This card was mailed from Salem at 1 p.m. on Feb. 22, 1924. On that date the company in the photograph was known as the Stout, Smith Trust. Lee Smith wrote in the Sesquicentennial History that the furniture business had begun in a building close to the Armory. It burned in 1911, and the company, then called the Stout, Mahorney, Duckwall Company, relocated to the banks of Blue River. It soon changed its name to Stout, Mahorney, Smith, then in 1913 became the Stout, Smith Trust, and finally, in 1929, Smith Cabinet Mfg. Co. The company's products shifted from furniture to cabinets when radio became a mass entertainment medium and the radio set moved into America's parlors. The wires and tubes were encased in fashion statements, and Smith churned out radio -- and later TV and hi-fi -- cabinets for RCA, Day Fan, and Zenith, among others. (Metal tags like this one were tacked inside the cabinets to identify the maker.) This card is a real-photo view, identified in the caption line as "Bregstone P.T.V. No. 8." (For more on this series see the preceding view of the East Side of the Square.) The back is anonymous and the stamp box is hidden by the stamp or nonexistant. I've included this series in the 1920s mostly based on this card's 1924 postmark. This card includes a notation on the back, "This is where I work." The message reads: "My eyes are allright now and will be home Sat night if nothing happens further then I know now. I am O.K. How is Vilmer? Tell him Mother said Hello and I will come home soon. I don't think Ruth is coming home. Love, Hattie." (4/26/01) Home | The 1920s | Next card