Lignières: Then and Now

The “then” photo identifies this building (Place du Régent 5, RACN 010-6456-00063), located in the centre of the village, as the post office. A number of other cards in the archives of the Fondation de l'Hôtel de Commune de Lignières confirm this identification, including this one mailed in 1904. Other post cards refer to it as the “Pensionnat Bonjour”, another of the summer holiday hotels with which Lignières was so well endowed. (“Bonjour” is a common family name in Lignières; the name refers to the proprietor of the establishment.) The lintel of the door bears the date 1885. We've seen this building before, from the other side, at the first stop on the first walking tour. The picture was taken from just in front of the Hôtel de Commune.

The post office just doesn't seem to be able to settle down in Lignières. This is chronologically the first of three locations we've seen so far (here are the second and third). A fourth, from 1992 until 2004, was just behind the camera in this picture of the church, and after its curious disappearance, it popped up in a fifth location, which we'll encounter before long.

There is no date on the post card, but judging from the diligence (stagecoach) and the outfits of the people in the picture, I'd guess the early 1900s. This is card number 80 published by photographer P. Monnerat, whose number 112 we saw not long ago, showing a building constructed in 1912. Card 108 in this series was mailed in 1913, so it is reasonable to assume the photo on this card dates before that. The sign above the window clearly reads “Lignières” on the second line, but I cannot make out the first.