Mr. A. Martin Brubaker lived in Willow Street, a community in Lancaster County of southeast Pennsylvania.
Willow Street, a few miles south of the city of Lancaster, was named for willow trees that once lined the principal thoroughfare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Street,_Pennsylvania
In August of 1937, Mr. Brubaker received a postcard from members of his family.
The postcard message is addressed, “Dear Folks”, but the relationship is not specified.
It may be the family of Mr. Brubaker’s son.
The postcard was mailed from Goshen, a city and county seat of Elkhart County in north-central Indiana.
The first European settlers were from New England, where farmland was scarce and where the Erie Canal made feasible the shipment of produce from the Midwest.
Today, Goshen is an industrial center for manufacturing recreational vehicles and the home of a Mennonite Liberal Arts College.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goshen,_Indiana
The face of the postcard displays a drawing of the First National Bank in La Porte, Indiana.
La Porte, a city in northwest Indiana, became a leading producer of engines for farm tractors in the 19th century.
The city was beautified by the planting of maple trees, and is still known as “The Maple City”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Porte,_Indiana
This building still stands within the historic district of La Porte, although distinctive architectural features were defaced and the structure is now a restaurant.
It appears that the travelers passed through La Porte as they returned from visits to Illinois and, across the Mississippi, to Iowa.
On the reverse, we learn more details about the summer trip.
The family has combined travel with visits to various friends and relatives.
Yesterday, the party visited the Berges (or Bergeys) and they hope to see the family of Miriam Rank in Ohio.
If all goes as planned, the group may “go down to Bishop Isaac Metzler in… Maryland.”
The postcard message concludes with reference to the weather –“understand (we) had a good rain at home”; the conditions in Illinois were “very dry”.
I have not consulted any genealogical databases, but I suspect that the travelers – “Christ and Fannie and Ray” are Brubakers.
One hopes that all returned safely to their home and that they retained happy memories of the visits and the sights they enjoyed on the trip.
