Newburyport in the Future: Dirigibles & Elevated Rail, c.1905 Novelty Postcard
Future transportation technology dominates this humorous retro-futurist postcard: an elevated railway whisks passengers to Boston overhead while a passenger dirigible labeled 'Plum Island' floats mid-street, a subway entrance promises service to New York, and spherical balloons drift above. The base photograph of State Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts has been whimsically overprinted with drawn-in futuristic transit infrastructure, satirizing Edwardian-era optimism about urban transportation progress.
It's a funny postcard but not exactly thrilling — no monsters or ray-guns, just trains in the sky and a blimp going to the beach. Still pretty neat to imagine your whole town connected by airships someday!
“Looking down State Street, Newburyport, Mass. | Newburyport, Mass., in the Future. | BOSTON | PLUM ISLAND | SUBWAY TO NEW YORK | MOSQUITO PARK | SALISBURY BEACH | BLAIR LIGHT | G 21037”
