A Message for Alachua’s Main Street Mogul – 1917
I have a bit of a habit – some might call it an obsession – of scrolling through eBay for old Florida postcards. There’s nothing quite like the dopamine hit of finally finding a listing for a particular photo I’d been hunting for. Most of the time, these vintage postcards are blank, never mailed. But this time, I found more than just a cool postcard.
I had clicked on a listing for an Alachua Methodist Church postcard, and was swiping on the photos uploaded by the seller. I noticed the postcard was stamped and written on. As I zoomed in, something caught my eye. The recipient was a name I actually recognized from my research! It was addressed to W.H. Sealey, the owner of the New York Racket Store in early 1900s Alachua. Back in the day, this was the biggest shop on Main Street, right in the same building the Conestoga restaurant operates today.
As a dang millennial (tragically cursed with an inability to read cursive… or so I’m told), I may not be the best at deciphering old handwriting. But I gave it my best shot. The message reads as follows:
Message:
We are leaving this afternoon – all feeling some better.
Will write when I get to [destination].
[Haynes mild fever?]
E.S.
Addressed to:
W. H. Sealey
Baltimore, MD
C/O Baltimore Bargain House
Postmark:
August 1917
Jacksonville, FL
The Baltimore Bargain House was the fourth-largest wholesale business in the country at the time.1 Given this context – and knowing W.H. Sealey was a shop owner – we can assume he was in Baltimore selecting merchandise to bring back to his store in Alachua.
But who were E.S. and Haynes?
With some further digging, I found a business registration for the Alachua Cigar Company listing “SEALY, W H” as President and Director. Also included were two other directors: “STRINGFELLOW, E” and “BOOKMAN, H.”2 Could these be the E.S. and Haynes mentioned in the postcard?? It would make sense if these men were business partners – perhaps traveling to meet Sealey at the wholesaler in Baltimore.
This piece of mail, sent over a century ago, maybe seems insignificant, but it does give a little insight into the workings of local business men back then. Anyways, I think it’s cool…
Click Here for References
- Schein, J., & Donnelly, T. (2012). Baltimore Bargain House. Explore Baltimore Heritage.
https://explore.baltimoreheritage.org/items/show/94 ↩︎ - Alachua Cigar Company. (1936). Florida profit corporation filing information [Business entity record]. Sunbiz.
https://search.sunbiz.org/Inquiry/CorporationSearch/SearchResultDetail?inquirytype=OfficerRegisteredAgentName&directionType=Initial&searchNameOrder=STRINGFELLOWE%200069254&aggregateId=domp-006925-e484701e-b3c4-4982-881d-2c6a23a9a9e3&searchTerm=stringfellow%20e&listNameOrder=STRINGFELLOWE%200069254 ↩︎
