Morning, gang.

Today marks the first day of our two week-publishing pause. We won’t send new stories until July 14, but we’ll be using this time to work on some enterprise and investigative features for when we return.

In the meantime, we’ll be sending a few of our best stories from the last year—some of which have only become more relevant since they first ran.

Today we’re collecting all the pieces in our Postmark Greensboro series for you. Like a lot of the best things, this series came about totally by chance. Last year my wife, Amanda, and I were browsing old furniture at Red Collection on Mill Street when I came across a cache of local postcards—complete with postmarks and messages—going back as far as 1902. They represented all of the city: campuses, businesses, mills and mill villages, skyscrapers and churches, courtyard apartments, and luxury hotels.

I brought them to the Greensboro History Museum where Glenn Perkins, curator of community history, took a look and helped spark the idea for the series.

“Before everyone had a camera, postcards were an important way of showing someone where you were and what you were seeing and talking about it,” Perkins said. “They were social media before social media. And now, of course, they can be documents of a community’s history as well.”

As we’ve gone through these cards and written these stories, it’s been important to us that it not just be “remember when” stories. Each is also about how these landmarks have shaped the city we live in today.

We know from the reader response we’ve received so far that the series brings back memories, answers questions, and inspires further study. We still have a large stack of them and will have more coming your way this summer.

— Joe Killian

Postmark Greensboro: UNCG, Then and Now

Charles Duncan McIver founded what would become UNC-Greensboro in 1891, expanding access to higher education and changing the face of public education in North Carolina.

Postmark Greensboro: A Tale of Two O. Henry Hotels

Two landmark hotels in Greensboro took their name from the city’s greatest storyteller. Separated by decades, each carried on his romantic Bohemian legacy.

Postmark Greensboro: A Historic Transit Hub Could Be Key to Downtown’s Next Chapter

When it opened in 1927, Greensboro’s Southern Railway Passenger Station was one of the largest and grandest on the East Coast. Nearly 100 years later, after several transitions, it could play a pivotal role in the city’s future.

Postmark Greensboro: The King Cotton Hotel

A vacant plot of land in the center of downtown Greensboro holds decades of history and untold potential.

Thanks for reading The Thread, a 3x week newsletter written by Greensboro editor Joe Killian and reporters Sayaka Matsuoka and Gale Melcher. Reach us with tips or ideas at greensboro@theassemblync.com.