Lucille Stays at the Ritz – Paducah, Kentucky (1939)

In February of 1939, Lucille was moving to Paducah, a charming city at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers in southwest Kentucky.

Paducah is halfway between St. Louis, Missouri (northwest) and Nashville, Tennessee (southeast).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paducah,_Kentucky

Lucille sent a postcard to her friend, Mrs. W. S. Hearne.

Mrs. Hearne lived in Little Rock, the capital city on the Arkansas River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock,_Arkansas

Mrs. Hearne may have returned home recently, as Lucille asks, “Are you home from your Xmas vacation yet?”

The face of the linen-style postcard is a photograph of the Hotel Ritz in Paducah.

On the reverse, Lucille discusses the importance of this place.

While looking for “a desirable place”, Lucille et al. “have an apartment in the hotel”.

It is not clear how many were in the household of Lucille, but it seems that she was not moving by herself.

In the photograph, two windows are circled in black ink -suggesting that these are the rooms occupied by Lucille.

The postcard was colored (and, presumably, published) by the Mid-West Map Company of Aurora, Missouri.

(The hotel, built in 1929, has since been converted into apartments and public spaces.)

Here is an article about the renovation of The Ritz Hotel.

https://cityofpaducah.com/places/ritz-midtown/

In closing, Lucille asks Mrs. Hearne, “Is there any possibility of a bridge game with you “three” here (question mark)”.

The question suggests that the friends had a history of socialization, but I am uncertain of the meaning of the quoted “three”.

As an afterthought, Lucille notes at the top of the reverse that the water “looks high for a non-swimmer”.

This may be a reference to disastrous flooding of the Ohio River that overtook much of Paducah in 1937.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_River_flood_of_1937

One hopes that Lucille found a desirable place to live and that she was able to host Bridge Games with her friends.

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