Mrs. Ethel R. Heffner lived in Fleetwood, a borough (12 miles northeast of Reading) in Berks County of southeast Pennsylvania.
At the turn of the 20th century, there was a steel industry in Fleetwood.
The Fleetwood Metal Body Company was acquired by Fisher Body, and integrated into General Motors in1931.
The Cadillac “Fleetwood” model was named in honor of this place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood,_Pennsylvania
In June of 1925, Mrs. Heffner received a postcard from “Daddy”.
It is not clear if the postcard was sent from her father or if “Daddy” was a pet name for her husband.
The postcard was mailed from Vancouver, the beautiful coastal city in British Columbia of western Canada.
Vancouver, now the third-largest city (and the most ethnically and linguistically diverse) in Canada, is a young city.
The city first grew from an influx of miners in the Fraser “gold rush” of 1858, but became a thriving center of the lumber trade.
The coming of Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880’s greatly diversified the economy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancouver
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The face of the postcard is a drawing of the Canada Pacific Railroad Hotel in that city.
In an earlier postcard story, we were introduced to another one of the CPR Hotels that was built to attract vacationers and tourists: “Della and the Glacier”
The CPR Hotel pictured in today’s postcard story is the second building by that name in Vancouver; the first “Hotel Vancouver was constructed in 1888 but had become inadequate by 1913.
This 15-story structure in the Italian Renaissance style, was constructed in 1916 according to the design of architect, Francis S. Swales.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Vancouver_(1916)
Rapid growth of the city led to the construction by the CPR of a third “Hotel Vancouver” at another site in 1939.
The beautiful building on the postcard was demolished in 1949 to build an Eaton’s Department Store.
The postcard was published by the Coast Publishing Company of Vancouver.
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On the reverse, Daddy shares briefly his plan – “On the home road, All okay”.
After his signature, Daddy adds the note, “Breakfast and lunch”.
This might mean that Daddy had taken meals at this hotel, but the intent is not clear.
There were ugly postmarks on the face – as though the postmaster was in a very sour mood.
I made some digital repairs of the worst blotches.
Mrs. Heffner preserved the postcard souvenir in very good condition despite the damage to the face.
One hopes that Daddy returned home safely, and shared interesting tales about his trip through Canada.
