Pittsburgh: 100 Years Past

I'm still stunned I found this at Rogers Community Auction over the weekend. It's a postcard booklet, with locations printed on the front and back. The postmark is dated September 1914. I paid $5 for it.

Allegheny County Courthouse, Downtown Pittsburgh

St. Paul Cathedral, Oakland

Mercy Hospital, Uptown

Allegheny General Hospital, North Side

Heinz Residence, East Liberty

Highland Park Zoo, Highland Park (Now just the Pittsburgh Zoo)

Baseball Park, aka Forbes Field, Oakland

"New" University of Pittsburgh, Oakland

Forbes Field, Oakland

Carnegie Technical School, Squirrel Hill (Now Carnegie Mellon University)

Pennsylvania Railroad Union Station, Downtown Pittsburgh

Hotel Schenley, Oakland (Now the William Pitt Union at the University of Pittsburgh)

There were a few other ways to confirm this is from 1914.

First, Pittsburgh is spelled with an H on these. From the 1890s until 1911, the city was spelled Pittsburg. Also, there are pictured of Forbes Field and Exposition Park in this collection. There was only a small time frame when both existed at the same time: Forbes Field was built in 1909; Exposition Park (pictured in the "Smoky City" photo) was used until 1915.

It's kind of cool that most of the buildings, with the exception of Forbes Field and the Exposition buildings, are still in existence. Not sure about the fate of the Fort Wayne Depot and Pittsburgh Post Office buildings pictured. Other buildings, while still standing, have changed significantly or have been repurposed. For instance, as I mentioned above, the Schenley Hotel is now the student union building at Pitt. Also, the Allegheny Post Office, in North Side, now houses the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.

One other thing I did: I searched the name Helen Duncan, of Saltsburg, since this booklet was addressed to her. She was born in September 1904, so she received this booklet right around her 10th birthday. And I'm guessing she held onto it for a long time, or collected them. The seller at Rogers had a few other booklets featuring other cities, so she could've collected them. I didn't see whether they were all addressed to her or not.

Lastly, the booklet had postcard photos on the front and back, instead of the traditional open space to write a note. And they were all attached accordion style. That's something I've never seen before.

Have you ever been curious as to what your hometown looked like 100 years ago? How much have things changed over the last century?

Fleatastic: Rogers Community Auction

It's probably going to sound strange, but flea markets make me a bit nostalgic.

On Friday, Mark and I headed to Rogers Community Auction. Located in Ohio just a few miles beyond the Pennsylvania border, it's one of the biggest flea markets in the region.

Rogers is almost like a county fair, in environment and vast space. Between the smell of fried foods permeating the air, livestock on sale, even a LIVE merry-go-round with donkeys, the place draws an interesting crowd.

Of course, it has the staples of a standard flea market: vintage postcards, tools, furniture, brick-a-brac, succulents, Amish baked goods. It's all here.

This place reminds me a lot of the flea market that was held down the road from where I grew up. There was a mix of indoor and outdoor markets, fresh produce and bizarre goods. (A friend found moon shoes there once for a dollar. Needless to say, I was very jealous.) The flea market I grew up going to almost every Sunday after church, called the Wildwood Peddler's Fair, closed four or five years ago. Rogers is the first place I've been to that actually has more variety in vendors and items.

The biggest drawback to Rogers is that the flea market is only open on Fridays, making it difficult to go very often. Mark had the day off, but I took a work comp day so we could spend the day there.

The hunt started out slow, since it looked like it could start pouring down rain at any moment. Vendors were already beginning to pack up and go when we got there. But out of nowhere, the sun came out, and we started finding goodies. I found a Peanuts mug with the Christmas scene on it for a couple bucks (I collect way too many cute and quirky mugs), mark found an old, rare bobblehead from a local minor league team for five bucks (baseball-related items are his addiction), and I got a pack of Garbage Pail Kids cards for a dollar.

Our best find though was a bar cart, with big, bicycle-like wheels for five dollars. I've been eyeing them up for awhile, and was loving the idea, since liquor takes up an embarrassing amount of our kitchen counter space. I was nearly giddy when the vendor told me the price. I'll have a future post about the cart, since there need to be a few DIY fixes before it's fully functional.

While driving an hour away to a flea market isn't the best time ever, there were some interesting roadside attractions that made the commute worthwhile, including a 20-foot tall gold statue of a muscle man, and Santa Claus. (proof below)

PS If you're wondering about the frumpy "yinzer" outfit, it's the best way to go flea market shopping. It's comfortable, but also, I tend to get better offers and have more success haggling than when I've worn something nicer to a flea market or yard sale, like a dress and boots.

Does anyone have a favorite flea market or favorite flea market find?