Artist Painted Post Cards Maud Leach Denver Colorado

Maude Leach, artist
Leach Art Studios, Denver

Maude Leach
(1870-1927)
Margaret Amelia Thornton
(1882-1962)
by Mary Katherine May of  QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Looking at postcards in antique and collectible shops is a time consuming effort if you are interested not only what the photograph or image is on one side, but in the message on the opposite side as well.  Some shops are very obliging and helpful, and others not so much.  We all do what we must in our circumstances, and so the less obliging are left respectfully with all their postcards still in inventory, and those who really do wish to make a sale are left instead, respectfully, with my money.

Blooming Bushes in
Hutchinson, Minnesota

Kathy, my childhood friend, went on a drive with me recently.  At the end of our time we stopped in the small but bustling town of Hutchinson, Minnesota, fondly known to many of its residents as "Hutch." 

Before sitting in the lovely, peaceful park created by the town's girl scouts, Kathy patiently went along as I browed my way through the antiques.  In actuality, I generally browse the books, post cards, and ephemera--or anything paper.

My offering to you today, after this story, is a postcard with a soft, gentle scene of mountains and sky, that I found in Hutchinson.  The postcard is stamped, Leach Art Studios, Denver.  The penciled name in the lower right, Allie, I believe to be the sender of the postcard, which went to a Miss Madge Thornton in St. Paul, Minnesota, leaving Denver, Colorado, on March 22, 1907.

There is no message as you can see, for why would the sender, Allie, ruin this beautiful scenic illustrations of Colorado with a message.  There could have been a message written on the address side of this undivided back post card, because just 21 days prior to its use, on March 1, 1907, writing on the address side was first allowed by the United States Post Office.  I wonder if Allie knew? 

What intrigued me enough to purchase this particular postcard is the art.  I don't know at this point if it is an original watercolor or other form of painting, or perhaps printed from original art?  It isn't signed, but did this artist Leach always sign the paintings?

Maude Leach, artist. Leach Art Studios, Denver

I haven't found out much about Maude Leach the artist.   Maude Leach (1870-1920), sometimes spelled Maud Leach or Maud Leech, did paint and created in the area of Denver, Colorado.  Maude began her life and studied in the East, specifically New York, but would have been living in Colorado in 1907.  She liked to paint mountains and surrounding scenery, maintained a studio, and for a few years was a public school teacher.

Searching the internet and looking at google images under the name of Maude Leach and variations thereof, I discovered that the art on this postcard looks to be exactly like what she painted.  Also, the paper upon which this post card is illustrated is very similar to the watercolor paper I bought for myself at the local Michael's store. 

I noticed that the word Post Card with its ruled border looks like it could have been stamped on, not printed.  Further indication of this possibility is that it is stamped on the back crooked in relation to the paper edge.

I have one more interesting historical point to present before signing off on this post.  Miss Madge [Margaret Amelia] Thornton, born 1882 and a 1904 University of Minnesota graduate, member after graduation of the AAUW (American Association of University Women), in 1907 lived at 369 Von Minden Street, which later was renamed Michigan Street. She was one of twelve children born to Patrick H. Thornton and Margaret Monica Moran, her father being an immigrant from Ireland. Margaret went on to marry Frank Michael Kieron, who together birthed six children of their own.  Allie, our post card sender, may have been her sister, Alice Marie, but we don't know.  Margaret went home to the Lord on April 19, 1962. 

It is the address that is interesting.  It was not discovered until torn down that the the house, known as the Schneider-Bulera House, at 369 Von Minden Street had been built in 1857, one year before Minnesota entered the Union (May 11, 1858), and just fourteen years after Father Lucien Galtier changed the town's name of Pig's Eye Landing to St. Paul, his favorite saint, and was the oldest house still standing in St. Paul. But in the small amount of history that is available on the web about this house, there is no indication of the Thornton family residence.  Interesting.

One last thought, and it is a sad one, because history's moments, though in the past are the source of the roots that make up the character and fiber of our families, towns, cities, states, and nation.  We are who we are because of history, each relational moment being spiritually and/or physically defining what is, and thus our future has its base beginning point in the past.  On that note, I have a touch of sadness in my heart as I quote from the Schneider-Bulera House link:

To quote a city official when the previous oldest house in Saint Paul was torn down by United Hospital several years ago "There will always be another oldest house!" ~Joe Hoover