Leechburg Postcards Retouched

It’s easy to find a treasure trove of old postcards on eBay featuring the Leechburg area. In the age of AI, it’s also easy to take these historical photos and bring them to life in higher fidelity than we’ve seen in the past. AI can fill in the fuzzy parts and paint a more comprehensive photo.

I’ll start by saying that enhancing any photo upwards is nearly impossible to do accurately. The source has all the information you can have, and without something like a true negative, you have to go with what you got. Here is an example of an AI-enhanced postcard that is missing some key details:

The original on the right is showcasing Norge Home Appliances. The words on the bottom are super blurry, but the AI does get Appliances correct. There is a very cool and old PA Route 66 sign right below the sign, but the AI replaces the 66 with NO. There also appears to be a 25 sign near the gentleman’s head, and it has been replaced with a sign that looks like it fits the window better.

Other signs on the street get worse treatments, and I made a second pass to get the Cut Rate sign to use the correct text. The AI adds Kane’s Shoes and Rexall Drugs on the left side of the photo. The whole scene is rendered in a faux high-fidelity style, which is pleasing to view, but you must watch the details.

The first is a postcard photo looking down Market Street toward the National Hotel. Note the drug store on the right side of the building and the streetcar and rails.

The second was taken likely during the same year. It shows a view from the Kiskiminetas River, looking upwards towards 3rd Street. This might be one of my favorites because it shows the wide spaces between the houses that exist today, in an early town still building new living spaces. It also shows a clear view from the river, which is nearly impossible today. I could be wrong about the location, but this postcard is often posted as a view of Leechburg from the river and is typically dated from 1910.

The next photo is of Leechburg under duress during the St. Patricks Day flood of 1933. While Leechburg is mostly underwater here, nearly all towns from Vandergrift down to Pittsburgh suffered. Interestingly enough, the Leechburg bridge had been replaced a few times due to flooding, and the bridge in the photo was the first built higher to prevent that. You’ll notice it’s the same bridge Leechburg has today (2026), so the idea worked.

Here is a postcard showing one of the older bridges, perhaps the last one to be taken by a flood before the one that survived the 1933 flood.

And last is a photo taken from the Vandergrift bridge as a citizen watches houses slide into the river. The person is looking towards North Vandergrift.