S. A. Neligan lived in Salt Lake City, the city nestled beneath the looming Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains, on the shores of the Great Salt Lake in north-central Utah.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_Lake_City
This is Simon Anthony Nelligan – see RESEARCH NOTE (below).
At the end of January, 1908, S. A. received a postcard from Mrs. E. M. Phillips.
Mrs. Phillips mailed the postcard from Brattleboro, the picturesque town at the confluence of the West River and the Connecticut River in southeast Vermont.
This area was contested by indigenous peoples, the French, and the British for years after European settlement.
Brattleboro prospered by mills on the rivers, trade with Massachusetts (across the Connecticut River), and the development of a large printing industry and the manufacture of pipe organs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brattleboro,_Vermont
Brattleboro became famous for spas offering the “water cure” and for the erection of the large Brattleboro Retreat (a private, not-for-profit hospital) established by a bequest) in 1834.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brattleboro_Retreat
+ + + + + +
The face of the postcard is a hand-colored photograph of the “Tower in Retreat Park, Brattleboro, VT.”
“Retreat Park” is the extensive grounds of The Brattleboro Retreat – the facility does not enclose the hospital grounds and emphasizes community participation.
The round tower was erected by patients of the institution between 1887 and 1894 as an example of therapies employing scheduled periods of constructive labor for limited periods of time.
Here is one study of “Industrial Therapy in Mental Health” that is published by the NIH:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16608468
The postcard was published in the United States by W. R. Geddis.
Because the postcard has an “undivided back” (which Mrs. Phillips uses in a recently-approved manner), we know that the card was printed a couple of years before it was mailed.
+ + + + + +
On the reverse, we learn that the correspondents are members of a postcard exchange club.
I have not found a directory that identifies the “J. J.” which seems to signify the organization.
Mrs. Phillips greets member “J. J. 4051”.
This member is invited to “Please exchange colored card with J. J. 4156”.
The address of Mrs. Phillips then follows.
Postcard clubs were widely-popular, affording people the opportunity to develop long-distance friendships and to curate large postcard collections.
From the Google Summary:
“In the early 20th century, postcard exchange was a popular hobby driven by a “postcard craze,” with enthusiasts joining clubs and advertising for correspondents to trade local views and other cards…”
One hopes that this postcard initiated a long and satisfactory exchanged of postcards between these collector correspondents.
RESEARCH NOTE
In December of 1889, Simon Anthony Nelligan was born in Franklin County, Missouri.
Simon was the son of Michael James Nelligan (1861-1921) and Anna Marie Tobin (1854-deceased).
Michael and Anna had been married in Franklin County, Missouri in 1885.
The oldest of three sons, Simon had two younger brothers.
Sometime before 1908, Simon was living in Salt Lake City where he resided for the rest of his life.
Kathleen E. Graves (1891-1966) was married to Simon in Salt Lake City on October 7, 1914,
Simon and Kathleen had four sons and one daughter, although two sons died in childhood.
In his obituary, we learn that Simon was a long-time cashier at Walker Bank & Trust.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-obituary-for-simon/101941478
He was a member of the Knights of Columbus.
I cannot find the death record of Kathleen his wife, but she was not living at the time of his death at age 84 in 1974.
Simon and Kathleen are buried in the Catholic cemetery in Salt Lake City (the grave information is behind a pay wall.)
