Antique Easter postcard mailed from Clyde Park, Park County, Montana, with a desirable early Montana territorial-community postal-history connection.
The card bears a CLYDE PARK, MONT. circular date stamp dated:
MAR 24
1910
The history of the Clyde Park post office is considerably more interesting than that of a continuously operating small-town office.
Postal records list an original Clyde Park post office from 1895 until 1902, when that office was discontinued. The name subsequently returned to the postal system, with Clyde Park reestablished in 1905. The office has continued under that name to the present day.
This March 1910 postcard therefore dates from only about five years after the Clyde Park post office was reestablished.
Clyde Park sits in Montana's Shields River Valley, north of Livingston between the Bridger Range and Crazy Mountains.
The community was originally associated with a settlement called Sunnyside. Montana's official tourism history reports that a post office was established at the Sunnyside stage stop in 1885. In 1887, postal operations were moved to a ranch operated by Harvey and Tregloan, who were raising imported Clydesdale horses. The name Clyde Park developed from the Clydesdales and the park-like appearance of the surrounding valley.
What's particularly fascinating from a postal-history standpoint is that the post office effectively moved with the postmaster during this early period, shifting among ranches before eventually reaching the present townsite. Montana's historical account says the office was moved to the current Clyde Park location at a four-way crossroads around 1900.
By the time this postcard was mailed in 1910, Clyde Park was undergoing a major transition from isolated ranching settlement to an established Montana town. The Northern Pacific Railway reached Clyde Park in 1909 — only about a year before this card was mailed. Clyde Park incorporated as a town in 1912. By that year it reportedly had a bank, newspaper, creamery and grain elevator.
That gives this March 1910 cancellation a wonderful historical context: it dates from the very beginning of Clyde Park's railroad era, before the town was even incorporated.
Clyde Park survives today as a small incorporated community in Park County, so this should not be described as a ghost-town cancel.
The front is an attractive early Easter greeting featuring a winged cherub above a large decorated egg surrounded by flowers and red ribbons reading:
“A Happy Easter”
The card was mailed to Mrs. M. H. Packard in Spencer, Ohio.
The lengthy handwritten message is signed “Love, Richard.”
Franked with a green 1-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp.
Post Office: Clyde Park, Montana
County: Park County
Postmark Date: March 24, 1910
Cancel: Clyde Park, Mont. circular date stamp
Original Clyde Park PO: 1895–1902
Original Office Status: Discontinued 1902
Reestablished: 1905
1910 Office Status: Active, approximately five years after reestablishment
Railroad Arrival: 1909
Town Incorporation: 1912
Stamp: 1¢ Benjamin Franklin
Destination: Spencer, Ohio
Good antique condition with expected age and postal wear. Corner and edge wear, toning, light soiling and several creases are present. A more noticeable horizontal crease runs through the upper portion of the address side. Front retains attractive color with some surface wear and creasing.
The Clyde Park, Mont. 1910 postmark remains identifiable, and the green 1-cent Franklin stamp is present. Extensive period handwriting fills much of the reverse. Please inspect photographs for exact condition.
City: Clyde Park
County: Park County
State: Montana
Country: United States
Postmark Date: March 24, 1910
Post Office: Clyde Park
Postal History: Original office discontinued 1902; reestablished 1905
Era: Divided Back, 1907–1915
Postage Condition: Posted
Stamp: 1¢ Benjamin Franklin
Destination: Spencer, Ohio
Theme: Postal History, Montana History, Easter
Subject: Easter Cherub & Egg
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
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