Found:Greetings from Minocqua, WI

Found: Plenty of  Young "Deers" Here, Greetings from Minocqua, Wis.
Made by E.C. Kropp Co., Milwaukee, Wis. circa 1930s.
Handwritten text on backside:
Dear Aunt Mary, We have lots of swimming and fishing here, also hiking and golfing,
but we don't do the golfing. There is a baby deer here of seven weeks old.
Love Gertrude" postmarked July 29, 1937

Minocqua's website boasts of November being the opening of deer hunting season, which is "practically an official holiday and an important part of our Northwoods heritage." Ike Eisenhower was a "regular Minocqua visitor" due to its wilderness beauty and the town is the birthplace of the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile clubs. This postcard of young "Deers" grazing shows the creatures inhabiting a landscape of birch and cedar where they became a spectacle for the Minocqua tourist of yore.

Found: Sunset, Minocqua, WI

Found: Sunset over Kewaguesaga Lake, Minocqua, Wisconsin.
By C.T. American Art Colored & the Specialty and Gift Shop, Minocqua, Wisconsin.
Written on the back in pencil:
"Here for a few days. Beautiful Country. Best to all. Fran & Bill."
Postmarked Minocqua, Wisconsin, August 15, 1935, 5:30 PM

Found: Driftwood, Greetings From Appleton, Wisconsin.
 Much of the beauty of the North is its bleakness, captured here in the wild sky, rolling surf, and bleaching driftwood.
 Genuine Natural Color Made by Dexter Press, Inc., West Nyack, NY.
Copyright 1951 The L.L. Cook Co.

Found: Greetings from Minocqua, Wisconsin

Found: "M-1-Min-Aqua Bats Water Ski Club by Antigo Card Service Curteich Color® Art-Creation Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. circa 1960

The Min-Aqua Bats still exist claiming to be one of the oldest amateur waterski show teams in the US having chartered in 1952, the same year Tommy Bartlett got his show rolling. The war was over and dare devil stunts were in the air in Wisconsin. Growing up in 1960s Wisconsin around abundant fresh water lakes and with Tommy Bartlett's Water  Ski & Jumping Boat Thrill Show going on in nearby Wisconsin Dells, water skiing seemed a cool teenaged thing to do in the summer. After decades of Thrill Show success he owned a chunk of Wisconsin Dells and would be spotted sorting around in a shiny red Porsche. We both remember our cousins water skiing on the lakes where they lived. It looked sufficiently dangerous to us to be pulled behind a motor boat going full-throttle. Our older cousins never offered to teach us and the stray tire inner tube along the shore seemed a saner option for kids in bright orange canvas life jackets. 

County ZZ, Wrightstown, WI

County ZZ, Wrightstown, Wisconsin, June 30, 2012

Found: "Highway Scene, U.S. 16 and 12, Camp Douglas, Wisconsin" by Wayne Paper Box & Printing, Fort Wayne, Indiana, circa 1950s

Found: "River Drive, Cornell, Wis." on DOPS paper, circa 1938

Found: "Highway 130, Lone Rock, Wisconsin, on EKKP paper, circa 1930

Found: "Scene at Minocqua, Wis." on DOPS paper, circa 1941

Found: "A Pleasant Drive Near Rio, Wisconsin," circa 1910

Found: "James Street, Columbus, Wisconsin" by E. A Bishop Publishing, Racine, Wis., circa 1930

Found: "'At the Turn of the Road'" Potowatomi State Park, Door County, Wisconsin" by E. A. Bishop Publishing, Racine, Wis., postmarked July 3, 1944

Found: "Prairie Avenue, Kenosha, Wisconsin," by E. A. Bishop Publishing,  Racine, Wis., postmarked May 7, 1909

Found: "Driveway, Humboldt Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin," by M.L. Anneberg Publisher, Milwaukee, postmarked December 31, 1911

Found: "A Pleasant Drive, Omro, Wisconsin, by National Colortype Co, circa 1950

Found: "The Drive, Lake Side Park, Fond Du Lac, Wis." published by the Acmegraph Co, Chicago, circa 1920

Found: "Grand Dad's Bluff, La Crosse, Wis." published by Spencer-McCord Drug Co., La Cross, Wis., circa 1940

Found: "One of many Beautiful Drives near Baraboo, Wis." by Baraboo News Agency, Baraboo, Wis, circa 1930

Found: "Road Scene, Trail 3, Near La Crosse, Wis." published by Spence-McCord Drug Co., La Crosse, Wis, circa 1940

Found: "Road to the Lake: At the end of this birch lined lane are
the invited waters of an inland lake, Vacationland Scwne"
copyright The L.L. Cook Co., Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1954

Found: "Opposite Prairie du Chien, Wisc., this colorful rugged bluff
bordering the Mississippi River is in the Effigy Mounds National Monument
above Marquette and McGregor,  Iowa" Ektachrome by Margery Goergen
published by Goergen Studio, McGregor, Iowa, circa 1954

Found: "Greetings from Eagle River, Wis., Colorful autumn in the Vactionland of Wisconsin: Magnificent Autumn!...comes like a warrior with the stain of blood on his brazen mail...Longfellow" published by Wyman Photo Center, Wausau, Wisconsin, postmarked November 26, 1952

Found: "A Modern Super-Highway thru the Grandeur of Autumn" photo by Free Lance Photographers Guild, Inc. published by C. R. Brown Co., Eau Claire, Wis,  circa 1960

Found: "Greetings from Rhinelander, Wisconsin, Lookout," published by Wyman Post Card Co, Wausau, Wis, circa 1960

    

Duane Hall confessing his psychopathic driving urges, scene from Annie Hall

Driving the rural back roads of 21st century Wisconsin isn't as romantic as the vintage postcards we've posted once portrayed it when gawking at the landscape was the only concern. Now there are texting teens, liquid manure spills, and farm implements wider than the road. The "picturesque" mid-century roadways depicted on postcards invited folks to jump in their cars with family and friends to motor to destinations throughout the state. Fall colors, rivers, scenic bluffs, and parks peppered the landscape. Being an attentive driver or "keeping your eyes on the road" seemed beside the point. A perfectly neurotic Wisconsin night driving movie scene is a highlight of Woody Allen's 1977 film Annie Hall.  New York City comic Alvy Singer (played by Woody Allen) and night club chanteuse Annie Hall (played by Diane Keaton) visit her home town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Singer's Manhattan aversion to driving plays out in a scene with Annie Hall's brother Duane (played by Christoper Walken) confessing his psychopathic driving urges in his dimly lit bedroom: "Sometimes when I'm driving on the road at night and I see two headlights coming toward me fast, I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly head-on into the oncoming car. I can anticipate the explosion, the sound of shattering glas, the flames rising out of the flying gasoline..." Modern Super-Highways with their smooth curves, reinforced dividers, and fenced-off roadbeds eliminate many rural hazards as drivers zoom between cities and suburbs. Still, the back roads remain the most intriguing Wisconsin driving as they weave through the glacial Wisconsin landscape, small towns, and woods with lush trees arching overhead.

Found: Antigo by Curteichcolor® 3-D Natural Color Reproduction and Antigo Card Service, Antigo, Wisconsin, circa 1960