Winterstown, York County post cards
Picture postcards, like photos, freeze a moment in time. It a bonus when they have been used for their intended purpose, adding more information of the time in their message.
After reading my recent posts on Wills School in Lower Windsor Township and on Scott Knaub’s 1950s photo album of many York County Schools, Jeff Rohrbaugh shared the above postcard of the “Public School House,, Winterstown, Pa.” The card is postmarked February 2, 1950, but the photo could be earlier.
The card was published by D. Sterling Mitzel and Bro., Winterstown, Pa. I found three other postcards published by Mitzel of Winterstown views online at various websites, such as EBay, Bidstart and Card Cow (see below). The Mitzels were evidently also in the egg and poultry business, as they reported market conditions in Poultry Processing and Marketing. Vol 15. (Watt Publishing Co., 1909). This is probably the D. Sterling Mitzel (1868-1953) buried at Winterstown United Brethren Cemetery.
This postcard is addressed to Miss Beulah E. Lamb, Rt. 1—box 9, Hazel, Kentucky. The message reads: “Dear Beulah: Many thanks for your New Year greetings. I wish for you a Happy New Year too—a wealthy New Year—a healthy New Year—a lovely New Year. If I am late with greetings—we did have a fine Christmas—one of the Best—was able to go to church morn. & eve. and of course with Veronica in between. Love of Jesus shines thro her eyes—she is so radiant and sweet. Mother could go to Walter’s (our son’s) too that day—did have a cold—few weeks—now fine again. We have deepest snow of winter 4 or 5 inches—with ice and mist—lovely—had to 86 [degrees] last week very unusual—not much rain—did you have floods?”
The writer continues on the front under picture: “Where I rec’d my education from 1899 on—have a school picture of that date. Love—Esta C. Ehrhart.”
The York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives has recently posted images of over 1,300 postcards from their collections on their website. The database is searchable and includes the reverse side of the card with the message, if it has been used. I didn’t find any Winterstown cards in the collection, but there are examples from other communities.
See below for the other images of Winterstown that I found online:
