I found this postcard at our Antique Market here in Toronto. It was sent by someone called Geddes to a Master Bertie Kruger in November 1905. “Master” because the recipient is a child who is a pre-teen generally (although this title may have been used at that time into later ages). It is a birthday card. I was interested since it has a picture of two elderly men from Dickensian times. One with a round bowler hat and the other with a James type top hat. It’s almost like a Christmas Card.
What makes the card especially interesting is that the sender had forgotten the child’s address and sent the card “care of” the A.R. Williams Machinery Company in Toronto, Canada. The company dutifully stamped the card with their mail room stamp on November 4, 1905 – for further disposition.
I wondered what had happened to A.R. Williams since I live in Toronto and had not heard the name before. Turns out that this is a very interesting story. The company stood on a piece of industrial land in the Western part of Toronto. This area is undergoing development. The building formerly occupied by the A.R. Williams factory has being designated as a heritage site and is being incorporated into the development known as Liberty Village.
This a picture of the the A.R. Williams building as it stands today. It was provided to me by kind permission of Dale Reid of Dale M. Reid Photography. Dale included this image as part of a series dealing with “gentrification” of Toronto buildings presented at a Contact Photography exhibition earlier this year in Toronto. You can see that the building is very much alive and well. Dale has exhibited in both Canada and the USA and uses the old traditional black and white photographic process on fine quality paper to produce high quality artistic, sharp resolution, artistic images. Please visit her site to view other images from her portfolio including floral, still life (especially pears), Urban, Industrial and Maritime (from the eastern coast of Canada). The images have an Ansel Adams like feel to them.
The building has a very interesting history and has been designated as a historical site in the residential plan. It will be preserved for future generations as part of the complex.
There is no telling what stories lie in these old postcards.
To conclude here is another image courtesy of a user named “Frigante” on Flicker, thanks for his kind permission (his girlfriend is very fond of hats).
