Goodnight Raleigh - a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

Hillsboro Street, Raleigh, N.C. (Redux)

A few weeks ago we published on Flashback Friday an early 20th century postcard view of Hillsboro St. as seen from the Capitol building. This week, we’re in the same time period, but the view is now looking up the street toward the Capitol itself.

This card dates from the ‘undivided back’ era, so the message was written on the front.

How are you these days?
Suppose this scene looks familiar to you.
Love from Blanche

A nice sentiment. But what strikes me most about this postcard view is that it reveals that Hillsboro was primarily a residential street in the early 20th century.

On the left can be seen the community grocery store, which in 1907 was operated by E.H. King. The two-story frame building itself had been on the site at least since 1872. In the mid-1920s it was replaced by a modern brick store front, which continued to serve the community as a grocery for many years. That building was demolished in the 1970s.

Any Goodnight Raleigh readers care to guess what occupies the site today?

Our postcard this week was published by the Rotograph Co. of New York.

The Rotograph Co. 1904-1911
684 Broadway, New York, NY

A major printer and publisher of postcards. They took over the National Art View Company in 1904 and republished many of their images under their own name. A wide variety of card types were issued in 19 letter series plus many other miscellaneous cards and printed items, but they are best known for their view-cards in color rotogravure. Many postcards were printed in the Rotograph style without their logo on them. These early cards may have been private contracts made with the Rotograph Company or from orders placed directly with their printers in Germany. Rotograph produced about 60,000 postcards that were printed in Hamburg, Germany, by Stengel of Dresden, by Knackstedt & Nather of Nancy, France, and possibly by Reinike & Rubin of Magdeburg. While Rotograph produced large amounts cards in clearly defined lettered designated sets, they also produced unique small card sets. Rather than assign small sets a new designation, they were often given a taken letter prefix that corresponded to their subject.

“Flashback Friday” is a weekly feature of Goodnight, Raleigh! in which we showcase vintage postcards depicting our historic capital city. We hope you enjoy this week-end treat!