Picture postcard views of Chariton, circa 1950

Back in the day --- before instant photography and photo-sharing --- travelers often purchased sets of picture postcards to commemorate visits to various places. And that may have been what happened here, explaining why this set of seven cards in near-mint condition turned up in a suitcase of family photos in Kansas.

Twila Tuttle Blakely returned them to Chariton via the Lucas County Historical Society earlier this year and I finally got around to cataloging (and scanning) them yesterday, then decided the set was worth sharing although we do have additional copies of most.

Ms. Blakely wrote, "Recently I came across these vintage post cards as I was going through my parents' old suitcase of photos. The only connection to our family might have to these is that my dad's uncle, Gifford Tuttle (Aunt Bess), owned the Tuttle Hardware in Chariton for many years. My dad's brother, Lawrence Tuttle (Dora), worked for Uncle Gifford at the store for lots of years and was also a volunteer fireman for the city of Chariton."

Vehicles in the images suggest that the photographs were taken not long after World War II ended, perhaps about 1950. Note that city streets have not yet received the multiple coats of asphalt that now cover original brick and that in the view of the courthouse (top) the clock tower still has its steeple roof.

The image of the west side of the square with what now is the Chariton Vision Center building in the foreground also shows, in the distance, the Kubitshek Block, which burned during the 1960s.

The Hotel Charitone, thanks to its recent restoration, looks much the same.

As does the original 1923 block of Chariton High School, now flanked to the west and north by a variety of additions.

Woodlawn Avenue, in front of the distinctive Combs house, still was brick.

Red Haw State Park still was known by many as "Red Haw Hill State Park," but the view of moonlight on the water was as romantic then as now. "Picnic Point" looked a little different, but you can see the original version of the small shelter house that's still there to the left and a portion of the dam to the extreme right.