Postcard from the Ruins of the Chambers House

Paul Lundgren Jul 01, 2023 5 Comments

The caption on this undated postcard suggests that it shows the ruins of American Fur Company’s trading post at Fond du Lac, but it is actually the ruins of the home of Michael and Emily Chambers. (More on that in the comments.)

The postcard appears to have not been mailed but perhaps was somehow hand-delivered. There is no postmark, but it has a written message on the back. The intended recipient is B. Clifford Ticknor of Dunkirk, N.Y.

The message reads:

Am having a fine time; no bad weather so far. You can give this to [Mamma?] for her collection if you don’t want it. Will have lots to tell you about when I get home.

The signature initials are G.T.R.

Recommended Links:

History Fond du Lac, Huntley Printing Company, Postcards, St. Louis River

5 Comments

Jim Richardson (aka Lake Superior Aquaman)

about 10 months ago

I am outraged those ruins were not converted into housing. jk lol

hbh1

about 10 months ago

B. Clifford Ticknor died in 1931. The card is from his sister, Georgia Ticknor Reed. Clifford was an insurance executive. 

Georgia was two years older than her brother. They were born in 1883 and 1885. Georgia's husband was die hard conservative Representative Daniel Alden Reed of New York, who served in the House from 1919-1959, when he died. (He was also a major football star at Cornell.) They married in in 1905, so this postcard must be from after that. It is interesting to me that Georgia's husband's father was a sailor and captain on the Great Lakes. Her own father was a railroad brakeman his whole life. 

Georgia's daughter Ruth, was also active in Republican politics and worked for a time in her father's office, committed suicide by jumping from the Meridian Hill Hotel in D.C. in 1947. Georgia herself died in 1968.

Tony D.

about 10 months ago

The subject of this image is misrepresented. It is actually the ruins of the Michael and Emily Chambers House, which stood in Chambers Grove east of the Chambers' Brownstone Quarry. The 1818 American Fur Company fur post buildings were all made of wood. Learn more about the postcard here. 

And you'll find a photo of a group of revelers in front of the Chambers house ruins, as well as a history of Chambers Grove and Historical parks here.

Dave Sorensen

about 10 months ago

Thanks, Tony. I was wondering why a trading post would be made of brick. There are a few ruins, railroad beds and overgrown roads from a later period that still exist in the woods along the St Louis river between Mont du Lac ski hill and Oliver, Wis. Shout out to whomever placed the geo cache along the Red River there.

The Growth and Decline of the 1890 Plat of St. Louis

Ramos

about 10 months ago

I was confused by the mislabeled picture, too. Those old ruins are basically where the picnic pavilion is in Chambers Grove Park today. The Skally Line train would come steaming down from Thomson and take a sharp left turn into Fond du Lac right behind that building.

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