Ever wish you could look back and see what people were talking about 100 years ago? Well, today we’re gonna do just that. We love looking through these archives of the Greenville Civic and Commercial Journal from the Greenville County Library System, and so we looked all the way back to some of their first editions to see what the talk of the town was back then.

Greenville Civic and Commercial Journal, Vol. 1, No. 7 | Image from the Greenville County Library System

You can browse the whole edition for yourself here, but let’s go over some of our favorite highlights of what Greenvillians were talking about in March of 1922 — 99 years ago.

The Postal Service —

In one article on page seven titled “Postal Receipts Prove City’s Progress,” we read, “Greenville has shown rapid growth in the last ten years…” If only they could see us now! “...and the day of simply addressing a letter to a person ‘Green-ville, S.C.’ is past, as the distributors' knowledge of every person in Greenville is limited just the same as any other individual. It is urged that citizens and business houses should address all mail, not only giving the street and number of the addressee, but also giving a return address in the corner of the letter.”

Can you imagine a time when Greenville was small enough that addressing a letter or even providing a return address wasn’t something you did automatically?

A Letter to the Editor —

A colorful letter to the editor | Image from the Greenville County Library System

You can read the full letter to the editor on page 8, but this headline did make us chuckle.

“When shall I plant my garden?” —

Spring fever has always started hitting people hard in March around here, because on page 14 you can find an article all about gardening. After all of their tips and tricks, the author ends their gardening piece with this sweet sentiment:

“I wish to mention my own chief hobby, flowers. There is nothing that will grow on you like an interest in flowers...have others share your pleasure in them. The flowers that will always be most fragrant and beautiful to you, are not those which are dying on their stems in your garden, but those by the side of someone who is bed bound.”

Ad space | Image from the Greenville County Library System

And then, of course, it wouldn’t be a newspaper without some advertisements.

That’s just scratching the surface. Check out the whole edition here.