A 1913 Christmas Postcard from Parkston, South Dakota

Sometimes one small object ends up holding an entire moment in time. For me, this story starts with a Christmas postcard mailed from Parkston, South Dakota, in 1913. It’s just a single card, but it captures a South Dakota winter, a holiday season, and the quiet pace of a small town more than a century ago.

In this post, I’m walking through what’s actually on the card, the snow-covered house, the bright poinsettias, and then zooming out to the world it came from, when postcards carried Christmas greetings across snowy miles. Along the way, we’ll meet the sender, Harriet Cony, and look at what her short message hints about travel, distance, and connection during a rural winter holiday.

Key Takeaways

The 1913 Christmas postcard from Parkston, South Dakota, serves as a historical snapshot, encapsulating the essence of a rural holiday season over a century ago.
The imagery on the postcard, featuring a snow-covered house and vibrant poinsettias, reflects early 20th-century holiday aesthetics and the way Christmas was visually expressed at that time.
Postcards were a primary means of communication during this era, highlighting the importance of distance and connection in maintaining relationships during the winter holiday season.

Discovering a 1913 Christmas in Parkston, South Dakota

Pinterest infographic: 1913 Christmas Postcard from Parkston South Dakota Story - tips and insights about A 1913 South Dakota Christmas postcard and its story

How much Christmas can you fit onto a single postcard? In this case, quite a lot.

This 1913 postcard is a little window into a South Dakota Christmas. One printed image, one postmark, and suddenly you’re in Parkston in 1913, on a small rectangle of cardstock.

When I look at it, I see more than just a picture. I see a tiny window into a Christmas South Dakota once knew, a 1913 Christmas postcard that somehow still carries the holiday spirit of a small town more than a century later. This winter postcard from Parkston, dated 1913, is where the story begins, and it sits right alongside so many other pieces of vintage postcard history I’ve come across, like the ones over in my vintage postcards collection.

A Snow-Covered House and Bright Poinsettias

Front and center, the snow-covered house is the first thing my eye goes to. The whole scene is framed and softened by decoration around it, “…adorned with holly and vibrant poinsettas.” The card “…features a snow-covered house…” as the central image, and that combination of the house, the holly, and the bright poinsettias is a clear example of early 20th century holiday imagery on a snow-covered house postcard, a poinsettia Christmas postcard, or any holly vintage postcard from that era.

It’s a small, very literal snapshot of how printers were visually expressing Christmas in the early 1900s, the same kind of printed charm you see echoed in other period pieces of vintage print media and holiday ephemera.

When Postcards Were How We Kept in Touch

Pinterest infographic: Early 20th Century Christmas Postcards as Everyday Communication - tips and insights about A 1913 South Dakota Christmas postcard and its story

This card sits right in that moment when early 20th century postcards weren’t just souvenirs, but part of how people actually kept in touch. Around the holidays especially, postcards were a quick, affordable way to send a greeting.

At Christmas, vintage holiday mail like this carried short Christmas messages 1913–style: a few words, a name, maybe a note about weather or travel, all moving through the mail instead of a screen. That’s part of what makes digging through old cards and even vintage photographs so compelling, each one is a tiny, physical record of how people reached out to each other.

Harriet Cony’s Christmas Message and Rural Travel Challenges

The human side of this postcard really shows up once you flip it over and read the message. Harriet Cony wishes a merry Christmas to a friend, and you can feel how much that simple greeting mattered, especially when you remember that seeing people in person wasn’t always easy.

Her words quietly acknowledge distance and the challenges of travel in rural America. In that context, the Harriet Cony postcard isn’t just a vintage Christmas message; it’s a small, tangible bridge between two people who couldn’t easily close that gap any other way, a snapshot of rural American travel in 1913 and the way a mailed greeting had to stand in for an in-person visit.

🎬 Check out Original Content

Pinterest infographic: View Original 1913 Parkston Christmas Postcard Content Online - tips and insights about A 1913 South Dakota Christmas postcard and its story

Thumbnail: A 1913 Christmas Postcard from Parkston, South Dakota - A 1913 South Dakota Christmas postcard and its story

▶ View Original

Click above to experience the full content!

A Poignant Reminder of Intimate Holiday Gatherings

What stays with me after spending time with this card is how much feeling is packed into something so small. This postcard hints at the warmth and intimacy of holiday gatherings from a time when getting together took more effort and planning.

It’s just paper and ink, but it holds that sense of a nostalgic Christmas story and those close holiday gatherings in a way we don’t always get from modern messages.

Closing

Pinterest infographic: 1913 Christmas Postcard from Parkston: A Small Record of Holiday Connection - tips and insights about A 1913 South Dakota Christmas postcard and its story

This single 1913 Christmas postcard from Parkston ends up holding more than a pretty winter scene; it’s a small record of how people once reached out to each other when gathering wasn’t simple or guaranteed. As you think about your own holiday season, it’s interesting to pause on how something as small as a mailed greeting can still carry that same hope for warmth and togetherness. Thanks for spending a little time with this card and its story, there are so many more quiet pieces of the past like this waiting to be noticed.