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| Mt. Vernon, IL town square prob 1904 - 1910 |
This real photo postcard depicts the Mt. Vernon, IL town square in the early 1900's, most likely between 1904 and 1910. It appears to be celebration of some sort, there are what appear to be women of the Salvation Army or a similar organization standing in line in the front of the card. There are numerous other people milling about including at least one child carrying the American Flag. I am not certain as to the exact location on the square, but I believe the courthouse to be to the right.
I am basing my dating of this card on several things. First of all it is unfortunate that the card was not postmarked and mailed, but the Azo Card Company used different stamp box marks during different time periods. This stamp box (see picture below) has four diamonds in the corners all pointing upwards which means this card could have been produced between 1904 and 1918. Secondly, there are horse and buggies in this picture and no motor cars which were being made during this time frame. I am sure there were people in Mt. Vernon who had motor cars as early as 1904, however not everyone could have afforded them and would still be using a horse and buggy. Third, the other women in the photograph are wearing shirtwaist type dresses which are more in line with the 1900 - 1910 era. Since I know that the card was not made before 1904, I can only assume that the earliest this could have been taken was 1904 and possibly a few years after that.
It is still a wonderful piece of Mt. Vernon history and hopefully more information will be found to determine it's date and purpose.
