Hey everybody, welcome to Retell Seller, an ephemera podcast where I uncover forgotten stories and the ephemera people leave behind. I'm Angie, a reseller of 10 years, and I'll share one of those snippets with you. Let's see what today's find has to say
Today’s episode begins with a really stained postcard. The correspondence side has what I can only guess is a coffee stain. Now, I did spill coffee once around my cards and luckily it only affected 1 and I just don’t know if this was THE one.
The artwork on the front is of a man and woman sitting on a low stone wall. Behind them is an open landscape with a body of water and what looks like either dry fields or sand stretching into the distance, a line of trees along the horizon. It feels very park-like. The colors are soft.
The woman is sitting to the right of the man with her back close to him. Her legs are crossed and her body is shifted further to the right away from him. She’s wearing a burgundy colored, heavy looking dress with a deep red feathered hat to match.
A white coat with large poofy sleeves, long white gloves and her arms are outstretched with her hands resting on the end of a parasol’s handle. Her head is turned back toward the man and she’s looking down at him.
He’s hunched over with rounded shoulders, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his thighs with his hands clasped between his knees holding what looks like a walking cane. He is dressed in a dark gray suit, white shirt, dark necktie, and brown shoes. His hat is sitting on the wall to his left.
She looks confident, possibly righteous. He just looks defeated.
The title printed on the card is called “A Drama.”The artwork absolutely gives off the feeling of disagreement or disappointment.
The postcard’s image orientation is landscape and about ¾ of an inch worth of the right side is plain white from top to bottom. The writer wrote a short message in this space and a longer message on the other side.
The small area on the front reads:
“Dave is down here and I think you would not know him. He looks fine.”
The other side’s message reads:
“La Junta Col.
Dec 30, 1907
Dear Cousin,
Received your postals this a.m. Am at this place working for Ramsay Dry Goods Co. All OK here but, I’m not much pleased with town. Celia”
The recipients of the card are in Cisne, IL. The 1st message about Dave made me think he was also probably from Cisne? I’m wondering if he had previously been ill or injured and now looks dramatically different than what they knew him to look like before but, that he did look OK now.
The main message from Celia, saying she wasn't pleased with the town, made me wonder if she'd recently moved to La Junta. While of course I don't know, the fact she wrote this on a card titled "A Drama" made me wonder if it reflected what she was going through at the time.
Since Celia mentioned working for Ramsay Dry Goods, that's what I chose to look into. I wondered what I could find about it, its connection to La Junta, and anything from around the time Celia wrote her postcard. Starting out as far as I could tell, Ramsay Dry Goods was in different cities and states around the U.S. like TX, OK, MO
Searching newspapers.com, the oldest article out of La Junta also mentioning Ramsay was dated January 20, 1906 just 1 year before Celia’s card.
The snippet was under the section of the paper called “Local and Personal Items.” and it says, in part, “The five stores of the Ramsay Mercantile Company are to be incorporated under the title of the “Ramsay Dry Goods Company.” The capital stock will be $150,000, and the five local mangers located at La Junta, Greeley, Salida, Rocky Ford and Delta, will be named as directors.”
Later that month, another short bit says, “Managers of the various Golden Rule Stores in Colorado owned by C. H. Ramsay & Co., were in Salida all this week taking part in the annual inventory prior to the transfer of these stores and stocks to The Ramsay Dry Goods Company
In February Dr. F. Finney along with V. Albera were finalizing plans on building a two-story structure on the corner of Santa Fe avenue and Second street. It also stated they’d be placing a second story on the building occupied by businesses including Ramsay Dry Goods.
And I wanted to know if the building was still around so I looked up the corner of Santa Fe and Second St. and you know how AI is the 1st thing to come up it actually stated the area was home to the Art Deco detailed Kit Carson Hotel and that it had been remodeled in 1906, which matched what I found, and again in 1933.
So, I looked up Kit Carson Hotel and they have a picture of it.
I thought, how amazing; it’s still standing. As I’m reading, what’s typed under the picture I see:
Year Listed: 2003
County: Otero County
Construction Date: 1900
Threat When Listed: Demolition
Status: LOST – 2012
Then I find another website showing a video of it indeed being demolished in 2012.
In the summer of 1906 I found this interesting for a couple of reasons, it says, “Miss Alice Mummey, of Farmington, Ill., arrived in La Junta yesterday morning and will be the guest during the summer of her brother, A.V. Mummey, manager of the Ramsay Dry Goods Company.
#1 Farmington is not that far from where we are and what does “summer of her brother” mean? Just that she’d be visiting him for the entire summer? I don’t know.
One of the show room windows caught fire in July of 1906 due to an electric wire fuse burning out. An employee was in the store at the time and was able to extinguish the fire before help even arrived. $50 would cover the loss.
In the summer of ‘07, it was time for A.V Mummey, the manager of Ramsay to get back to his hometown of Farmington to visit with his family and join his wife who had been there for weeks. He was also going to St. Louis and Chicago to buy new inventory for the fall and winter.
I was hoping I’d find an article close to the date Celia wrote her card AND be out of La Junta. And the closest I could find was a full page advertisement for the store posted on December 21, 1907.
It was a Christmas ad, titled: “WE ARE HEADQUARTERS For CHRISTMAS SHOPPERS”
and it also said, “Realizing that you each like to be waited upon promptly, we have extra help during the holiday rush to take care of you.”
Don’t you wish stores were like that now? Actually, I don’t like going shopping, I like to go sourcing, not shopping for me. I don’t like it.
The very next article jumped to February of 1908 and this was funny and would just probably not be accepted today for various reasons but, the stores in town were running contests where prizes were given if you met a certain criteria like:
- Ramsay Dry Goods was giving one pair of shoes each to the oldest married couple.
- And Turner & Huntley gave 100 lbs. of Velvet flour to the homeliest man.
- Peoples Pharmacy were going to give $5 in trade to the winner in the Fat Mens’ race, 200 lbs. and over.
- Hillman’s would give $12.50 overcoat to the gentleman bringing in the largest number of ladies to town on one wagon. What is that?
- F.C Helt gave a $2.50 gold ring to the fattest baby under 1 year of age.
Only 3 years after opening in La Junta, Ramsay Dry Goods was bought out by a company changing the name to Todd Dry Goods Company. And they were having a “reorganization sale” saying, “We desire to announce to the people of La Junta that we have purchased the entire stock, fixtures and good will of the Ramsay Dry Goods Company.” They had put everything on sale and, “secured sales people to wait upon the crowds.”
But, don’t get too comfortable, 3 years later Todd’s was bought out by J.B. Byars. They too had a mass sale of 1/2 off of hundreds of articles but, they did NOT note if they’d secured enough sales people to wait upon the crowds.
I wish I knew why Celia wasn’t fond of the town. It made me think of the saying, “Wherever you go, there you are.” In my mind, that’s is only partially true.
We'll probably never know whether "A Drama" was just the title on a postcard or whether Celia thought it fit her circumstances. Either way, her few short sentences have lasted far longer than any drama she may have been experiencing.
Thank you for joining me as I shared a snippet of the past. I'd love to know if it connected with you in some way. Did it spark a memory or make you see something differently? If so, consider sharing it. Be sure to check out the show notes for additional info, links, and ways to connect. It's not nostalgia, it's human. Until next time, may you find something worth holding onto
