Then and Now: Pinpointing time frame of a postcard

Determining the vintage of this wintertime image of North Conway’s Main Street took some thought. The black car at right appears to be a 1940 Plymouth, and it’s the newest model distinguishable. Parked just to the left in the middle distance is Carroll Reed’s 1938 Ford “woodie” station wagon. Another photo of this intersection taken during the 1938-39 ski season shows the same car on the other side of the street, under the sign for Reed’s ski shop, which occupied Mary Davis’s store that year. At the start of the 1939 season he moved his shop across the street, where the woodie is parked, and Mary Davis’s storefront become the North Conway 5&10.

This image can therefore date from no earlier than the first big winter storm of 1939, just after 1940 automobiles became available. The snowbanks have already been winged back, which hints at a later part of the season. A steel arbor attached to the telephone pole at right is lacking the “Restaurant” sign that hung from it in another photo taken late in March of 1940, and a sign for the Nereledge Cafe is gone, too, so presumably it has to be even later than that.