507 Hulett Building,
April 9, 1925.
Dear Cousins:
All I can say about the past year is that it has been quite similar to other years. It was a good business year and the family has been well generally with the exception of Ida's father who died in February.
Ida and I had our usual trip to Miami in February, going down by boat and returning by rail. We landed in Washington on Inauguration Day and witnessed the inaugural ceremonies1 which were quite wonderful. Miami has become so crowded that it is about as impossible to cross the street as at Forty-second Street in New York City2, and prices of real estate have gone nearly to the sky3. I understand, however, it is not any different from most of the State of Florida. For climate you cannot beat Miama [sic] --seventy-six degrees nearly every day from February first4. We were there three weeks and enjoyed delightful swimming every day that we desired.
We had a short but pleasant visit from Tommie Campbell and his family, the Shewmans5, last summer, and just a look at Will Campbell and his wife from Marinette, Wisconsin. It seemed awfully good to get a look at Will and Louise some more, and we always enjoy Tommie and his whole family, only they do not come often enough.
We have a new six cylinder Willys-Knight sedan which is the best ever. I will leave the rest of the family to speak for themselves. Hoping that the whole of the Campbell Clan is happy and well, I remain,
Very sincerely,
1. For Calvin Coolidge.
2. NYC only started installing traffic signals in the 1920s. In 1925, they were on towers, had only 2 colors -- red and green, and were manually operated by a traffic policeman. It may be that not all of the intersections on 42nd Street had signals or cops yet. The role of yellow was handled by having both red and green on at the same time - plus the traffic cop blew his whistle to worn people that the light was about to change. 3 color lights, pedestrian signals, and automatically timed lights were not installed til the 1950s.
3. Phil wrote this shortly before Florida's real estate "bubble" burst creating a crisis for Tommie Campbell.
4. This was before A/C, so Florida tourism was mostly in the winter months.
5. Tommie's daughter, Mary, her husband Curt, plus their children, Frances, Thomas & John.
Copyright © 2013, 2014, 2015 William B. Thompson. Commercial use prohibited.
