Comments on Film shows rural postal delivery in 1903 - Greater Greater Washington

Comment by Jack Love

Mon, 23 Jul 2012 15:22:44 EDT

Curious as to who would be making a film in 1903 (very rare) and for what purpose.

The chicken was a nice touch.

Comment by King Terrapin

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:59:41 EDT

Nice. I wouldn't call it rural though. Horse drawn carriagse were the norm at the time in cities, and even today I wouldn't consider a city of 300,000 rural, much less in 1903.

Comment by Kevin R Kosar

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 08:52:21 EDT

What a find! The LoC has a trove of prints and photos online--but where at LoC did you find this video?

Comment by Thayer-D

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:41:17 EDT

It's corn sugar now. Sugar is sugar.

Comment by William

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:35:20 EDT

No high fructose corn syrup.

Comment by Thayer-D

Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:16:39 EDT

This is awsome! If you look at the large swaths of DC deeloped in the 1920's and 30's, it's easy to imagine the "country" aspect of this scene. Back then the line between country and suburban town wasn't probably so clear as today. The thing that always stands out to me in films of this era is how rail thin everyone looks.

Comment by Adam L

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:32:16 EDT

@Geoff

Yes, I think it would be best to call this "rural District of Columbia". Even though the District of Columbia has had a consolidated government since 1871, the cities of Washington and Georgetown remained intact. In 1895 Congress passed an act that allowed the City of Washington formally annexed Georgetown. However, oddly enough, there was never any act of Congress to *formally* make the boundaries of the City of Washington coextensive with the District. As such, the name "Washington, D.C." was applied to the entire District somewhat unevenly over the following decades as the street grid and city services were brought further and further out. Eventually these suburban towns developed into actual city neighborhoods.

So, there it is. All of you who live in Columbia Heights, or Anacostia, or Tenleytown may think you live in "Washington" but you're really just posers. j/k ;-)

Comment by Tina

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:52:06 EDT

...doesn't look that rural to me; e.g 2 houses right next each other. The chicken and the horse give a connotation of "rural" but otherwise, what makes it rural?

In any case this is really neat and thanks for sharing it. It looks like the lady is buying postage from the postman then giving him her letter. Wouldn't that be convenient.

Comment by Fischy (Ed F.)

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:09:50 EDT

Ummm....Are we watching the same film? Is it run in reverse? I saw a guy get out of the wagon, go to the metal mailbox and TAKE OUT a piece of mail. Then, the woman came around with another piece of mail, and also paid for postage.

Comment by Geoffrey Hatchard

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:01:21 EDT

When you say "rural Washington, DC," you mean we're still within the District, but back when we still had farmland, etc., inside the diamond, right?

Just checking. This is cool!