In September of 1912, Rebecca visited New York City.
As she prepared to leave for home, Rebecca mailed a postcard to her friend, Florence Ashton, in Buena Vista, PA.
Buena Vista is an unincorporated community in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh. On the Youghiogheny River, the community was first a center of mining, but became a key site for the railroad.
The postcard, mailed from New York City, bears a hand-colored photograph of City Hall.
This structure, the oldest seat of municipal government still in continuous use in the US, was erected between 1803 and 1812.
Today, the City Council meets in this building and the official Mayor’s Office is located there.
While City Hall Park still exists as a beautiful oasis in lower Manhattan, there are now many more city offices in the area, and Park Row (in the background) does not appear the same today.
The postcard was copyrighted and published by the Detroit News Company.
This area of Park Row was known as “Newspaper Row” due to the presence of many New York City tabloids printed there.
Rebecca writes, “Am in Penn Station – will soon be in my berth for home”
It appears that Rebecca was taking a sleeping car on the Pennsylvania Railroad; I assume that the train would carry her back to western Pennsylvania.
Rebecca’s experience in the beautiful, light-filled, Pennsylvania Station (senselessly demolished in 1964) was certainly more enjoyable than that of millions who took the train from New York at the end of the 20th century.
