Item Overview

United States Postal Card postally used for domestic mail from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Dublin, Virginia. The manuscript message is a commercial business order for agricultural supplies, specifically evergreen grass seeds.

Postage and Postmarks

• Stationery postage: One Cent.

• Postmark: Circular Date Stamp reading "CHARLOTTE / SEP / 18 / N.C."

• Cancellation: Cork killer applied over the stationery postage.

Routing and Chronology

• Message Date: Thursday, September 18, 1873.

• Postmark Date: Thursday, September 18, 1873.

• Travel Distance and Time: The card traveled from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Dublin, Virginia, a distance of approximately 160 miles north. Transported via the regional railway network (likely connecting to the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad, which maintained a depot in Dublin), transit time for this route typically required 1 to 2 days. Mailed on a Thursday, the estimated arrival in Dublin is Friday, September 19, or Saturday, September 20, 1873. No receiving postmark is present, which is standard practice for postal cards.

Address Information and Current Status

• Sender Location: W. R. Burwell & Co., Charlotte, N.C.

  • Current Status: Charlotte is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. During the 1870s, it was a growing regional hub for cotton and agricultural trade. Today, it is a major metropolitan area and one of the primary financial centers of the United States.

• Recipient Address: H. C. Wysor, Doublin [Dublin], Va.

  • Current Status: Dublin is a town in Pulaski County, Virginia. Henry C. Wysor was a prominent 19th-century merchant and agricultural dealer in the area. The town remains a small community, historically centered around its railroad depot, and is currently home to the New River Valley Airport.

• Additional Visible Features: A pencil notation reading "SP36" is written vertically in the lower right corner of the reverse side. A water stain is visible along the right edge of the reverse.

Historical Context: September 18, 1873
The date of this postmark, September 18, 1873, marks a highly significant event in American economic history. On this exact day, the prominent Philadelphia banking firm Jay Cooke & Company declared bankruptcy. This failure immediately triggered the Panic of 1873, leading to a severe nationwide financial crisis and the onset of the Long Depression. This routine agricultural order was processed through the mail system on the very day the national economic landscape fractured.

Document Text (OCR)
Front:
United States Postal Card.
WRITE THE ADDRESS ONLY ON THIS SIDE - THE MESSAGE ON THE OTHER
To H. C. Wysor
Doublin
Va

Reverse:
H. C. Wysor Esqr
Dear Sir
Send us, at as low a price as possible
25 Bags Evergreen Grass Seeds
Yours truly
W. R. Burwell & Co
Charlotte N.C.
Sept. 18th. 1873
SP36