Easter Cards

I try to keep up - email, tweets, texts, Facebook, YouTube and two blogs - reporting, documenting and keeping in touch with folks. This constant chatter lies somewhere between feeling engaged and a chore.
But I have a collection of old postcards (an anachronism) addressed to family members in Globeville that I keep in a cigar box (another anachronism). These postcards include elaborate versions covered with glitter and embossing, to more simple cards with seasonal messages. All would require some effort to purchase, compose and mail.
These two Easter cards were from the Mautz family, long-time friends of my grandparents, who kept in touch while living in Salida, Pueblo, Leadville and Denver. Changes in jobs, locations and family situations can be gleaned from the messages, "Happy Easter to Andy and Ida," then to "Andy, Ida, Andy Jr and John." I enjoy the heartfelt messages, the craft of the printing and tenderness of the images. Will anyone want to save our Tweets and emails?

Christmas postcards 1910

These postcards are to and from family members and are dated 1910. The printing is beautiful with gold ink, complex graphics, many colors and some embossed surfaces. The message side is often used as we would use a phone call "will arrive by train on Thursday" or "please send a money order." Some notes are surprisingly personal and tender, considering how visible the content would be: "missing you tonight." Denver was much smaller, too. One card is simply addressed to the Globe Mercantile, Globeville and apparently arrived there alright.

201 East 45th Avenue

The building at 201 East 45th Avenue dates from 1882 and has been a grocery for most of its life. Lydia Heck remembers hearing that the structure was one of the company stores of the big Globe Smelter Company. The building was purchased by her father, Carl Gerhardt, in 1922 and operated as a one-stop shopping venue with everything from canned goods, freshly-made ethnic sausage, cleaning supplies, material for sewing, to toys and penny candy. Larry Summers remembers, "Grandpa would be near the door on the right, where they had a long counter like they had in dry goods stores, to measure yard goods. He would sit on a stool near the door, and, when people came in and out, he would visit with them and “dun” them for payment on their account. Right in the middle of the store was a post with a couple of phones on it, pads hanging on nails and clerks taking orders. Groceries would be gathered in a collapsible box and clerks would go all around and deliver the goods in company trucks." Carl Gerhardt sold the store in 1945, just as supermarkets were moving into the area and residents were moving to newer homes in the suburbs.

Today, the location seems to be a private residence.

Photo at top, Globe Mercantile about 1915. Andy Jackson is the middle fellow in the white apron. Photo used with written permission from June Jackson Egan

Middle photo, Gerhardt Mercantile in 1932. Photo used with written permission from Larry Summers.

Bottom photo taken in 2009 by Mary Lou Egan.

Globeville Story

Every day, thousands of commuters speed along Interstate 70 at Washington Street, barely noticing the neighborhood of Globeville. There isn't enough time to see that the lettering on the tower of St. Joseph's Church is written in Polish or to catch a glimpse of the tiny golden dome of the Transfiguration Orthodox Cathedral. Other ethnic churches, taverns, lodge buildings and homes are lost from view on the elevated freeway. The remains of the Globe smelter, for which the neighborhood was named, is hardly visible at all. This neighborhood has a rich history, worth slowing down and taking a closer look.

 E 45th Avenue, photo property of Mary Lou Egan
cannot be used without written permission