“Dare Cousons I thought wood send you card to let ya now I am picking haye[?] now I am will [well] and having good time – from Eathy to Milson.”
This Real Photo Postcard, circa 1910, shows a train at the Bangor, Michigan train depot, and some people waiting to board and/or having just disembarked. The caption on the postcard is in reference to the Père Marquette Railroad (later Railway) named in honor of the French Jesuit missionary and explorer, Père Jacques Marquette (1637 – 1675).
This particular Bangor is Bangor Township, a civil township in Van Buren County, and located west of Kalamazoo and close to the shores of Lake Michigan; not to be confused with the charter township of Bangor in Bay County, Michigan.
Several references were found online for the publisher. From a 1912 publication on the history of Van Buren County, “…the Wagner Drug Company, has a large and flourishing trade throughout the village of Bangor and vicinity.” This is in reference to Fred W. Reams, who in 1901 entered the drug store business with his father-in-law, H. D. Harvey, continuing with him for seven years. ….Looking further, we find reference of L. R. Wagner taking over from Harvey in 1909…. L. R. is Leonard R. Wagner, on the 1910 Federal Census, occupation Pharmacist, owning his own store, born in Michigan, about 1880; wife’s name Hattie (Dekruif) Wagner.
Divided back, Real Photo Postcard, unused with writing. Circa 1910. Publisher: Wagner Drug Co.
Price: $4.00
Sources: Jacques Marquette. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Marquette. (accessed May 5, 2015).
Rowland, Capt. O. W. (1912). A History of Van Buren County Michigan, Vol. 2. (p. 797). Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, 1912.
Biographies of Van Buren Citizens. “L. R. Wagner” U.S. GenWeb Project (Ancestry.com) Web accessed Mary 5, 2015.
Year: 1910; Census Place: Bangor, Van Buren, Michigan; Roll: T624_676; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 0149; FHL microfilm: 1374689
Pere Marquette Railway. n.d. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pere_Marquette_Railway. (accessed May 5, 2015).