Thursday, June 27, 2024
1920s Styles Return at Library Program
photo by ANNA TUNGATE
Prohibition ended this week at the Shelby County Public Library, or at least programming on the subject concluded. However, “Hoosiers and Their Hooch: Perspectives on Prohibition,” a traveling exhibit on loan from the Indiana State Historical Society, remains in the Carnegie East Wing gallery through this weekend.
Tuesday’s finale included a Roaring 1920s fashion show featuring library staff and patrons wearing period garments reflecting society’s rapid movement and change while jazz music played in the background.
“With World War I ending and women in the workforce while men were gone to war, we saw a change in clothing,” Donna Dennison, Shelby County Genealogy and History Director, said.
Shelbyville Middle School student Adam Hoover represented a newsboy. Dennison noted that county laws prohibiting the sale of any item on Sundays put local newsboys in a precarious position.
“One Sunday, the newsboys got in trouble, so they just gave the news away,” Dennison said.
Several other era individuals, such as singers, flappers and, of course, a bootlegger and a member of the Christian Temperance Union, were represented.
Attendees also received ice cream with Hershey’s syrup in paper cups, all popular in the 1920s.
“Because people couldn't hang out in the bars any longer, they had to hang out in ice cream parlors,” Dennison said, noting that the rise in refrigeration facilitated the process.
Use of paper cups, named after a popular doll called Dixie, also became widespread in the 1920s as people were more concerned with sanitation following the pandemic.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: Parks Associates, a market research group, reported a precipitous decline in household spending on streaming video on-demand services, with the average internet household spending $63 per month on streaming compared to $90 per month in 2021. In the first quarter of this year, 20 percent of internet households paid for nine or more streaming services, down from 29 percent two quarters earlier. Many are switching away from higher-cost services toward advertising-supported services. (Media Play News/Numlock)
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This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
2014: Firefighters battled a large fire at Culpeper Wood Preservers on W. Mausoleum Road. Flames were already shooting through the roof when firefighters arrived, and it took three hours of fighting the fire to get it down to hot spots. The roof had collapsed, which kept firefighters from going inside.
2004: Sen. Evan Bayh made a campaign stop at Ritters Frozen Custard in Shelbyville.
1994: The Major Hospital board approved purchasing updated computers. Jack Horner, director of plant operations, said the hospital wanted a system that would allow it to build a patient database.
1984: Scotty Alexander won the Central Indiana Bass Club tournament held at West Boggs Creek. Allen Scott claimed second place and John Kappes was third. Other top finishers were Bob Martin, Chic Tennell, John Westerman and Bob Williams.
Grand opening was held at Becom’s, located in the former G.C. Murphy building on Public Square. Don Becom offered a range of appliances and electronic items, including home videos.
1974: A state agency recommended Shelby County move to hire full-time jailers to supervise prisoners. At the time, deputies booked-in prisoners but were unable to give full-time supervision. The agency also recommended the county provide inmates with clothing, as well as sanitize eating utensils. Inmates at the time wore their own clothing and cleaned their own trays and eating utensils.
1964: Jim Hughes of Morristown opened a new mechanic shop at the corner of North and Rigdon, offering road service, tune-ups, and work on brakes, radiators and mufflers. Hughes and his wife, Gwen, had two children, Michael, 14, and Steven, 12.
Five more candidates entered the Shelby County Fair Queen contest. They were Shirley Shelton, Marilyn Landwerlin, Reba Robinson, Cindy Haehl and Gwen Miller.
1954: Dr. J.E. Keeling, 86, Shelby County’s oldest practicing physician before he retired in January, died. Dr. Keeling was born in Geneva in 1867 and was the son of Dr. W.W. and Mary (Spiers) Keeling. He taught school in Jackson Township and also in South Dakota before graduating from medical school. He began practicing in Waldron in 1903. He married Lizzie Benjamin in 1890, and she died in 1895. He married Mary Jane Mitchell in 1896, and she died in 1947.
1944: Sgt. Kenneth Hendrickson, 23, 136 North Vine St., had been killed on D-Day in France, the War Department notified his parents. He was the first local soldier reported killed in the actual land invasion of the Normandy peninsula. His brothers, Sgt. Morgan Hendrickson and Pvt. Lewis Hendrickson, were also serving overseas. The parents of Sgt. Frank Robinson Jr., 134 Walker St., were notified by the War Department that their son had been missing in action in France since June 7.
1934: Three staff members were hired for the upcoming school year at Shelbyville High School: Emerson Bass, a history teacher at SHS, was hired to be assistant principal, in which he would be in charge of the junior high school and help at the high school; Irene Ross, hired to fill the history vacancy; and Ray Hinshaw, hired to succeed Wilma Wheatcraft, who had died the previous year.
1924: A shipment of 10,000 small fish was sent by state hatcheries to the Shelby County courthouse, where men collected the fish, which were in cans, and transported them to Big Blue, Flat Rock and Brandywine. A local man, upon seeing the cans unloaded at the courthouse, and water being poured into gutters, started a rumor that the fish deliveries were actually “mule” liquor being destroyed by officers. Local newspapers corrected the misperception.
1914: A wind and rain storm, and accompanying lightning, caused major damage throughout the county. Loy Sparks, south of Waldron, received a minor lightning shock when it struck a wire fence he was touching. Gilbert Williams’ rural home was also struck by lightning, leaving a hole in the roof. Several other homes were also struck, as were livestock and an interurban car. “The electricity flashed through the car, stunning a number of the passengers and frightening all of them,” The Republican said. A gas regulating station at the home of John Meltzer, eight miles east of Shelbyville, was also struck during the storm. “The gas began to leap to a height of several feet in the air,” the paper said. “Some men who had sought shelter beneath a shed near the regulating station immediately ran to the place and turned off the gas, saving a big loss.”
OBITUARIES
None today.