Miss Cynthia Morse lived in Oswego, a city on Lake Ontario – about 35 miles northwest of Syracuse, NY.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswego,_New_York
In August of 1909, Cynthia received a postcard from her friend, Minnie.
Minnie mailed the postcard from Sans Souci, an unincorporated community at the eastern end of Harsen’s Island near the mouth of the St. Clair River on Lake St. Clair.
(The St. Clair River continues from the Lake to Lake Erie.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sans_Souci,_Michigan
The face of the postcard is a photograph of the “Boyhood Home of Thomas Edison”.
Thomas Alva Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, but his youth was spent in Port Huron – a city along the St. Claire River at the southern end of Lake Huron and the easternmost point in Michigan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Huron,_Michigan
Many people associate Edison with the State of New Jersey where his most famous research laboratory was located and where he conducted many of his most spectacular experiments.
As Edison inventions, especially the light bulb and the phonograph, began to appear in homes – Edison became the most-famous face of the scientific advances during the late 19th century.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison
Henry Ford, in building his museum to celebrate American achievement, purchased Edison’s laboratory building in Menlo Park, NJ and moved it to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, Michigan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Henry_Ford
This postcard photograph was published by J. B. Sperry of Port Huron.
On the reverse of the postcard, we learn of the exciting adventures of Minnie.
Minnie, with Charlie Culver and Stella Ward, attended the picnic of the North End Republican Club.
It was quite an event – Minnie notes the “music playing in the Dance Hall” and the baseball game between the “Indians and Detroit lawyers”.
There were “some speeches by noted political men”, but these did not seem make an impression on Minnie.
One hopes that Cynthia and Minnie remained friends and correspondents, and that they enjoyed the remaining days of summer in 1909.
