This postcard was mailed Feb. 23, 1916 — 110 years ago today. It shows the beginnings of the Duluth Civic Center, with the old Duluth Post Office at the center.

The Romanesque-style post office building opened in 1894 to serve as the central Duluth post office. The St. Louis County Courthouse followed in 1909, marking a switch to neoclassical design. The other structures that make up today’s Duluth Civic Center were built after this postcard was created: Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1919), St. Louis County Jail (1923), Duluth City Hall (1928) and Gerald W. Heaney Federal Building (1930). The post office moved to the federal building when it opened, and the Romanesque building shown in this postcard was razed in 1934.

Miss Edna Stoner of Oak Park, Illinois, was the recipient of this postcard. The penmanship on the back is a little funky, but the message reads something like:

Dear Edna,
This is some town. All lrrlls (?) so you can imagine how much of a (?) it makes with me. We were eleven hours later on account of a wreck on the road at Chetek. The swallowing so far is fine. Love to all, Lyda c/o Spalding Hotel