Loop Souvenirs and the Souvenir stand

[drgwcs]

Most of us probably have a Georgetown Loop postcard in our collection. It is amazing how many of these were made and would up all over the country. Check antique malls and you might find one. Postcards of the South Park Line seem to be fewer in number.



There were other souvenirs that were sold of the Loop too. I just got a couple of neat items off ebay that are related to the postcards. A small tea cup and saucer and a little vase both with pictures of the loop. (My apologies for the pictures being sideways- they are correct in my computer and I even tried rotating them and saving but they still wind up sideways??)







The vase is just labeled made in Germany and the teacup is labeled Wheelock Dresden Germany. This got me digging- I had assumed these were recent tourist pieces like some others in the lot but these were actually older. Wheelock was an importer of souvenir pottery which was a craze back in the 1890’s through the end of WWII. They used mainly postcard images on this pottery either initially hand colored or later a full transfer.



So that got me thinking where did these get sold? There are a few other things like pin back buttons etc that have popped up. Obviously the postcards were sold in pretty great quantities- I always assumed perhaps they sold them in stations and other places along the line and possibly in the train. That was almost certainly true but there were a whole lot out there and the tourist business on the Loop was kind of a captive affair largely with stops at Forks Creek and Silver Plume. Then the light bulb went on- there was a little stand that I had noticed in a couple of Matthew McClure photos in the DPL taken at the Silver Plume Pavilion. (call numbers MCC-590 and MCC-591) I had posted them over in the C&S FB group a while back.

MCC-590 from the DPL


MCC 591 from the DPL

 I kind of thought perhaps since it was in the picnic area that it was for snacks etc….However the logical place for that would be inside where the kitchen is. I pulled them up and zoomed in and voila a postcard rack!  








On the front there is a display case with what could be some sort of pottery on top??  We have a souvenir stand folks. Why not too- looks like a lot of the folks brought their own lunch why not get a little more out of them. In a lot of ways the Silver plume wye area was a lot like the C&S’s version of what would be called a “trolley park.” You had the Argentine central excursion, a mine tour, the pavilion for eating and dancing along with its picnic grounds and for the truly adventurous the first passenger cableway in North America, the Sunrise Peak Aerial Railway. Why not get a little more out of the tourists with a stand selling souvenirs. I wonder if the lady in the photo was the one that sold that teacup and vase so long ago?  I would imagine that they also sold some souvenirs in the Forks Creek eating house but no photos of the interior have ever surfaced.

On the South Park line there were a lot of resorts that may have sold souvenirs of that line- (bunt unlikely of the loop) there is a photo of the lobby of the Glen Isle resort that looks like there might be some stuff that was gifts there. Has anybody ever noticed anything similar to the stand at Silver Plume anywhere or any other photos of the stand at Silver Plume?

[Mike Trent]

Interesting stuff, Jim. Thanks!