Phoenix, ARIZONA - Hotel Luhrs -

Description: Phoenix, ARIZONA - Hotel Luhrs - - Swastika: This White Border Era (1915-30) postcard focuses on a well-appointed building surrounded by period cars. The founder, George Henry Nicholas Luhrs was about to be drafted into the Prussian Army in 1867. Instead, he decided to leave his native Germany and take his chances in the United States. He spent two years building and repairing wagons in the California goldfields, then made his way to the Vulture Mine in Wickenburg, Arizona. Luhrs became a U.S. citizen, headed to Phoenix, and along with a partner started a wagon making business and stable on the corner of Central and Jefferson. While visiting his native Germany, Luhrs married the girl next door, Catharina Gretchen Dodenhof. She bid farewell to her family and Europe to make her home in the dusty, untamed, and isolated land that was then Arizona. George Luhrs helped change that. In 1887, he and his partner built the 20-room commercial hotel, and over time, a reputation for fine lodging. Later, Luhrs closed the wagon shop, bought out his partner's interest in the hotel, and changed its name to Hotel Luhrs. It became the family home. The Luhrs' children, Ella, Emma, Arthur, and George, Jr., all grew up in the hotel. The boys were sent to Stanford University. The girls wanted to attend Tempe normal school, the precursor to A.S.U. By the mid-1970s, George Luhrs, Jr.'s, health was failing. Faced with competition from new buildings, the family sold the Luhrs Building, Tower, and Hotel in 1976. The nearly 100-year-old Hotel Luhrs was demolished several years later. Arizona's first skyscrapers, the Luhrs Building and Luhrs Tower, remain part of the Phoenix skyline. They, along with a sonnet written by pioneer historian Sharlot Hall, remind us of a man and a family who helped usher Arizona into the 20th Century. The card's reverse contains a swastika. The swastika’s use in India dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization city of Harappa and came to represent Vishnu in Hinduism. In Chinese Taoism, the swastika is a symbol of eternity. For Tibetan Buddhism, it is emblematic of the element of Earth. It is a common practice for Hindus to draw Swastika symbols on the doors and entrances to their houses during festivals, which is believed to symbolize an invitation to goddess Lakshmi. The symbol has a long history in Europe reaching back to antiquity. In modern times, following a brief surge of popularity as a good luck symbol in Western culture, a swastika was adopted as a symbol of the Nazi Party of Germany in 1920, which used the swastika as a hate-filled symbol of the Aryan race. The card is in good condition. A O. Bolres Company. Phoenix, Ariz. No. 104926.

Price: 8.5 USD

Location: Brooklyn, New York

End Time: 2025-01-22T03:00:44.000Z

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