Bridge Running

I know it's out of focus and  leaching 80 year old chemistry, but I like it anyway.   I wonder if they were running from something?  A little harmless prank, hurrying away before getting caught, while their less adventuress friend took pictures?

Two Views of the Point

As anyone from Pittsburgh, PA can tell you, the point is where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers come together to form the Ohio River.  These two views of the point are quiet a few years apart.  The top image shows the original Point Bridge.  It opened in 1877, crossed the Monongahela and connected the south side with downtown.  In 1927, the second Point Bridge was built right beside the original, which was dismantled after it's replacement opened.  In 1959, it happened again, but this time the new bridge was named the Fort Pitt Bridge, which can be seen on the right of the second image.   The first and second bridges ended in an industrial area, but now, the point area is a state park.  The land was taken, using eminent domain, in the fifties, but the park wasn't completed until the point fountain was completed in 1974.

The top card is postmarked, "PITTSBURG, PA SEPT. 25  7:30 P.M. 1908" and addressed to Mrs. W. W. Van Cleve, 289 So-18th-St, Newark, N.J."  And yes, Pittsburg is correct.  For some odd reason, the "H" was dropped for a number of years from the city name.

The second card isn't a very good picture, it's damaged, and looks as if someone stepped on it.  I bought it because I really liked the message on the back.  "Hi Jim!  Arrived here Nov. 23, 1954 and have been enjoying this wonderful metropolis and it's inhabitants ever since. Maybe you'll come see me sometime.  I think I'm going to stay here for awhile.  Latter, Eileen."  It's addressed to "Jimmy Daschbach, 1315 Wood St., Pgh., PA 15221"  So, the Point State Park Fountain can be seen in the photo, so Eileen has been in the city for at least twenty years, and is sending a card to Jimmy, also living in Pittsburgh, like he's some sort of distant friend.  I've always thought that a middle aged Eileen was trying to set something up with Jimmy.  And now that I'm well into my fifties, I like the idea of a tryst between a couple of aging Pittsburghers.  It gives me hope.

The Epworth League Album 10, Life on the River

I wrote in an earlier Epworth League post that the pictures in the first part of the album had a mid-western feel to them. Well, here's a bit more of that feel. A river this wide, in the United States, is probably the Mississippi, the lower Missouri or the lower Ohio. There might be some other candidates out there, but those three are the most likely. I spent some time, on line, searching for images of old bridges along those rivers and couldn't find a match. But someone out there must be able to recognize these locations. As always, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.