Baseball season has just wrapped up with the Washington Nationals beating the Houston Astros to win their first World Series title ever. It reminds me of a baseball game played here in Perry back in 1922.
In October of 1922, Babe Ruth and a less popular but still very successful player in his own right, Bob Meusel, came to town to play an exhibition game. There was a lot of hype and excitement, as you can imagine, leading up to the event. The Perry branch of the American Legion had organized the event and hoped to make a tidy sum of cash off of ticket sales. Unfortunately, the day ended up being cold and dreary, and even though the rain mostly stopped an hour or so before the game began, the attendance was much lower than hoped. Ruth and Meusel ended up taking most of the profits home with them. I guess that’s what happens when you play a baseball game on Friday the 13th. The game was against Pella, and Meusel played for them while Ruth played for Perry. Meusel hit a homerun and Babe hit a couple of triples. You’d think “The Sultan of Swat” could have managed at least one homer, but apparently the outfield wasn’t enclosed by a fence, which enabled the outfielder to get to the ball and throw it back in before the lumbering Ruth could get past third base. I hadn’t realized until recently that the Ku Klux Klan was very active in Perry around that same time. I also didn’t know that the KKK was extremely anti-Catholic. Babe Ruth was Catholic and is said to have even visited St. Patrick’s School while in town. You would think given the fact that, according to a The Perry News article, a KKK grand master lived in town, there would have been protests and maybe even a cross burning. In reality, Babe Ruth coming to town was such a big deal that KKK members decided to forgo their prejudice for the day and instead sat in the stands and cheered for him and the hometeam along with everyone else. I guess that’s what happens when you play a baseball game in Perry. God bless America.
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Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog!
If you have not figured it out from the heat these past few days, June is here in full force! Of course, the heat isn’t the only thing that June brings: it also starts the season of summer blockbusters. Perhaps some of you have already gone to see some, such as Wonder Woman, at the Grand 3 Theatre. However, did you know that in the early 1900s the Grand 3 was not a theatre and that there were actually two different competing theatres in Perry? Years before it became what we frequent today, the Grand 3 Theatre in Perry was an entirely different form of entertainment. Perhaps you have noticed that the main screen at the Grand 3 has a different feel to it than the other screens. There are balconies on either side of the screen and there used to be an elaborate frame around the screen with busts above it. There even used to be a stage that extended out into the room! What do these lead you to believe the theatre used to be? If you guessed Opera House, you would be right! When it first opened in November 1903, the Grand 3 Theatre was actually the Grand Opera House. We do not have any pictures of the inside of the building when it was an Opera House, but one can assume that the balconies were once functional, with wealthy citizens sitting in them to watch the show. Although, come to think of it, I used to work at the Theatre and I never found a way to access those balconies, so maybe they were always just decorations! Now, although the Grand 3 Theatre was not always used to show movies, there were two other places in Perry one could go to see the moving pictures. Opening around 1910, these two theatres were the Rex Theatre and the Majestic Theatre. The Rex Theatre, as I understand it, was just down the street from the Grand Opera House on the corner of Second and Lucinda. The Majestic Theatre, on the other hand, was farther down Second Street, closer to the Carnegie Library (in fact it looks like it used to be in the building where the Shoppe of Oddities is now). In fact, according to our collection there used to be a third theatre called “Foxy Theatre”, but I can only find one reference to it so I am unsure if it was an actual third theatre or a rebranding of one of the other two theatres. Still, with all these other theatres in town it makes me wonder why none of the rest of them survived. Did the Grand 3’s transition to a theatre drive the rest from town? Did the other theatres burn down in one of the numerous fires in Perry? If any of you readers know, tell us in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog!
Summer Break is finally upon us and with it comes bored kids looking for something to do. There are many activities that kids like to do to pass the time, including sports, video games, and playing with other toys. However, there is one summer activity that appears to be a long standing tradition for children everywhere: a summer reading program! It seems that the summer reading program has had a long history in Perry. The earliest photos in our collection that pertain to the summer reading program date back to 1966: 51 years ago! The photo showing two kids, Kay and Bobby Kidney, getting prizes from the librarian at the time, Louise Fullhart, for reading 30 books that summer. Another photo, this time from 1968, shows Louise Fullhart once again. This time she is with her husband, Frank Fullhart, who was there to tell the children stories about his railroad days. The interesting thing about this photo is that it is taken somewhere in the Carnegie Library which is, of course, our current home. However, although now the Children’s Room, or Room of Wonder, is upstairs, back in the 1960s it was moved downstairs to where the Courtroom is now. It looks quite different from this picture! Gone are the bookcases and curtains to be replaced with the current Courtroom furniture. It would have been interesting for me to see what the whole room looked like compared to now. It seems like the children of Perry have been enjoying a reading program for a long time, and they will continue to enjoy it in the years to come. In fact, the reading program for this summer starts soon with Kids Fest this weekend! Although it is hosted by the Perry Public Library, we will also be taking part in Kids Fest. Here at the Carnegie Library Museum kids will partake in a scavenger hunt to find some historic photos. Perhaps I’ll see you there readers, and come back next week for another Hometown Heritage blog! Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog!
Every day, we use cars to get to all the places that we need to go. Be it work, the store, home, or somewhere else, we all generally rely on cars to get us from point A to point B. With these vehicles comes the need to have somewhere to refuel them: gas stations! Nowadays, gas stations are everywhere, and most towns generally have more than one (unless you are Bouton, then you don’t even have one at all). This does raise a question, however. What were gas stations like when they were first appearing around the country? One of the earliest pictures of a gas station that I can find in our collection is on a postcard that dates back to about 1915. It shows the Rude Auto Station in Perry, with the old Fire Hall in the background. Although you cannot see any gas pumps in this picture, the description does talk about them. Rude Auto featured a new style of pump: the measuring machine and hose style. According to our system, this style replaced the old bucket and funnel style which I can only imagine worked in a similar way to how we fill up lawn mowers and other small machines today. Imagine how long it would take to fill a whole car tank (of today’s size) with that system! That’s probably why gas stations of the early 1900s had attendants who did that for you. Speaking of attendants, we have another photo in our collection that shows on such person! Dated to 1918, it is a picture of a man standing next to a pump at the Manhattan Oil Co. (at least, I think he is an attendant). Of course, his job here would be to fill up your car with gas from what I believe is an example of the measuring machine and hose style pump mentioned earlier in addition to possibly washing your windscreen and other minor things. Considering how inexpensive gasoline used to be (at least compared to today), I can’t imagine that he was paid very well for all the work he did! It makes me wonder when attendants stop being employed at gas stations and why the switch to self-serving was made. Perhaps it was due to gas stations wanting to earn more, or perhaps, newer pump systems were easier to use? Readers, do any of you know? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! ![]() Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog! Today will be a special blog about a very important upcoming holiday: Mother’s Day! (You are welcome those who forgot, better go find a gift now!) Mother’s Day is, of course, a day to celebrate the mothers of the world. Surprisingly, here at Hometown Heritage we only have one picture that is listed under “Mother’s Day”. The picture is of Mary Anderson and her daughter Virginia Anderson O”Malley. It was taken on Mother’s Day back in 1970! Unfortunately, not much else is known of the specifics of this picture. It makes one wonder if Mother’s Day was as commercialized in 1970 as it is today. Did Virginia buy her mother a card and some flowers, or was it enough to simply spend the day with her? From the picture, it seems like they must have spent the day together somewhere but it is unknown where exactly the picture was taken. Looking at the photo, it makes me wonder why Virginia is holding a stack of paper in her hands. Could these be some kind of gift to her mother, or is it the other way around, something that her mother gave her? In either case, it is nice to see that they got to spend time together on Mother’s Day! What are you doing for Mother’s Day readers? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! Also, don’t forget that May 20th is the All About Bacon event! The number of tickets is limited, so make sure to come by and get some here at the Carnegie Library Museum while you can! ![]() Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog! When you woke up this morning, many of you probably turned on the television to catch the latest headlines and the traffic before heading out to work. Yet this morning routine was not always possible, as many of you probably know! The invention of television, and eventually color television, has changed quite a lot in our society. Although I cannot recall a time when there were not televisions, it is possible that many of you can. Before television everyone got their news (be it real or fake wars of the world) through radio. When the first TVs came along, they were small tube ones similar to the one shown in today’s picture. One constant through the years is that even back in the mid-1900s televisions were still quite costly. I remember hearing stories about how people would gather around their neighbor’s tiny television set, the only one on the block, in order to watch big events such as the Moon landing. It wouldn’t be long, however, until color televisions were invented and shortly thereafter became widespread. In hindsight, it really is impressive that over roughly 50 years television has become a staple in the American household and has had a massive effect on all of our lives. There are many ways that television has effected all of us, and I’m sure you readers can think of many! But did you know that apparently people only began to dream in color when color TVs were created? It is an interesting thing to think about, since we could see color long before a TV could display it. Why would we only start to dream in color then? Of course, not everyone does dream in color, so maybe people simple started to report it more. We may never know! Do you have any memories of television and how it impacted your life? Perhaps you can remember the first time your family got a TV? Let us know in the comments and come back next week for another Hometown Heritage blog! ![]() Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog! As many of you know, Perry is a town that flourished because of the railroad. The railroad was so prevalent here that we have many photographs in our collection that show the trains, the tracks, and more. In fact, Perry used to have so many trains that came in and out of town that we had our own roundhouse! Although the number of roundhouses is not clear from our records, we do know that one roundhouse used to be located where the elementary school is currently. What is interesting about the roundhouse, however, is that it was not just used as a place to gather trains! Readers, do you have any guesses as to what else might have happened at the old roundhouse? If you guessed that people used to go skeet shooting at the roundhouse, then you would be right! According to the description of this photo, people would go out on Sundays and meet at the roundhouse where they would do some skeet shooting in the 1940s. What amazes me most about this is that guns were allowed so close to a place of work. If the shooters were fooling around too much, they could have injured one of the railroad workers! Perhaps this was allowed because the workers were not working during Sundays? Or maybe the railroad workers were in on it and allowed people to do this without the consent of the managers. It seems only someone who was there would know! In any case, it looks like this is what people would do for fun during the 1940s. Readers, what do you do for fun on the weekends? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! ![]() Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog! Inflation has affected many products over the years, some more obvious than others. Gasoline is a good example with prices averaging around $2.30 per gallon today. In decades past, they were as low as $.05 a gallon. However, there are some products and services that you may not realize have been affected by inflation! One such service is shown in today’s picture, barber services! This picture is of Jim Godown in his barbershop was taken in 1929. How much have the prices changed? You might be surprised to know! Back in 1929, around 100 years ago, a haircut was only $.25. According to an inflation calculator, if haircuts were the same price in 2017 it would only be $3.56! A shave was also significantly cheaper. In 1929, it was only $.10, which would only be $1.42 in 2017! Imagine walking into your local hair salon or barbershop and getting a haircut for less than the price of a meal at McDonalds. Of course, none of these numbers takes into account the rising costs of living expenses so it is unreasonable to think that we could return to the age of super cheap haircuts. The average price of a haircut in 2017 is $15, which means that at the 1929 price a single barber would have to do 5 times as many haircuts in a day just to make a living! Of course, if prices had stayed the same, I imagine getting a bad haircut would not be as much of a letdown since it was so cheap (you get what you pay for, after all). Have you ever gotten a bad haircut? Let us know in the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage Blog! Have you ever wished that you could have been a kid forever, that you could fly away to a place where you would never grow old? Well one way to achieve this goal would be to get in touch with Peter Pan and fly away to Neverland! Residents of Perry did just that on November 20 and 21 1971. They watched as Wendy, John, Michael, and even Captain Hook interacted with Peter. Here at Hometown Heritage, we are lucky enough to have some rare photos of the event! In our first photo we can see John and Michael Darling. Michael is sitting on their (rather enormous) dog and is holding an unknown object, while John is carrying his umbrella. Moments later Wendy would come into their room and put them to bed and it would not be long before Peter Pan found them. In fact, our next picture happens to capture the illusive teenager lying on top of the fireplace. It is suspected that it is around this time that Peter Pan convinced the Darlings to run away to Neverland with him. Our final two pictures are of the infamous criminal pirate, Captain Hook. The scoundrel named Hook, due to the hook replacing his right hand, is accused of attacking and threatening the lives of Peter Pan and the Darling children. As you can see, in one picture he is brandishing a sword and assaulting Peter, most likely with ill intent. Our final picture is the last known picture of the criminal alongside the crocodile that was seen chasing him into the distance. It is presumed that the crocodile is the same crocodile that caused Hook the injury resulting in his hook hand and that the animal had acquired a taste for Hook. After their scrape with the pirate captain and his band of thugs, the Darling children decided to return home, and lived peaceful lives. If you wish to see a reenactment of the events of this story, the Perry High School Music and Drama departments are performing one this weekend! There will be three showings, with two both at 6:30 P.M. on both March 31 and April 1 and a matinee at 1 P.M. on April 1. If you attend, you can see how closely the play resemble the scenes seen in these photos of the events! Did you ever wish to fly away with Peter Pan? Let us know and the comments, and join us next week for another Hometown Heritage Blog! Hello readers and welcome back to the Hometown Heritage blog! This morning I was watching the television while eating my breakfast, as I always do, and a segment came on about a new prototype car that was recently finished. This car, called the Hum-X for those interested, was special in that it could employ hydraulics to raise itself into the air and pass over other cars in traffic. This got me thinking about that today cars are everywhere and, aside from new ones like this, are no longer that amazing to us. However, this was not always the case. Look at the slide show below. As you can see, they are all pictures of people standing next to various cars. “What is so special about that” you might ask. That, my dear readers, is exactly my point. Today, we all take cars for granted and understand (generally) how they work. However, imagine just for a moment that you were living back in the late 1800s and early 1900s with these people. You are used to getting around via horseback or walking, and suddenly this metal mechanical marvel (or devil, depending on whom you ask) appears. It goes just as fast as any horse you have ever known and it never gets tired! Also buying one costs probably the same amount as a small house, yet somehow your father managed to bring one home. What else would you do but take a picture to mark this momentous occasion! Everyone will want to be able to remember the day your family first got its very own Model T. Yet, compared to today, no one seems to be as excited about his or her first car. Sure, teenagers get excited when their parents present them with the keys, but it is not the same kind of excitement as it was in the 1900s. Back then, it was something to parade about the whole town, showing all your friends and neighbors how lucky and wealthy your family is. Today it is something everyone simply expects to happen. Who knows, maybe in the future we will react to new invention as people in the 1900s did (fingers crossed for flying cars!). Do you remember your first car? Did you and your family all take pictures around it to mark the occasion? Let us know in the comments, and come back next week for another Hometown Heritage blog! |
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