By Joyce L. Alig, President, Mercer County Historical Society
Sunday, November 10, 1:00 – 4:00, the 13th Annual Autumn Post Card Exhibit will be held at the Mercer County Historical Museum, 130 East Market, a block east of the Courthouse, Celina.
Old Post Cards about scenes in Mercer County and Grand Lake Saint Marys, will be the theme of this Exhibit. Local Post Card Collectors Sharon and Bob Poor and Dale Poeppelman will be showing their albums of post cards.
These old Post Cards are a history lesson in themselves. That old adage, “A Photograph is worth a thousand words,” is true. For the past forty years, people have called me and asked for old photographs of Main Street businesses, and old homes, in Celina and area Villages, as well as old photographs of Grand Lake Saint Marys. At the Museum, I have used old post card photographs for historical research for decades.
The Scotty’s Beach, North Shore, Grand Lake, Post Card Photograph, post marked August 5, 1953, at Celina, Ohio, was sent to R.W. Beverly, Marion, Ohio. In October, Lorraine McInnes, Department of Education, University of Michigan contacted me about the site of Scotty’s Beauty Beach on Grand Lake, because she is interested in a report about fossils found at that site. I explained that Scotty’s Beach is located on the north side of the Lake, south of U.S. 29, on Staeger Road, at the water’s edge. I sent her a copy of a 1958 advertisement of Scotty’s Beauty Beach, with a restaurant, cottages, motors, boats, fishing equipment, fishing pier, and an excellent bathing beach, owned by Sidney Scott.
The Gordon State Park was an amusement center on the East Bank and was in operation from 1924, until the early 1930’s. It was named for Robert Gordon, Jr., who later donated the land to the State of Ohio.
Old Post Marks from “dead” Mercer County Post Offices and Business Logos will be on exhibit. David Gray will be showing his collection of Rare Post Marks of Mercer County Post Offices. Each person who donates a Post Card or Envelope with a Post Mark or photograph of a closed Village Post Office in Mercer County, will receive a Township Research History book.
Vince Rengers, Saint Clair Shores, MI, sent a series of Fans which were used as Advertisements for Celina businesses at the turn of the Century. These Fans will also be on exhibit.
Visit the Museum and Take a Tour of Local History through Old Post Card Photographs & Fans.
[The Mercer County Historical Society President Joyce Alig, may be contacted at 3054 Burk-St. Henry Road, Saint Henry, OH 45883, or histalig@bright.net or 419-678-2614.]
Photo Caption: Post Card Photograph Scenes on Grand Lake Saint Marys on exhibit Sunday, November 10, at Mercer County Historical Museum at Celina.