This old postcard from the Society’s archives tells a great story–more like three stories.  Back in 1906, someone named Mattie (probably Martha E. Boyle Fenner of Peapack) decided to write to her sister Mrs. Philip Koechlein (Floretta Boyle Koechlein, 1877-1966) in Liberty Corner where the Koechlein family later operated a store. Click on the photo to read the note.

Mattie used a postcard showing Allen’s Department Store and Opera House in Peapack, which was owned by John M. Allen (1874-1942).   Allen ran the store and hosted concerts and dances upstairs until the building burned down in 1909.  Allen rebuilt by 1912, and hosted an infamous Ku Klux Klan meeting in 1924.  The site later became Amerman Dodge and now Robb Francis Sports Cars.

 The postmark from 1906 shows the card was processed on the Summit & Gladstone RPO (Railway Post Office), which operated along the Gladstone Branch of the railroad.