Item 2020.005.01 - Entrance to Long Branch Park

2020.005.01 - Front 2020.005.01 - Back

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Entrance to Long Branch Park

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  • Graphic material

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CA LGIC ARC-2020.005.01

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  • ? - 1921 (Creation)

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2020.005.01: Postcard

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Front: Real Picture Post Card, Black and White Photograph. Postcard of the entrance to Long Branch Park. Road entrance with stone gates at centre, trees in background, and signed storefronts to the right. No border on the image. Handwritten title on image in white, all caps, reads "Entrance to Long Branch Park." In image, two people (appears to be a man and a woman) stand in front of a storefront advertising Coca-Cola, Cold Drinks, and Ice Cream Cones. A sign further back reads “Long Branch Amusement Park.”

Back: Divided back postcard. A handwritten note in cursive is addressed to Mrs. Badgley in Canfield, Ontario from Leon. It bears most of a 1911 King George V in Admiral Uniform 2 cent stamp.

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Mark / Inscription text:
(1) LONG BRANCH / AMUSEMENT PARK / BY THE LAKE / Dancing Pavillion & Tourist Hotel / DANCING / [illegible, 6 words] / BERT HENDERSON’S [illegible, 2 words] / NOVELTY NIGHT EVERY MONDAY / S Cold Drinks [partially obscured, but likely Refreshments] Ice Cream Cones / Coca-Cola”
(2) ENTRANCE TO / LONG BRANCH PARK
(3) POSTCARD
(4) [missing]NADA POSTAGE / TWO / CENTS / 2
(5) TORONTO ONT [illegible]
(6) Mrs [illegible, 1 word, obscured] Badgley / Canfield, / Ontario
(7) Monday, July 25/21 / Dear Mother and Dad - We are / well. Enjoyed our [illegible, 1 word, obscured] very much / may [illegible, obscured] company yesterday / for [illegible, obscured] Charlie Campbell / 1911 [illegible, 1 word, obscured] St.S. his wife and little boy. / They started for Kingston his car / wasn't working right so he filtered / around in it all Saturday afternoon / and most of Sunday. He got it fixed / though and they started on about 8 o'clock / Sunday. We had a nice shower this afternoon. / Leon.
Mark / Inscription type:
(1) Signage in photograph
(2) Postcard title
(3) Imprint and divider
(4) Stamp
(5) Postmark
(6) Address
(7) Message      
Mark / Inscription description:
(3) A vertical line below the word POSTCARD divides the back
(4) A stamp bearing the image of King George V in Admiral Uniform in an oval frame. Some of the left side is missing.
(5) A circle and 7 wavy lines. Stamped twice.   
Mark / Inscription technique:
(1) Included in photograph
(2) Handwritten in white
(3) Printed in black ink
(4) Printed in red ink
(5) Stamped in black ink
(6-7) Handwritten cursive in black ink   
Mark / Inscription position:
(1) Front of postcard, right-hand side from centre to edge
(2) Front of postcard, centered at bottom
(3) Back of postcard, centered at top, covered by 5 and 6
(4) Back of postcard, upper right corner
(5) Back of postcard, top, from center to right edge
(6) Back of postcard, horizontally in center of right side
(7) Back of postcard, vertically from center to edge on left side      
Mark / Inscription language: English      
Mark / Inscription translation: N/A

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This postcard is printed as “Real Photo Postcard”. Real photo postcards began to be produced in the early 1900s. They were first produced using the Kodak “postcard camera” where the camera could take a picture and then print a postcard sized negative of the photo. This camera allowed anyone to be able to make photo postcards (either as a hobby or a business). As a result, many real photo postcards produced were one of a kind family photos or events, but many businesses continue to use this new technology to continue to show landmarks and city sites. Real photo postcards differ from printed postcards as they are developed from the negative rather than printed.

Long Branch Park is a City of Toronto park. It is a 1.4-hectare park near Brown's Line and Lake Shore Boulevard West on the shore of Lake Ontario. The land of the park was previously owned by Colonel Samuel Smith. After his death in 1826, the children moved out and the house sat empty for a while. In 1861, James and Margaret Eastwood purchased the old house and 500 acres of lakefront property from the Smith Estate. In 1883, they sold 64 acres on the eastern edge of their property to a developer who developed it into an exclusive summer resort area. The land was subdivided into 250 villa lots where the well-off could build summer cottages. In 1886, Thomas J. Wilkie, who had held leadership positions with the YMCA in Toronto and Brooklyn, was hired to bring the plan to fruition, assisted by his brother John. The resort was named “Long Branch Park”, likely after New Jersey’s famous seaside resort. Soon the entire area was known as “Long Branch”.

Two brick pillars topped by lamps marked the park’s entrance just south of Lake Shore Road. The hotel property was surrounded by a 12-foot high fences and the entrance gate was locked and guarded at all times. Alcoholic beverages were prohibited and vehicles were banned on Sundays. The park had an open pavilion for church services and events, a second pavilion where 300 could dine outdoors, a gymnasium, a water slide, a fountain courtyard, and facilities for swimming, boating, lawn bowling, tennis, croquet, baseball and lacrosse. A long wharf was built jutting into Lake Ontario to provide dockage for the hotel’s own steamer, The Rupert, which provided commuter service six days a week between Long Branch and Toronto. Excursion boat lines, like Greyhound and White Star, called in at Long Branch regularly as well. By 1895, the Toronto and Mimico Electric Railway had reached Etobicoke Creek from Queen and Roncesvalles, providing less expensive access to the park. Soon after this, people began arriving in their own automobiles.

Based on the postmarks found on the object, this postcard was sent from Toronto on July 25, 1921 to a Mrs Badgley in Cranfield, Ontario. The stamp used is a Canadian 1911 George V 2cent stamp.

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