STREET SCENE

This hand-tinted postcard from 1911 captures a bustling day in downtown Vernon, located in Wilbarger County, Texas, at the height of the cotton boom. The unpaved street is alive with activity: wagons loaded with cotton bales, horse-drawn carriages, and the early presence of automobiles coexist in a vibrant display of rural commerce and transition.

The buildings lining the street—brick façades with decorative cornices—reflect the economic optimism of the time, while the crowd of farmers, traders, and townspeople represent the social fabric of early 20th-century West Texas. This was an era when cotton was king, and towns like Vernon thrived as important trading and shipping centers along the rail lines.

A rare window into a small-town Texas community during a moment of profound technological and agricultural transformation.

📍 United States, Vernon, Texas — Year: 1911

🗂️ Tags: Vernon TX, cotton trade, Texas history, early 1900s, horse-drawn wagons, automobiles, street scenes, rural commerce, Wilbarger County, American postcards, historical town life

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