Postcard History Series

Name: Portland
Brand: Joyce K. Bibber
SKU: 9780738550336
Price: 18.74 USD
Availability: InStock

The American Postcard history series books explores the history of an area through vintage postcards. Go fishing in the Salton Sea, tour the iconic Hollywood Studios during their golden age, and then take one of New York City’s subways back in time. From early Denver to the Grand Canyon National Park, these postcard books send greetings from the past to eager readers with a passion for history. [View all Postcard History Series books]

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Portland

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Selected Maine Coast Postcards of George S. Graves

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Old Orchard Beach

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Augusta

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The Kennebunks in Vintage Postcards

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Gardiner

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Brunswick and Bowdoin College

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Bangor in Vintage Postcards

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

The Kennebunks in Season

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Along Old Canada Road

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Bar Harbor

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Buxton

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Around Blue Hill and Ellsworth

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Deer Isle and Stonington

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The Saco River

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Portland

9780738550336

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Portland's development in the era from 1890 to 1950 is characterized by a 1911 statement that "as a bustling commercial center, an attractive place of residence, and a beautiful summer resort, Portland looms big." The city's leadership role as a major publishing nexus for early-20th-century American postcards accounts for the quality and quantity of the period images produced by firms such as Chisholm, Leighton, and Morris. Featuring many never-before-published views from the extensive collection of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, Portland offers a treasured visual reminder of a time when the city prospered as a major transatlantic port and played host to 250,000 tourists annually.

Selected Maine Coast Postcards of George S. Graves

9780738537054

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Retired from publishing The New England Homestead in 1899, George Storrs Graves took up photography and soon began to print his best pictures on postcards. Captured in this exciting collection are images of Maine's scenic coastline as it appeared early in the 20th century, through the eyes of a successful
businessman and talented photographer. Graves recognized that people wanted to see their hometowns in print, and he photographed everything from cottage-rimmed shorelines to commercial establishments. He and his wife spent summer months on the coast of Maine, at Small Point in Phippsburg and near West Harpswell. He traveled by foot, small
ship, and steamship to both popular and little-known locales along the coast; his pictures depict the sea
in all of its moods. The images in this collection were taken c. 1907 to 1914 and include areas from
Cape Elizabeth to Monhegan. Resorts that flourished during the summer months are depicted, including a one-time resort at Popham Beach. View early fishing vessels and the scenery of Casco Bay, including unusual shots of the Harpswell shoreline, in this previously unpublished collection of the postcards of
George S. Graves.

Old Orchard Beach

9780738549606

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

From 1631 to the present, Old Orchard Beach has had a singularly rich history among New England's summer communities.

Old Orchard was originally a small seacoast farming community nestled on the shore of Saco Bay. When the railroad came in 1873, the coast exploded into one of the grandest Victorian settings in Maine. It boasted famous religious camp meetings, transatlantic flights, big bands, big fires, harness racing, and automobile racing on the beach. The Kennedy family, Bette Davis, Fred Allen, Rosa and Carmen Ponselle, Pierre Trudeau, and Charles Lindbergh all rejuvenated themselves in this community. Old Orchard Beach is still a vacation mecca, and residents and visitors alike will find enjoyment and education within these pages.

Author Daniel E. Blaney was born in Old Orchard Beach and still lives in the house he was born in. He has been a member of the Old Orchard Beach Historical Society since 1970 and has served as its president, vice president, trustee, and historian.

Augusta

9781467122719

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Built in 1754 on the eastern bank of the Kennebec River, Fort Western became one of the first permanent settlements in what would eventually become Augusta and, in 1827, the capital of Maine. Through innovations in publishing by Gannett & Morse and Vickery & Hill, textiles by the Edwards Manufacturing Company, and lumber production along the Kennebec, Augusta thrived and prospered. Water Street flourished into the business and cultural center of the city, while Green and Winthrop Streets became some of the area's most opulent residential neighborhoods. A trolley system and the Maine Central Railroad station tied Augusta to surrounding communities and allowed visitors to come from far and wide and spend many a night at the famed Augusta House.

The Kennebunks in Vintage Postcards

9781467105415

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The town of Kennebunk split from the neighboring town of Wells on June 24, 1820, just three months after Maine became a state. Kennebunk's proximity to three large bodies of water--the Kennebunk River, the Mousam River, and the Atlantic Ocean--fueled its development over thousands of years. Kennebunk's waterways were home to Wabanaki hunters, settlement farmers, early lumber mills, and a booming shipbuilding business. The Maine coast soon brought tourists to Kennebunk and its beaches. By the 1930s, Kennebunk Beach and its surrounding area contained several hotels and beach cottages. Sites like the Wedding Cake House, Kennebunk Beach, Main Street, and Blowing Cave quickly reached new heights as well-known landmarks. Postcards played a part in fueling the powerhouse tourist industry that remains active to this day.

Gardiner

9780738563466

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Gardiner's manufacturing and transportation advantages during the first half of the 20th century created one of the strongest local economies in the state. The city seal, adopted in 1849 when Gardiner became a city, flawlessly depicts the characteristics that shaped the community. Featured prominently on the seal is a river with falls to power manufacturing. A vessel represents transportation and trade, while an idealized city in the background reveals prosperous factories and commercial buildings. At the top is a lofty church tower, representative of the many churches in the city. Gardiner features many never-before-published postcards from the collections of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Brunswick and Bowdoin College

9780738562377

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Bowdoin is the quintessential New England college, and Brunswick is the quintessential New England town. Bowdoin has its stately buildings and trees, while Brunswick is blessed with a charming downtown featuring a pedestrian-friendly Main Street of dramatic proportions. Chartered in the late 1700s, Bowdoin has been inextricably linked to the town of Brunswick for more than 200 years. Brunswick and Bowdoin College features vintage postcard views dating from the early 1900s through the late 1940s, providing an extraordinary visual reference for a time of enormous technological and social change, when Main Street was transformed from a rutted dirt road to a paved thoroughfare, stables were supplanted by garages, buildings were constructed and razed, and merchants came and went.

Bangor in Vintage Postcards

9780738536040

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The lighted clock tower of Union Station, the marquee of the Bijou Theater, and the spacious lobby of the Penobscot Exchange Hotel are memorable images from Bangor's past. Settled in 1769, Bangor boomed as the lumbering capital of the world in the nineteenth century and as a retail hub in the twentieth century. For one hundred years, picture postcards have showcased West Broadway's mansions and the steamboat and railroad terminals along the Penobscot riverfront. Bangor in Vintage Postcards includes images from the city's past, ranging from a World War I victory parade to the 1923 flood.

The Kennebunks in Season

9780738537504

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Tourists have flocked to the beaches and hotels of the Kennebunks for more than one hundred years. At the dawn of the twentieth century, postcards that showcased the area's attractions were popular with visitors as mementos and as an inexpensive means of communication. Today, the historic postcards that survive provide a look back at the Kennebunks of an earlier era. The Kennebunks in Season contains almost two hundred postcard images featuring the early hotels and businesses that catered to the tourist trade in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and Cape Porpoise, along with the popular local attractions and prominent homes of the area. Also included are rare images of the motel courts that began in the late 1920s along Route 1 from Kennebunk to today's Arundel, then North Kennebunkport.

Along Old Canada Road

9780738556659

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Beginning in the town of Solon, Old Canada Road winds for nearly 80 miles through the Upper Kennebec and Dead River Valleys before ending at the Canadian border.

Following ancient aboriginal trails and early trade routes to Quebec City, Old Canada Road was traveled by Benedict Arnold and his army of 1,100 men in their failed 1775 quest to capture Quebec. By the mid-19th century the small villages along the route grew as the immigration of French Canadians blossomed and logging became a major industry in the region. This pristine wilderness also became a sportsman's paradise, attracting wealthy families from Boston, New York, and beyond. Today the Forks and West Forks cater to a new breed of sport as the center of white-water rafting on the Kennebec and Dead Rivers. The region is a major hub for snowmobiling, hunting, and hiking throughout the year.

Bar Harbor

9780738574837

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By 1898, when the production of picture postcards began, Bar Harbor had become one of America's leading summer resorts and second only to Newport, Rhode Island, in wealth and social standing. For the next six decades, the postcard recorded the transformation of this coastal island community into a middle class tourist destination. Grand hotels, seaside mansions, and elegant gardens made way for roadside cabins and motels catering to automobile travelers. Bar Harbor features many never-before-published postcards from the collections of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, the Bar Harbor Historical Society, and the Penobscot Marine Museum.

Buxton

9780738562155

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Buxton sits along the eastern side of the Saco River in northern York County. The Saco was instrumental in the town's establishment, as early settlers moved up the river from the towns of Biddeford and Saco and settled on the river's bank at Salmon Falls. Buxton's inhabitants powered their mills from the river and other local tributaries, and the town's early villages were located near these mills. Buxton presents vintage postcards of the riverside villages of Salmon Falls, Union Falls, Bar Mills, West Buxton, and Bonny Eagle, along with inland centers, including Groveville, Buxton Center, Lower Corner, Duck Pond, and other hamlets. Postcard images of Buxton from the year 1895 forward provide valuable insight into the life and times of the citizens of this onetime industrial center.

Around Blue Hill and Ellsworth

9780738557182

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Few regions in New England can equal the scenic beauty and rich history of the Blue Hill and Ellsworth region. Situated in Hancock County, in Maine's Down East, the area was settled in the 1760s by hearty settlers harvesting blueberry barrens and fishing the coastal waters. In the 19th century, summer tourists began arriving, and they built elaborate summer estates along Parker Point and Hancock Point. The vintage postcards in this book show scenes of towns around Blue Hill and Ellsworth, such as Franklin, Sullivan, Sorrento, and Lamoine, as well as rare views of the 1933 Ellsworth fire and 1923 flood, Blue Hill Fair, and George Stevens Academy.

Deer Isle and Stonington

9780738557038

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Deer Isle, a coastal town in Penobscot Bay, was settled by farmers and mariners in the 1760s after the end of the French and Indian War. People, freight, and mail came by water to the secluded island where mackerel and lobster fishing were the mainstays of the island's economy. In the late 19th century, granite from booming Stonington quarries was shipped by boat. Summer visitors began arriving by the boatload to rusticate in gracious inns and seasonal cottages. These became the subjects of vintage postcards, many created by local photographers capturing the views of harbors and towns, rural roads and bridges, masts of the great sailing vessels, and derricks of the large quarries.

The Saco River

9780738573595

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From its source in New Hampshire's White Mountains to its mouth at Saco-Biddeford, the Saco River draws visitors and residents alike to swim, fish, canoe, and white-water kayak. The Saco brought tourists to the White Mountains and influenced the development of both large and small towns, shaping their history and creating bustling centers of industry. The Saco River documents the river through postcards from 1905 to the 1940s, when mills dominated the landscape.