Antique embossed birthday postcard mailed from Lattimer Mines, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, bearing a very nice early postmark from this historic anthracite coal-mining community.
The reverse carries a clearly readable circular postmark:
LATTIMER MINES, PA.
FEB 20
1909
6 PM
The card is franked with a green 1-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp and appears to have been addressed locally to Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania.
The Lattimer Mines Post Office was established in 1889, during the height of northeastern Pennsylvania's anthracite coal era. Unlike many of the coal-patch post offices we encounter, this one survived the decline of the mining industry and remains in operation today.
USPS currently lists the Lattimer Mines Post Office at 850 Lattimer Road, Lattimer Mines, PA 18234.
Thus, this is not a DPO or ghost-town cancellation. It is, however, a wonderful early postal artifact from one of Pennsylvania's historically significant coal communities.
Lattimer developed as one of the numerous coal patch communities surrounding Hazleton in Luzerne County, an area whose economy and population were transformed by anthracite mining, railroads, and large-scale European immigration.
Many miners who came into the region during the late 19th century were immigrants from eastern and central Europe. Luzerne County notes that the coal industry attracted diverse immigrant populations whose communities became an enduring part of the county's identity.
The name Lattimer became nationally known because of a violent confrontation that occurred there just twelve years before this postcard was mailed.
On September 10, 1897, striking immigrant anthracite miners marched toward Lattimer as part of a labor protest.
They were confronted by the Luzerne County sheriff and an armed posse.
The posse opened fire on the miners, killing at least 19 men and wounding many others. Many of the victims were Eastern European immigrants. The event became known as the Lattimer Massacre and occupies an important place in the history of American organized labor and the anthracite mining industry.
The massacre occurred only about twelve years before this February 1909 postcard was cancelled at Lattimer Mines.
That makes the postmark particularly appealing to collectors interested in:
Pennsylvania coal mining • anthracite history • labor history • United Mine Workers history • immigrant history • Luzerne County postal history
The community survives today as Lattimer, a village/CDP within Hazle Township, while its post office retains the historic name Lattimer Mines.
The front is an attractive early “Birthday Greeting” card with a small oval pastoral scene showing figures beside flowering vegetation. The design includes blue-green coloration, gold accents and decorative script.
The card was mailed in February 1909 and contains a handwritten message on the reverse.
This is a particularly nice combination of an early 20th-century greeting postcard with a collectible Pennsylvania coal-country postmark.
Post Office: Lattimer Mines
County: Luzerne County
State: Pennsylvania
Postmark: Lattimer Mines, PA
Date: February 20, 1909
Time: 6 PM
Post Office Established: 1889
Current Status: Active
DPO: No
Ghost Town: No
Community Type: Historic anthracite coal-mining / coal-patch community
Stamp: Green 1¢ Benjamin Franklin
Historical Association: Lattimer Massacre of 1897
Fair to good antique condition with substantial age-related wear. Noticeable corner and edge wear, rounding, surface soiling, staining/spotting and creasing are present. There is heavier wear along portions of the upper edge and corners.
The reverse shows toning, handwriting and postal wear consistent with a mailed postcard more than a century old.
Importantly for the postal-history collector, the Lattimer Mines circular postmark is strong and readily identifiable, including the town name and 1909 date.
Please inspect photographs carefully for exact condition.
City: Lattimer Mines
County: Luzerne
State: Pennsylvania
Country: USA
Year: 1909
Era: Divided Back Era
Postage Condition: Posted
Postmark: Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania
Stamp: 1¢ Benjamin Franklin
Theme: Postal History / Coal Mining / Birthday
Subject: Birthday Greeting
Industry: Anthracite Coal Mining
Historical Interest: Lattimer Massacre / Pennsylvania Labor History
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
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