Ive had the privilege and good fortune to have watched Palace in all those levels and tiers.
Its wonderful to see how we have progressed since the days of the muddy terraces on three sides of the ground and listening to a brass band at half time marching up and down the pitch.
I must say Steve Parish gets my greatest thanks and appreciation for what he has done, and on the pitch, Wilf has in my opinion, done and contributed more to the clubs success than any other player over those those 60 or so years Ive been following Palace.
Does anyone disagree?

From 1956:
Third division south
Fourth Division
Third Division
Second Division (Later Championship)
First Division (later the Priemier League)

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Following The Palace since 1956,
Rocking the Blues since 68.!!

This is definitely the most sustained period of success the club has experienced in its history.

For me the turning point was gaining promotion in 1963/64 from the old 3rd Division. In fact you could argue that getting promoted from the 4th Division in 1961 was the beginning of an upward trajectory. Before that promotion in 1964 our most successful period was a mere 4 years in division 2 in the early 1920s. After that it was Div 3 South and Div 4 until 1961.

Since 1964 we have only dropped back to the third tier of English football for 3 seasons ( mid 70s). And since 1969 we have been promoted to the top division seven times and, including the current season, spent 23 seasons in the top tier.

I too have watched and supported Palace since the Third Division South days and can only agree with you about our development on the playing side and the process is still continuing. Off the pitch whilst it would appear that progress has not been as great we have needed sustained success on the field to justify investment off it and it could be argued we are only now in a position to tackle the infrastructure. In any event we are still very much on the up.COYP

As a kid I use to get the 68 bus from west norwood to the ground.
I use to get there an hour or so before kick off and enjoyed watching the ground fill up.Frequently our goalkeeper,Vic Rouse got on the bus at Crown point. He was a Welsh international at the time!! No Bentleys or Lamborghinis' for players then!
Also,
Pre Ultras there was a group of loud supporters who stood by the players tunnel which was at the centre of the old stand.They made a lot of noise with their rattles (a left over from war time as a defense and warning of gas attacks I believe?) and I remember one always wore a top hat!!regular crowds of 16000 then.
Days of the wonderful Johnny Byrne. My first Palace hero..

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Following The Palace since 1956,
Rocking the Blues since 68.!!

I had a claret and blue rattle when I first started going in 1961

One of the clickbait sites has an article from "My London" talking about a primary school very close to Selhurst park (5 minutes walk) where in a class of 32 kids only 6 had been to SP, only 5 supported Palace & all of the other kids supported big 6 teams, but interspersed with that were a number who hoped the local club did well -

I guess the findings of the article shouldn't surprise me as similar was happening all those years ago when I was at school, but back then Palace were a 3rd division side, with second division aspirations etc (you all know the journey) We were a long way from the glamour of being a mid table premier league club that we are today -

IDK I guess I just expected a bit more local support from kids coming up through the years when there is a PL club just down the road that you can go & watch live on a semi regular basis rather than say Man Utd where most will never get to see them play unless its against us at SP -