Unexpectedly Delayed in Duluth

Paul Lundgren Dec 03, 2020 2 Comments

The date of the written message on this relic appears to be either Dec. 2 or 3, 1905. It is postmarked from Duluth on Dec. 5 and arrived in St. Paul the next day.

Someone named Gertrude has written the following to Ellen Giltinan, who is likely her sister:

My dearest Ellen,

There is a very good picture of what happens here. The house above X is Craggencroft I guess. Does it look natural to you? The car is as empty as usual. Love to you and mother.

The X on the card is intended to show a structure thought to be the Craggencroft School for Young Ladies, or Hardy Hall, which was located at 2000 Woodland Ave. It was dismantled in 1907 and parts of it were used to build three homes in that location.

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2 Comments

Matthijs

about 4 years ago 



I realize that I should defer to the author of the postcard because (1) the end of the street is pretty fuzzy and (2) I didn’t live in Duluth in 1905, but I’m just going to go ahead and call out Gertrude anyway and say that I think she guessed wrong. As fuzzy as they are, it seems that there are curved roofs and towers visible above the X and Craggencroft did not have those. It looks like Craggencroft was also set back pretty far from the street. What Gertrude marked seems to match better with the Glen Avon waiting station and the original Glen Avon Presbyterian Church (which was directly across the street from the current church).

That would put the streetcar (which probably isn’t there at all, since the shadows below the car suggest it is a superimposed element of the composite image along with bears) directly alongside Craggencroft, with the fence of the property visible on the right side of the image. 

Or maybe Gertrude had just taken a walk along Woodland Avenue before she bought the postcard and knew exactly what was talking about (although she herself did admit she was only guessing).
 

Paul Lundgren

about 4 years ago 


Here is the recipient of the postcard, "Ellen Giltinan, daughter of George M. and Mary Donnelly Giltinan. Granddaughter of Ignatius Donnelly."

It's possible that the name signing off on the postcard isn't Gertrude, and might not even be the name of the sender at all, but the name of a nun. The last part of the message might be "Love to you and Mother Gertrude." Perhaps the sender is a schoolmate.

Anyway ...


Ellen was teacher circa 1915 according to the Anaconda Standard newspaper.


Ellen died in 1924, according to the Independent Record.

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