Our first picture this week is of the Bi-Centennial automobile plate discussed in my article on April 25. There wasn’t room to show it on that date do I am presenting it here. Better late than not at all!

Our second picture this week is a familiar view of Cliftondale Square with the camera looking east. I have shown this view before but it has always been in black and white while this version has had color added to enhance the view. It must be remembered that early postcard producers considered their work to be art, not historic records and often added people or automobiles to their products. In this case, telephone poles and wires have been removed.

The buildings shown here are still standing but the reddish building in the center of the picture lost its top floor when a bad fire gutted the building in 1954.

Our third picture is also a postcard view of Cliftondale Square but with the camera looking east. It is a photographic postcard but probably after the cards produced before the First World War. The two signs on the telephone pole read “Cliftondale” and “Sweetser’s Corner”. This is the only old photograph I have ever seen which displays a sign of Cliftondale Square’s original name. Also notice the old style Texico star next to the garage sign and the “Farmer’s Outlet” sign on the extreme left. It is scenes such as this that make me wish that I could get into a time machine and visit the Saugus of a century ago!

Our next postcard view causes us to wonder why it was so popular. Collectors looking for old Saugus postcards in color come across this view quite often. It shows the bridge near Howlett’s Mill in North Saugus. Cards showing the mill itself are also easy to find because the mill served as a local “Motif Number One” and was always very popular with artists and photographers before it collapsed in 1906. But why was the bridge a favorite subject? One version of this card states that it is (or was) the oldest bridge in Massachusetts-certainly a remark which cannot be verified. Interesting enough, all of these cards state that the bridge is in Lynn, instead of in Saugus!