Postcard Friendship Friday #15

Happy Postcard Friendly Friday! Today's postcard features a picture of the Open Air Station, St. Petersburg, Florida's main post office.

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The description reads:

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During the winter months, St. Petersburg's main Post Office located in the center of the business district distributes daily a tremendous volume of mail to the thousands of visitors who crowd the outdoor loggia.

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The Open Air Station as it looks today


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The Post Office, which is still in use, opened in 1916 and is in the National Register of Historic Places. Mail is still delivered by carriers riding bicycles on the business routes immediately surrounding the post office.
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The card is postmarked December 19, 1944

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It reads:
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This is just the way it looked yesterday when we were downtown and everyone was wishing a merry Christmas. It don't seem a bit like Christmas. Love, F

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The True, Heald, and Walker Store, Lovell Maine

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The postcard was addressed to Mr. J. W. True, Lovell Maine

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Lovell Main is a small town located on the border of Maine and Massachusetts.
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In 1774 the Massachusetts House of Representatives granted a petition asking that a township "east of the Saco and north of Frye Grant" be given to the "heirs of Captain John Lovewell and to the heirs of those men that fell with him at Peqwacket (now Fryeburg) and to those that were with him in said engagement, their heirs and others. This Grant was called New Suncook, and, while it is not certain who the earliest settler may have been, the first census taken of the United States in the year 1790, lists the names of twenty-two Free White Males of 16 years and upward, including heads of families. Further enumerated, were twenty-five Free White males under 16 years of age, and thirty-eight Free White Females, bringing the total population to eighty-five inhabitants. The 2000 census lists a population of 974.

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The True and Walker Store, Lovell Maine

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.Although I did not have sufficient information to do a successful search for information on either the sender or receiver, I did find the two stores in Lowell that included the family name True. It is possible that JW is a descendant of this family.

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Not surprisingly, "It don't seem a bit like Christmas" is a phrase commonly heard here during the Christmas holidays. This may have been compounded for "F" by the fact that WWII was still being fought. Rationing would have made it difficult to find ingredients for the traditional Christmas dinners. Victory gardens thrived year round though, providing fresh fruit and vegetables for Floridians. The balmy weather and palm trees were a far cry from a harsh Maine winter. "F" might have been in the Christmas spirit if he/she could have known that the war would end in 1945.

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Sugar was one of the first items released from rationing while nylon stockings were not available in great quantities until 1947

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For more Postcard Friendship Friday fun, visit Marie at Voila! Vintage Postcards.