Did Lovecraft ever receive ‘picture postals’ from R. E. Howard, dropping through the mailbox in Providence? Perhaps. Although Cross Plains, Texas, does not seem to have been the sort of place one would make a postcard of — unless perhaps one could do something artistic with sagebrush and cattle and a sunset. But if they did once make such things as postcards, then it seems that a view of the town bank and main row of stores might have been the standard ‘town view’…

Rogers photo, 1920s, newly repaired and colourised.

I had a dig around on Archive.org and found the town’s water-tower, as seen behind the stores in the above picture, in full-length and in detail. One can see figures standing on the top railing and sitting on the bottom struts, for scale…