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| Kodan's Postal Map, 1893 |
Trick of Treating is pretty big in most places but lots of
Algoma kids – now of a certain age – never had a trick or treat experience. Somewhere
back around 1950 the city exchanged a Halloween party for the promise not to
wax windows and vandalize. The event began at Perry Field where costumes were
judged while kids lined up for the Hobo Parade. Marching down Steele, the kids
were given candy as they passed Meyers Deep Rock at the corner of 4th
and Steele. Spectators lining 4th enjoyed the dressed up kids who continued south to Fremont where they turned west to Algoma Public School grounds.
On the way into the auditorium for movies and magic shows, the revelers got other treats followed by take-home bags of
popcorn balls, peanuts and comic books on the way out.
Teenagers had a dance and their own fun at the Dug-Out. A few years ago the lack of trick or treat
memories prompted a five foot, 70 year old grandma to dress up as a witch and go out with her
grandkids. She wore gloves on her hands to cover the age spots but felt her face would look made up enough.
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| Perry Opera House on 3rd Street |
Over the years Halloween activities were recorded in
the Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record, Algoma
Herald and Algoma Record Herald, but
it was really TV that made it big news. To read the old papers and descriptions of Halloween,
vandalism seems to have been a boys’ thing while the girls planned parties and
the tamer events. In 1895 the Girls’ Friendly Society engaged music and charged a 25 cent admission for a Halloween dance at Perry’s Opera House.
The paper told
its readership that Halloween was the season when maidens walked downstairs
backward with a mirror held in front of them, or walked around the block barefoot with
a cabbage stalk in their hands. What for? They were trying to discover the identity of their
future husbands. The mirror reflected the face of a man walking toward the girl,
and in the walk around the block, the girl would meet him face to face. It
seemed that by 1889 that custom went by the wayside and girls got into the
practical joke action, though never appearing to get into the mischief that boys did.
1898 found boys and girls playing pranks, some of which were
not funny. It was a year when the citizenry was warned to watch their gates as
the boys would surely make raids on gates and fences. But they got into other
things. Hitching posts were torn up and horse blocks were upturned. One family
had its doors barricaded with shingles, lumber and junk. The following day a
beer keg was found on top the flagpole at the Temple of Honor building, the
home of the Temperance group in the city.
Temperance groups would have had plenty to say 50 years
later when 12 and 13 year old boys went trick or treating on bachelors living in
homes that were not kept like those with a woman in the house. The boys knew while there were no cookies and candy to be had, they were sure they’d get a
treat. Most often it was hard cider. The boys went off with
a buzz and looked forward to next year, knowing the men enjoyed the socialization as much as they enjoyed their buzz.
Around the turn of 1900, Mary Danek invited 36 young people
to her family’s home for a Halloween celebration including games, singing
and dancing. Coffee, cake and fruit were served in a “prettily decorated front
room.” (Living room today.) A Japanese
lantern was hung in the center of the room and from there vegetables were hung
on wires that were strung to all four corners. When the Record reported on Mrs.
August Boedecker’s Eppworth League party at Algoma Hotel, it said the
refreshment table was in the shape of a cross and that the waiters were dressed
as ghosts. The paper said it was all very odd. Eppworth League was a fellowship group at
Algoma’s German Methodist Episcopal Church and the symbolism of a cross on All
Hallows’ Eve, which is followed by All Souls and All Saints Days, doesn’t appear
as odd today as does a ceiling hung with vegetables.
If windows were soaped or waxed in the Silver Creek
neighborhood early in 1900, it is hard to say, because the” school society”
made news with its program. Model students with such names as Pflughoeft, Holub,
Post, Raether, Wessel, Griese, Blaha and Entringer sang songs and recited pieces about Jack o’ lanterns, pumpkins and even October. Carl Post presented
the History of Halloween.
Casco was a small village that didn’t escape Halloween. In 1903 the locations of all the village signs were moved to other spots, supposedly to make sport of travelers. A few years later the paper
said “Hurrah for Halloween” when it reported on Rosiere’s activities at Rubens’
Hall. Everybody was invited to the
hamlet’s moving picture show which was advertised to include pictures of the war that had
just begun in Europe. By 1917 the U.S. entered the war that became known as
World War l.
Halloween was big in Kewaunee in 1915 when church bells and
school bells were tolling, but it wasn’t those in charge ringing the bells that
night. While the police tried hard to follow clues, windows were
being soaped and vehicles were disappearing. Algoma's officer patrolled swinging his billy club but the tricksters weren't worried. They just did their work in another part of town.
Joseph Koss of Casco was the county supervising teacher in
1916 when the title of the article announcing his presentation read “Plan
Halloween Program.” It looked as if Supt. Koss himself was the Halloween program when the article pointed out that he was secured as a
speaker for the Advancement Association of School District #2. But then the
article went on to say that a Halloween program was arranged and that Mr. R.H.
Wunsch would conduct the Babcock test for butter fat. The school had been
rigged with a stage and light fixtures for the evening entertainment. One
wonders about the size of the audience at such Halloween frivolity.
Halloween seemed to be tamer in Forestville in 1923 when
Frieda Steuber entertained 20 friends in a room decorated with orange and
black. The guests spent the evening playing games before they enjoyed a midnight
lunch.A few miles away in Kolberg, Frank Pavlik didn’t have quite so much fun. He met
a cruel prank when he walked into his barn the next morning to find two of his
calves tied together by their tails. Another was tied to the door by his tail.
Holidays were a time ripe for crimes and scams just as
they are today. A man up to no good used Halloween 1893 for his advantage. As it happened, a Veneer and Seating employee
was on his way home from the factory about midnight on Halloween when he was commanded to halt by one described as being heavily built and wearing a black mask. The
employee didn’t stop but ran a few blocks for assistance. When such assistance
returned there was no sign of the highway man even though there was a search.
Some felt the masked man was out for Halloween revelry but others wondered why
anyone would halt people on the streets at midnight and risk getting shot just
for the fun in scaring others.
Soaping and waxing windows was an old Halloween prank that
resulted in more than a little work for home owners and businessmen. Some experienced true vandalism when vehicles were stolen and tires were punctured. Tipping outhouses was a biggie all over until it wasn't so much fun.
For one
reason or another, Kodan was known for its deviltry and that's where the outhouse tippers
finally got theirs. After so many years of dealing with the outhouse, Kodan school board members pushed theirs forward just a
little. When the jokesters came that wet evening and pushed from the back, they
slipped! Kodan school board “got ‘em good” and from then on outhouse tipping
wasn’t quite so popular. That was about the same time the country kids bragged about Halloween cow tipping to gullible city kids who actually believed it, but no doubt they were the same kids who were told chocolate milk came from pumping the tail of a brown cow.
Halloween customs have changed and costumed adults are found working in stores, banks and other places. Neighborhoods are decorated with all kinds of ghoulish displays and everybody gets hyped up. Kids trick or treat and adults are known to take a wine glass or beer mug and trick or treat in the neighborhood. Where most Halloween activities are soon forgotten, Kodan's school board continues to be remembered. By those who heard about it, and especially those who slipped!
Sources: The newspapers mentioned.
Post Office map and postcard are in the blogger's collection.
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