Mrs. Harley Leech lived in Independence, a small city and the county seat of Montgomery County on the Verdigris River in southeast Kansas.
This area was purchased from the Osage Nation in 1869.
Today, it is a regional hub for industry and agriculture.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence,_Kansas
In May of 1918, Mrs. Leech received a postcard from her niece, Mae.
Mae mailed the postcard from Philadelphia, then the third-largest city in the nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia
+ + + + + +
The face of the postcard is a photograph of “Rittenhouse Square” showing the “New Rittenhouse Apartment Building”.
Located southwest of City Hall, a few blocks from Broad Street, this pretty area was convenient to The Academy of Music, The Union Club, the magnificent St. Mark’s Episcopal Church. and to Wanamaker’s and other stores.
The postcard blurb calls Rittenhouse Square, “…the most fashionable and wealthy residential section of the city.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rittenhouse_Square
I believe that the “Rittenhouse Apartment Building” of the postcard is the structure at the southeast corner of 19th Street.
Built on the site of the 1875 mansion of Thomas Scott (President of the Pennsylvania Railroad), this was the first high-rise residential building on the square.
https://www.laparisianhome.com/1830-rittenhouse
Today, there are several luxury high-rises containing the name Rittenhouse Square apartments.
+ + + + + +
On the reverse, Mae greets her “Dear Aunt” and reports her travel itinerary of the recent past.
Mae had a “lovely trip, fine weather”.
After staying “a day & night in Chicago”, Mae spent a day in Buffalo and went “out to Niagara Falls” and “over in Canada”.
Having arrived in Philadelphia “last night”, Mae finds “Philadelphia is sure some place”.
If she “doesn’t get too lonely”, Mae expects to “like it fine here.”
It isn’t clear if Mae intends to remain in Philadelphia, if she will continue her travels, or return to her home.
Mrs. Leech preserved the postcard in good condition throughout her life. One hopes that Mae continued to enjoy Philadelphia and that she shared more postcards with her aunt.
