Kewaunee County & Valentine Days of Yore

Fifty years ago schools were festooned with red, white and pink hearts made by the kids who could hardly wait for the Valentine Day party and the exchange of cards that went with it. In a day when the word “love” brought the kind of twitters that “underwear” did, some kids wondered if they’d get a valentine from a girl or boy they especially liked. It was as true of first grade as it was of 8^th. In the days of the valentine boxes, sweet thoughts could be anonymously sent, but when each had to distribute his or her own, there was too much chance for error. Then there were the candy hearts with the printed sayings. To put any in the envelopes, or even to offer some hearts, meant one had to be sure the words were just right. Candy often led to total embarrassment. Besides that, a school kid can’t buy two dozen cards and envelopes for 10 cents anymore.

The origins of St. Valentine’s Day are all but forgotten in a time when it is all economics. It just happens to be crowded into a short month that also remembers George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison. Nobody buys candy, flowers or sends cards to remember them though. They were lucky enough to live before the guilt trips laid on by newspapers, TV and pop-ups about buying candy, flowers, restaurant meals and cards for that special someone.

Valentine Day was there over 100 years ago, but it morphed. As Valentine Day approached, the old papers carried serial love stories and articles. One such article mused about the number of unmarried woman and why that should be. The author thought a little valentine would be the right kind of “missile.” The author felt that there should be a way to trap the unmarried, getting them together socially. Maybe that is why the 1887 masquerade at Bottkol’s promised that “every care was taken to provide for the comfort and entertainment of visitors” who could expect a pleasant time. In the late 1890s the post office was offering valentines from 1 cent to 1 dollar. G.W. Warner’s store carried them too. The Record reminded people about Valentine’s Day in 1896 when it suggested not forgetting to send out “pretty letters.” That year saw a masquerade at the Opera House. First prize was $5. Perhaps masquerades offered the shy a way to be bold anonymously.

Things seemed to change a lot after 1900, prompting President Calvin Coolidge a little over 20 years later to be quoted saying, “The business of the country is business…” He wasn’t addressing Valentine Day, but the commercialization of Valentine Day had begun. Lace, embossed, and comic cards at Economical Drug were advertised in 1903 while Wilbur and Kwapil were claiming the finest boxed novelties ever, both up-to-date and dainty. Pity the poor man who bought a gift at L.C. Englebert’s. He was advertising American Beauty Corsets! Just as the day was really catching on, something happened. The post office felt that perhaps Valentine Day was losing favor as it delivered fewer valentines than any time in its history. Postal officials thought perhaps the majority forgot the event, but the officials were also hoping the day was marked with candy and flowers. They were feeling a good riddance to the vulgar, comic valentines that had gone through the mails. Years later a man nicknamed “Sqeegee” -destined to be Algoma’s postmaster - said that it was better to be “noted with a dastardly valentine than to go about unhonored and unhung.”

A few years after the post office noted the downswing, the paper was reporting school celebrations. It seemed as if Valentine's Day was coming back in another way. Pleasant View School Literary Society combined Lincoln’s birthday with Valentine’s Day in 1922 when parents were invited as special guests.  Recitations about Lincoln were delivered by scholars with names such as Besserdich, Kuehl, Schwantes and Steubs, and when the pieces were over the Valentine Box was the big thing.  The Mrs. Holly, Nooker, Wanie, Knutson and Ullman showed up for the short program at Bolt School, where part of the afternoon was spent distributing valentines. Longfellow School also had such an event with similar recitations. It was noted that Longfellow's Miss Barrand received many beautiful valentines, perhaps in part because her pupils were happy with the report cards they got a few days earlier. Woodside School combined the two events and it was noticed every child received their share of pretty valentines. There were kids in other schools whose valentines were mean-spirited.

Ahnapee Record had its start in June 1873 as Kewaunee County’s 2^nd newspaper. Its first editor-publishers were 16 year old George Wing and 17 year old Charles Borgman. The young men said their paper would be fair, addressing both sides of an issue. They lobbied for beautification, good schools, women’s rights, the county fair, and the environment. They also got into politics which made things quite heated with other newspapers that referred to them as “puny infants” and a host of other things. Wing and Borgman commented on Valentine Day 1874 when they said thanks to those who sent valentines their way – “the sentimental and otherwise.” More than likely, there were many more "otherwise."

Valentine Day is equated with love,  yet the day is the anniversary of its complete antithesis.  In the year 278, St. Valentine was beheaded in Rome. Al Capone and Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day massacre are memories from 1929. President John F. Kennedy told U.S. Advisers in 1962 that they should fire in self defense. Things were happening in Vietnam. Some good things happened too. When Chicago was dealing with the massacre, the world was being told about the discovery of penicillin. In 1977 the B-52s played their first gig. They didn’t stop there and went on to make a lot of Valentine Days a little happier and memorable.

Sources: Algoma newspapers, An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River, c. 2001; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, Wikipedia.