This is sort of an odd postcard. The colors are a bit over the top. The staging is WAY over the top. Things look out of proportion. I have another card from Washington state that is posed in this manner. It's of harvesting. I will eventually post it. For now, we'll focus on Manito Park in Spokane.
Click on image to see it larger.
This card was published by Edward H. Mitchell in San Francisco and has a postmark of 1914. Other than that you can easily see why this ended up at a place called Tattered and Lost.
I've never been to the park. Only stopped in Spokane once, and I think it was for a grocery store, though I do recall going into a used bookstore and buying a stack of mystery books. That's the extent of my personal knowledge. Thanks to the folks at Wikipedia I can actually tell you a bit more.
Manito Park and Botanical Gardens is a 90-acre (0.36 km2) public park with arboretum, botanical gardens, and conservatory, located at 17th Ave and Grand Blvd in Spokane, Washington.The park was originally a public recreation area called Montrose Park. In 1903 its name was changed to Manito, said to mean Spirit of Nature in the Algonquian language. A park commission was formed in 1907 with annual funding, and in 1913 the famed Olmsted Brothers firm completed their landscaping plans for Spokane parks, including Manito Park. The Park was at one time a zoo until 1932 when the zoo closed down because of the lack of funding during the Great Depression. Today some remnants of the zoo can still be seen, such as an iron bar sticking out of a rock that was once part of the bear cages.Aside from the gardens, Manito is home to more common park fare. The park has two play structures, one in "Upper Manito" and the other by the Duck Pond at "Lower Manito". The Duck Pond is located at the Northern End of the park, and is home to many ducks, swans and geese. The Park Bench Cafe is a small cafe serving drinks and snacks during the Summer. Much of the park that is not a garden is left wild, with trails for bicycling and hiking. During the winter, the grassy hills of Manito are popular destinations for sledding. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
What I'm really curious about is the Native American style dwelling on the little island. I'm not finding any reference or photos of it anywhere. The fact that it looks out of proportion to the people standing along the fence...well, I said the card was odd.
To see other images of the park and read more about visiting click on their official site, Manito Park.
UPDATE: A nice post from Larry Cebula about the park. Thank you Larry and to your student.
UPDATE: A nice post from Larry Cebula about the park. Thank you Larry and to your student.
Hi, I am a history professor who lives a few blocks from this park. One of my students did a lot of research on the city parks recently.
It is tricky to match this image with the modern park because the landscape has been changed. The duck pond has been moved around a few times--I think that the same area is a playground now, and the modern pond is a bit to the west. I believe that white house still stands, hidden in the trees--I need to go check it out.
I don't know anything about the hut on the island, but it is not an Indian structure. Manito was established at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement, and many of the surviving structures are of a purposely rustic design. I am sure that was the case here.
Here is some of the information my student gathered about Manito Park:
The pond: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/47
Entrance: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/115
You can find more at Spokanehistorical.org
Posts
great postcard and history...I have given you a "Sunshine Award" and linked to your blog in my latest post!
ReplyDeleteI don't know where to start, I find this park very interesting! Here is an article in the Spokesman Review which has this information:
ReplyDeleteIndians still lived there even when the park was formed. I don't know what that building is on the island. But could be an original Indian dwelling. This is a photograph, right? I think one guy is blurry. The staging is very interesting.
From the article: the park had polar bears that a soldier brought back as babies from his stay in Alaska. And buffalo that used to break out of their fence occasionally. Sadly, when they couldn't feed the animals during The Great Depression they gave away most but ended up killing a few. And a story I remember hearing as a child - a little girl tried to feed the polar bears one day and one of them ripped off her arm!! She survived but didn't want the bears punished because she said it was her fault!
One more thing, here is a gorgeous photo of the Japanese Garden in the park.
Thank you Deborah. Quite a nice surprise to find this morning right before finding email from clients. Started the day off much better than it otherwise would have been. I will try to pass along the honor to others in the coming days.
ReplyDeleteAnd deeAuvil, great information. Yes, it's a photograph. An odd one since things don't look right size wise. Really great information! Thank you. It's strange that there doesn't seem to be anything about the Native American history given at the park web site. But then maybe I just missed finding it. I didn't even find anything about a little island. Perhaps there was some tinkering going on in the darkroom with this photo since even the trees on the island look the wrong size compared to the folks standing at the fence.
O.K., well maybe I need to go look for this park. I lived in Spokane for about a year as a child and have no fond memories, except for perhaps a violin lesson that got me out of something I hated more. I hear great things about Spokane recently, so maybe it's time for a return visit and reassessment.
ReplyDeleteChristine, I think if you go to the park in search of this image you're going to be disappointed. This thing looks like something weird like the Emerald City. The actual photos from today's park make it look like just a nice park for the community.
ReplyDeleteI still can't get over the proportion of things.
The postcard was made from a photograph that looks similar. The black and white photograph is at the MAC Research Library. It was taken by Libby and part of their archival collection. The little hut in the pond was just that, a home for the ducks, geese and swans. It was torn down, filled up and became an intersection.
ReplyDeleteTracy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. That certainly makes the perspective believable now that I know that the wee house was for ducks.
Very sad to hear that that is now an intersection. "They pave paradise..."
There is still a park there...there is a cafe where the little hut was, and limited traffic drives through the park. It is incredibly beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThat makes me feel better. I'll need to put this park on a list of places to visit the next time I'm up in Washington. Thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteHi, I am a history professor who lives a few blocks from this park. One of my students did a lot of research on the city parks recently.
ReplyDeleteIt is tricky to match this image with the modern park because the landscape has been changed. The duck pond has been moved around a few times--I think that the same area is a playground now, and the modern pond is a bit to the west. I believe that white house still stands, hidden in the trees--I need to go check it out.
I don't know anything about the hut on the island, but it is not an Indian structure. Manito was established at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement, and many of the surviving structures are of a purposely rustic design. I am sure that was the case here.
Here is some of the information my student gathered about Manito PArk:
The pond: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/47
Entrance: http://spokanehistorical.org/items/show/115
You can find more at Spokanehistorical.org.
I love this postcard. May we use the image on our SpokaneHistorical site? We would credit you.
Larry,
DeleteThanks for the information about the park. I love when an old post has new life with new information.
Indeed, feel free to use the image.