Elgin, IL.
Glendive, MT.
West Palm Beach, FL.
Main Street, Hyannis, MA.
Seal Beach, CA.
Main Street, Hyannis Cape Cod, MA.
Commercial Center, Winnemucca, NV.
North Park Place, Morristown, NJ.
Wenatchee, WA.
Sheridan Street, Cody, WY.
Sandpoint, ID.
Vintage Postcards: Downtowns And Mainstreets Across The US – 1950s-1960s
– Posted on March 11, 2025
That first pic of Hyannis… how did that white SdV squeeze itself in, and how the heck did it get itself out!
Dear Rich, Old folks always enjoy these. (signed) Old Folk. Great collection of Americana. Thanks
Those WERE the days! I have a collection of vintage post cards, mostly from my own area. Unfortunately the cars and businesses are gone. Replaced by UPSCALE urban monstrosities and bloated SUVS. So called Progress is NOT always a good thing
If not for distinctive local landmarks, notable building architecture, or well-known small businesses, many small town main streets throughout the US and Canada in the 1950’s and 1960’s, shared a strong similarity in their look. Plenty of international/global chain stores, and gas stations back then.
I grew up, and spent time, in two of the largest cities in Canada. Neither city ever employed the shorter GM Old Look or New Look buses. Both cities exclusively used perhaps thousands of 40 foot versions, over the course of decades.
As a kid when I visited Kingston, Ontario for the first time in 1975, I was both shocked and amused. As the city exclusively employed the noticeably shorter 30 foot versions of the GM buses. It elicited both laughter, and amusement, from me. They appeared so cute… and unserious!
Downtown Kingston, August 1966.
The city acquired their first New Looks in September 1968. 30 footers, of course! They kept employing the shorter Old and New Looks until the late ’70’s, as I recall. The city ‘arrived’ with their first ‘adult-sized’ New Looks around 1978. lol
To Paul. People knew how to parallel park back then and bumpers were made for bumping.
Parallel parking must have been fun back in those days with manual steering. I see several shots where I wonder how the car in the middle will get out. Hyannis, with the white Caddy, looks like a tough go.
Who knew there was a town called “Winnemucca”? “Sandpoint ID” looks quite dated, even back in “61-2” when the pic was taken. (see an “Edsel” there too)
Great pictures. Glad someone preserved them so we could view them so many years later.
Great selection – and it’s fun to think about the days when travelers would pick up a postcard of main street at a drug store or gas station and mail it to friends or relatives to give a flavor for where they were driving through.
Of these places, I’ve been to the main streets of Winnemucca, Glendive and Morristown. I remember Glendive the most – there’s a state park just outside of town, and we hiked there, and then drove through town afterwards to get some refreshments. Nice place, and obviously a very western feel – real western, not expensive, touristy western.
In looking at a then-and-now shot, downtown Glendive looks very much the same as it did 50 years ago, but sadly the distinctive facade of the First National Bank building has been covered up. Hopefully it’ll be restored some day.
The movie playing in the Cape Cod photo “Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man” came out in July 1962 starring Richard Beymer and an all star supporting cast including Paul Newman. Kennedy was president in 1962, with a family compound in Hyannis Port.
Based on the direction of the parked cars, 3 of the photos appear to be of one-way streets. Is this unusual in US cities?
One way streets are fairly common in U.S. cities – both large and small.
When I took driver’s education in the early 1980s, we were taught that it was easy to quickly identify one way streets: White lane striping indicates travel in the same direction for both lanes. Yellow lane striping indicates travel in the opposite direction between lanes.
When turning on to an unknown street, if you saw white lane striping and there were no “one way” signs, look both ways before turning and the other street signs (speed limit, pedestrian, etc.) will be facing the flow of traffic.
Not sure if that was the same in the 50s and 60s based on some of these postcards though.
Not for downtown areas with relatively narrow streets, no. Even downtown Los Angeles has a lot of one-way streets.
The Beetle parked next to the big finned 58 Plymouth in Seal Beach is a classic shot from that era. Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s was so much fun for a car-crazed kid. I loved the variety of cars – size, style, models, and colors.
Am I missing something? First Hyannis picture, what is sdV?
Cadillac Sedan de Ville.
Kind of nice to see cities that are off of the beaten path, cities in Montana, Wyoming, Utah among others.
I’m from Hyde Park ny Dad was from mass and still had relatives there. His brother had a small 2 bedroom summer house just on the edge of Hyannis.. We’d go for a week every
summer. My two brothers and I slept in one bedroom, mom and Dad in the other.. Went to the same mass as the kennedys at st Francis Xavier church in Hyannis.. All you’d see as they entered the side door were the tops of their heads as the secret service lined the aisle… Was a neat time when I was 11 Years in 62.. Also saw the Kennedy family on their cabin cruiser, the Honey Fitz, in Hyannis harbor once… The main street is a one way now.. Wife and I still go to the cape for an extended weekend the day after labor day.. Got to go to the lime rock Sunday concours then off to the Cape the next day.. Nice to cross the sagamore bridge on to rt6 as all the masses are backed up exiting the Cape… love all the pics but the old hyannis pics are near and dear to me.. My dad would meet with one of his army buddies who ended up owning a night club in boston. I remember riding on the console of his 62 Grand Prix when he took us out to dinner. Mom and brothers in the back seat, me between my Dad and his buddy Herbie Davis… They say once you get the sand of the cape in your shoes you will return… holds true for me as I’m 72 now.. Here is a pic of one of the cool gift shops that were around when I was a kid
As late as the mid 1970’s, many of the bypasses of small town downtowns had still not been built on the Trans-Canada Highway through Ontario.
Traffic would get heavily backed up through small communities like Renfrew. The province was slow to react to a large increase in traffic volume on highways, through the province. As they were also slow, integrating passing lanes on busy two lane highways.