1905 RPPC Undivided Back View Montgomery Ward Tower Chicago

The Montgomery Ward & Co. Building
Chicago
One of the Largest Commercial Buildings in the World

by Mary Katherine May of Quality Music and Books

Real Photo Postcard
Undivided Back Era

This postcard example offers many details that can be pointed out for the collector of topicals, postcards, and stamp collecting, as well as the possibility of identifying the person to whom it was addressed.

The Montgomery Ward building in Chicago, complete with tower, was the "talk of the town" in its day. When completed in 1899, the 25-story structure at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Madison Street was the tallest building west of the Allegheny Mountains. Aaron Mongtomery Ward, known as Monty to his friends, was a creative innovator. Ward and his well-known rival, Sears & Roebuck, also centrally located in Chicago, took their retail goods to the whole of America through catalogue offerings.

The postcard, dated in the message on Sept. 25 1905, 1 PM, shown here displays a clear date of Sep 26 1905, 7 AM, arriving in Rockford, Ill. (see next paragraph) on its way to Versailles, Ohio, R.D. No. 2. Marked upon arrival to its destination city, the stamp is faint but still mostly readable: Versailles Ohio, Sep 27 1905, 8 AM.

Also of interest will be the stamp, Scott No. 300, Benjamin Franklin 1¢, which very nicely has the plate number 2258 attached below the stamp. And, to top off delightfully for the collector, the back is stamped MISSENT TO ROCKFORD ILLINOIS.

The paper used for the postcard itself, though looking a bit soiled because it is, is a rough-to-the-touch, non-white card stock. The brief message below the Montgomery Ward building shows that Amanda Miller, the sender, had a playful side to her character.

The Message

This is written in the sky to let you know I am living high. ... Amanda Miller

The postcard recipient: Miss Beth Maurer, Versailles Ohio, R.D. No 2.