Yesterday, I posted a picture of Whitewater’s college campus as it appeared on a postcard. Here’s a bit more about the postcard that someone sent me —
Below the picture, on the front of the card, is the inscription, “The Normal School, Whitewater, Wisc.”
On the reverse, there’s a green, one-cent stamp, with Benjamin Franklin’s picture. The stamp bears a circular postmark from “Whitewater Aug 13 9 AM Wis.”
The card is from the Auburn Greeting card Co., Auburn, Ind.
Someone sent the post card from Whitewater to a recipient in Forest Park, Illinois.
The greeting and addressee listed on the card are both written in pencil, and describe a trip that included a stop in Paddock Lake. The sender describes a decision not to stay overnight there “for one reason,” left unstated.
The sender concludes that the group of which she’s a part would be heading to Madison, after having traveled one-hundred fifty miles thus far. She notes that they “stopped in this town [Whitewater] to eat. Did I eat.”
Generations ago, someone in Whitewater provided travelers a good meal. The record of that trip survives, in a card sent during the Depression, from our small town.