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| Found: The Great White Way, Appleton, Wisconsin. Postmarked Appleton, Wis. May 1, 1909. Written in fountain pen on backside and addressed to a recipient in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin: "How do you like the weather? It snowed here yesterday and last night about 5 inches on the level and today it is getting colder. What will come next? I would like to be home this morning for a hunt. It ought to be great today. It must be great farming. Tomorrow evening the recital of the Girls Glee Club comes off." |
What was once obvious becomes an enigma over time. Could "The Great White Way" caption on this lithographed postcard refer to the first electric Christmas lightsinstalled on College Avenue in 1908 illuminating the December snow? Appleton is the home of a several electrical firsts. It's the site of the first hydro-electric station in 1882, the first electric streetcar in 1886, and the first electric street lights outside the east coast replacing the earlier gaslights in 1912. The postcard illustrates the culmination and evolution of these technologies in one graphic shot.
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