Friendship Friday ~ 1905 Bremerton Washington Street View

I love old post cards of town views. They can be a great asset to family genealogy files.

My family was not here in 1905 but I could not resist picking it up to resell.

This post card is of Pacific Avenue in Bremerton, Washington.

Postmarked Sept 29 1905 Bremerton Washington and mailed to Miss Mabel Tucker of Del Norte Colorado.

Written on the front is Puget Sound very good? Bremerton Wash 9/29/05 We have ? dock for repairs. What is written next is hard to make out for sure. Ends with regards from ?

I love the view of the street. On the right side is a barber pole. The building next to the barber pole has an awning and above is a sign that looks like ?ardshey? book store. If you look with a magnifying glass you can see a woman starting to cross the street and gentlemen in the street and what looks like buggies.

I found this information about Bremerton at Wikipedia. Here is a little information around the time the post card was mailed.

Bremerton was platted by German immigrant-turned-Seattle entrepreneur William Bremer in 1891. Three years earlier, a U.S. Navy commission determined that Point Turner, between the protected waters of Sinclair and Dyes inlets, would be the best site in the Pacific Northwest on which to establish a shipyard. Recognizing the large number of workers such a facility would employ, Bremer and his business partner and brother-in-law, Henry Hensel, purchased the undeveloped land near Point Turner at the inflated price of $200 per acre. In April 1891, Bremer arranged for the sale of 190 acres (0.77 km2) to the Navy at $50 per acre. This land became part of the initial footprint of the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

Bremerton was officially incorporated on October 15, 1901 with Alvyn Croxton serving as the city's first mayor. Progress in the new city soon faced a major crisis, as Navy Secretary Charles Darling moved all repair work to the Mare Island Navy Yard in California in November 1902. Darling cited reports from commanders that the Bremerton waterfront was rife with prostitution, opium houses and frequent strongarmed robberies of sailors. Politics were probably also at play, as local newspapers reported that the city's incorporation left the shipyard essentially landlocked without room to expand. A dispute ensued between Mayor Croxton, who wanted to shutter all saloons in Bremerton, and three members of the city council, who attempted to block his efforts. Croxton eventually won out and the council voted to revoke all liquor licenses in June 1904. With the ban, Darling reestablished the navy yard as a port of call. Saloons had begun to return to business within two years, however.

In 1908, the city library and Union High School were established to serve the educational needs of the 2,993 residents recorded in the 1910 U.S. Census. During World War I, submarine construction and the addition of a third drydock caused the shipyard's workforce to balloon to over 4,000 employees. Growth due to the war effort and the 1918 annexation of the city of Manette, east of Bremerton on the Port Washington Narrows, can be seen in the 1920 census, which reported a population of 8,918. Bremerton absorbed Charleston, its neighboring city to the south in 1927. Population reached 10,170 in 1930.

For more information click on the link.

Thanks for stopping by to visit me on Friendship Friday. Have a wonderful weekend. Grace