a colorized version of a black and white original photograph.

Dan Grigg Enterprise, Co., Mitchell, So. Dak.


The description states:
THE WORLD’S ONLY CORN PALACE
MITCHELL, SOUTH DAKOTA
This building is redecorated annually at a cost of $10,000 in natural colored grains and grasses. The annual festival is held the last week in September but the building is open FREE the year around. It is the most outstanding exhibit of nature’s wonderful colors blended into interesting designs and pictures by skilled decorators.
–The building is currently undergoing considerable remodeling to allow for larger murals and signage. The cars shown in the image indicate this photo is from the 1940s.

Hotel Sinton, Cincinnati, Ohio

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This is an artist’s depiction of the large and imposing Hotel Sinton, once a landmark in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. The hotel was built in 1907 and demolished in 1967. It was located on the southeast corner of 4th and Vine Streets.

Lithoed in U.S.A. by Letterhead & Check Corp., St. Louis, Mo.


The description states simply:
700 Rooms HOTEL SINTON 700 Baths
Modern • New • Clean
–This was the hotel where the conspiracy of White Sox baseball players met to organize their effort to lose the World Series, known as the Black Sox scandal.
This card likely dates from the 1940s.

Union Station Interior, Cincinnati, OH

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This image proceeds to the interior of Union Station in Cincinnati, Ohio. Shown are the curving walls with several ticket windows, a vendor’s window at the far left, and the remarkable and historic murals above. These windows still exist in this form, though they (and the vendor window) sit locked and unused. The murals are unchanged.

Tichnor Quality Views, Made Only By Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass.


The description states:
The main concourse of the Union Terminal, built at a cost of $41,000,000, is semi-circular in shape, and the right and left hand sides of the dome contain the largest silhouette mosaics in the world, the left hand mural portraying the history of transportation, and the right hand the growth of Cincinnati. It also contains information and ticket windows, retail shops, restaurant facilities, etc.
–This card likely dates from the 1940s.

Union Terminal, Cincinnati, Ohio

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This image shows the imposing entrance to the Union Terminal building for railroad passengers built in the 1930s in Cincinnati, Ohio. Built at the height of the Great Depression, it is a national landmark for both its art deco construction and the murals in the interior. It is now a museum and iMax theater.

Kraemer Art Company, Cincinnati, Ohio


The back of the card has no description. This image is likely an artist’s rendition instead of a black and white photo colored for printing. The image likely dates from the 1940s.

Terrace Plaza Hotel, Cincinnati, Ohio

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This is an image of the building known at the time as the Terrace Plaza Hotel, named for the large terrace adjoining the restaurant and bar several stories above street level.

Tichnor Quality Views, Made Only By Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass.


The description states:
TERRACE PLAZA HOTEL
Cincinnati, Ohio
400 outside rooms, each with tub, shower, circulating ice water, 6-station radio. Four restaurants. Entire hotel completely air conditioned. Television in all public rooms. R. C. Kroger, Resident Manager, Max Schulman, General Manager.
–The hotel has changed hands during it existence, and is considered a monument to Modernist design and construction. It is operated under the name Hilton Hotel Netherland today. This image is from the 1940s. The card was used and is dated February 15th, 1950.

Federal Building, Cincinnati, Ohio

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This image features the Federal Building in Cincinnati, Ohio as it looked in the 1940s. This building also housed the main Post Office for Cincinnati at the time.

Art Tone Glover Finished – Made Only by Beals, Des Moines, Iowa


There is no description on the back of this card.
As best can be determined, this building no longer exists, and the post office has moved to a different location as a result. The cars present in the image clearly point to the image being from the 1940s. The card itself was used, and is dated February 14, 1950.

Mountain in western Arizona

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This landform was visible from the highway, or from a scenic viewpoint just off the famous Route 66. It is typical of the remnant harder rock left behind after millennia of erosion stripped away the softer surrounding material.

The town mentioned, Oatman, Arizona, still exists and is a thriving tourist destination for those traveling along the old Route 66.
This postcard dates from the 1940s.

“Squaw Tit” Mountain, Arizona

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This image is of an otherwise unnamed peak along the route of Highway 66 through Arizona. The name listed on the postcard is not traceable in any current maps that show landforms with this name in this location, and the only current feature that had this name was far to the south of the route for Highway 66.
Such names were often used to provide tourists some local color to the otherwise bleak landscape, and it is quite likely that this name was not officially associated with this peak. Most such names were changed to less offensive and more Native American traditional names.
This postcard dates from the 1940s.

Colorado River Bridges, Gold Run, Ariz.

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This image continues the current theme one additional day, showing the new Highway 66 bridge across the Colorado River in Arizona.

Frashers Photos


The site is closer to the California city of Needles, since the Colorado forms the boundary between the two states. The large sign in the center of the photo may be a boundary sign, which welcomes travelers to the state as they cross the state line.
There is no description on the back. This card dates from the 1940s.

More Hairpin Curves, Highway 66, Gold Road, Arizona

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This features another example of a subject popular at the time: highway construction in the intermountain west. This image not only shows the sinuous path of the legendary Highway 66 through the Arizona desert, but also, at the right, a long turnout to the top of a hill. This was no doubt graded to allow travelers a chance to stop and take pictures from the hilltop.
This card has no description on the back, just a stamped indication of where to write your address and message. It likely dates from the 1940s.