Orlando History Through Postcards

More than just being something nice to send a friend or a relative while on a trip, these postcards show Orlando through the years and offer a glimpse at what the City Beautiful looked like to tourists through the years.

Linen Postcards

These linen postcards which date from the 1940s and 1950s, show scenes around Orlando. Most of them appear to be from the same collection, “Orlando, The City Beautiful” with the exception of the postcard of the Florida Sanitarium.

The postcard below, O-3, shows the Albertson Public Library.

Albertson Public Library

Another part of “The City Beautiful” postcard collection, O-7, shows a look down Orange Avenue.

Orlando, “The City Beautiful” O-14, shows not only a view of Lake Eola Park, but also features a poem attributed to J. J. B.

Lake Eola Park

Have you ever seen Orlando?
Ever walked her well-paved streets;
Ever tasted of the water?
Have you seen the crowds she greets?
Always coming; always welcome,
Summer, winter, autumn, spring.
Here you find both health and comfort
And the joys they’re sure to bring.

Have you ever seen Orlando?
‘Tis the place for young and old;
Plenteous ozone without asking,
And no storms or winter’s cold
Fruits and flowers and balmy breezes,
Winter gardens everywhere
Lovely homes and groves and pine trees,
Every day the best of fare.

Have you ever seen Orlando?
Or Chief Osceola’s trail?
Land first lived on by the white man;
Reached by water or by rail.
This the land that was first trod
In America, the glorious
Lovely clime! Best gift of God.

The following postcard, numbered O-15, shows the Post Chapel at the Orlando Air Base.

Post Chapel at the Orlando Air Base

Offering another view of Lake Eola, “The City Beautiful,” postcard O-18 features an image of the Orlando Skyline by Moonlight.

Postcard O-21 in Orlando, “The City Beautiful” series features another view of Lake Eola, with Downtown Orlando in the background.

The following postcard, O-28, shows a look down Pine Street in Downtown Orlando.

Number O-39 in the collection features an image of the east façade of the original Albertson Public Library with the old red brick courthouse in the distance at the corner of Central and Magnolia.

Albertson Public Library

The following two postcards, number O-40 and number O-132, both feature more images of Lake Eola.

Number O-40 features an image of Downtown Orlando looking across Lake Eola. Number O-132 in the collection shows a picture of the small fountain at Lake Eola Park just off Central east of Rosalind.

The following linen postcard features an image of the Florida Sanitarium and Hospital, the present day location of AdventHealth Hospital at the corner of Rollins and Princeton.

Read about the history of the Florida Sanitarium
This postcard was donated to the library by Marillyn Suzuki

Modern Postcards

The following two photograph postcards feature the view of Downtown Orlando.

Above looking west from Lake Eola

Above looking west with the Rosalind Club to the left, the Orthodox church to the right, and the State Bank and Trust in the distance

The postcard below, printed for the Orange County Regional History Center, shows Downtown Orlando, ca. 1927. Some of the locations that can be seen in this image include the Albertson Public Library, the Salvation Army, the Rosalind Club, the Chamber of Commerce building, the original red brick county courthouse and the newer courthouse which became the Orange County Regional History Center.