WISH YOU WERE HERE

Though postcards were produced for several decades, it was not until the 1890s that photography began to be more widely used to illustrate them. During the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago the publisher Charles Goldsmith produced an official set of colorful postcards of the event which proved wildly popular. The craze for postcards reached a high point just after 1900.

Postcards were an inexpensive, easy way to communicate with friends and family, not unlike text or instant messaging today. Though postcard images spanned the spectrum from city views to humorous vignettes, perhaps the most popular were scenes of tourist destinations. The proprietors of Big Trees Grove and their nearest competitor, Cowell’s Big Trees, maintained an array of postcards featuring the grove’s largest trees and visitors enjoying resort amenities.  

Milo Hopkins, manager of Cowell’s Big Trees, had far fewer big trees than his neighbors. To best compete with the Welch family, Hopkins chose not to charge an admission fee.

 

He began in 1902 with construction of the Clubhouse where he furnished lunches to arriving railroad passengers. He soon built a gift shop next to the Clubhouse where he sold redwood souvenirs, “bottles of pop, confectionery, [and] postcards.” Many of Hopkins’ postcards featured images of these accommodations.

To the left of the gift shop in the postcard above, please note the pavilion where Hopkins hosted dancing and meals for special occasions.   

Sources:  Postcards from the Scott Peden Collection and the Author's Personal Collection; The Sinaites: A Chronicle of Happy Days by Edward Ambler Armstrong, 1922.