When poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem “Christmas Bells,” it was Christmas Day 1863 and followed the 1861 death of his wife, Fanny. She had died from burns when her clothing caught fire. By the time Longfellow wrote the poem, his son had been wounded in the War Between the States, now known as the Civil War. Longfellow’s poem stemmed from his deep mourning as he heard hope in the chiming bells that Christmas morning. That the right prevails with peace on earth and goodwill to men is echoed in the Christas carol that originated in the pealing Boston church bells.
I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day was set to music
by John Baptiste Calkin and has been arranged many times over. Bells reflect
good news. Bells reflect the beginning and the end, but it is the Christmas
bells that herald the hope and joy of Christians in the birth of Jesus.
Eighty years ago – 1944 – Christmas bells brought hope in
Algoma when the war-weary world prayed for peace. In some ways, 1944 was not so
different from 2024. Most things change in such times but, sometimes, not so
much.
John Byrnes was running for 8th District Congressmen in 1944 when told Algoma’s U.S. Plywood employees that the Washington administration failed to bring jobs and create prosperous economic conditions while being responsible for the largest drawn-out depression in history. Byrnes said it was the war not FDR’s New Deal that brought the uptick in jobs. He said while Algoma employers and employees agreed to wage increases, they were stuck for months and months as there were 19,000 cases before the Washington, D.C. board that had to approve of any such raises. Byrnes said the country needed to “return to the freedom of workers and freedom of enterprise.” He said the way it was, folks were being misled to believe Washington grants the benefits. He further said that when the war was over and the boys came home, they’d want real jobs, “not the dole and leaf-raking dependency on Washington.”
While Brynes was campaigning, Algoma resident Garritt VanDam
talked about the two letters he received concerning relatives still residing in
his native Holland. Gerritt’s father was a baker in Eerde, in southern
Netherlands, but Garritt followed milling. It was Father VandenElzen, the
pastor at Fairland (now Namur), originally from VanDam’s home area, who
encouraged Garritt to locate in Algoma to work for Algoma baker, James Knaapen.
VanDam eventually bought the Rio Creek mill and elevator.
A Minnesota woman wrote to VanDam telling him her son met
Gerritt’s brother Bernard and his family who treated her son with great
kindness. The woman’s son was in England after being wounded and hoped he could
write to Gerritt about his family.
The other letter was about Bernhardt Van Dam, Garritt’s
nephew, and the bare bakery Bernhardt owned. Supplies were short, if they could
be had at all. Restrictions meant the writer could not say where he was nor where
he had been so only mentioned the church in “your nephew’s village,” which the
family knew was at Eerde. It was still standing but had suffered in the
bombings.
While Bernhardt VanDam’s village faced food shortages, Katch’s
and Red Owl’s Cashway were advertising food bargains, although Cashway let it
be known that the store had the right to limit quantities. Katch’s bulk candy shipment
ad was sure to bring in shoppers. Arndt’s Super Food Market suggested food gifts
and would make up any size of fruit basket.
Local merchants were doing “Christmas good dollars and cents
business” but said Christmas items were scarce although there were plenty of
substitutes. The Record Herald said there wasn’t any candy and few
cigarettes. Sugar was the first and last thing rationed during the war. It was
needed for military food rations. Cigarettes were given to soldiers with their
overseas rations at a time when civilian smoking was increasing due to wartime
stress. One businessman was realistic when he said they sell what they had because
that was all there was. It even made the news when scarce women’s hosiery became
available and seemed to be of unusually good quality.
Though residents missed candy and cigarettes, everybody knew
the “boys” in tents, foxholes, on bases or in ships needed it more. Besides
that, spending less at Christmas meant more money was available for war bonds.
William Saroyan’s Christmas was dramatized when Algoma Women’s Club met for their December meeting. Christmas smells were represented in the cedar boutonnieres given to each attendee. Christmas tastes were brought out the in cookies, while Christmas sights included gift wrapping and decorations. The women learned cutting strips of flannel with pinking shears made appropriate ribbon for babies’ gifts. Just being together was the Christmas highlight.
But this was 1944, the fourth Christmas when the country was
at war. The dramatization stressed that the being together was a “spirit” with
so many absent. Suggestions included inviting a serviceman to dinner to see the
tree lights and gifts, getting cards and letters to those one had been meaning
to write, or to have a ‘round robin account of the day’s events to send to
others. It was pointed out that “a gift is anything one can give another and
the greatest is those we hold in our hearts, rather than in our hands.” Far
away were those both known and unknown who didn’t hear the hope and joy of the
Christmas bells while they fought for the right to believe in all that
Christmas means.
During this fourth year of war, businessmen and homeowners
alike skipped the outdoor decorations and 10 days before Christmas the post
office said it had sold 15,000 1 ½ cent stamps, down from the 35,000 the year
before, although the Record Herald felt that folks were just late as
card sales in the city had mushroomed. Both the paper and the post office neglected
to say that the cost of mailing had increased during the year.
Christmas doesn’t seem like a time for paper drives, however
in 1944, Kewaunee County had just completed the December paper collection which
fell considerably short of the 10# per person in September. Collections were
made at the various churches where St. Paul’s, Algoma, led the way with about
1,000 pounds. That fell far short of the over four ton the same church brought
in a few months earlier.
Seventy-five cents could buy a new hairdo at Flora Lee.
Permanent waves began at $3.95. Anew “do” was certain to put a woman in the
Christmas spirit.
Algoma churches announced Christmas Eve and day services,
some of which saw youth taking the largest part. St. Mary’s celebrated with
midnight mass and 5 masses on Christmas Day. St Paul’s had a song service on
Christmas Eve. The choir, Sunday school, day school and congregation were all
part of the service. Christmas Day services were at the regular times.
The Methodist church
presented a Christmas pageant with children of the congregation taking multiple
parts.
St. Agnes-By-the-Lake Episcopal church did not have
Christmas Eve services in 1944 but did have a communion service on Christmas
Day. St. John’s, Rankin, opened with a children’s program on Christmas Eve. The
congregation’s 66 Sunday school children presented recitations and songs at
night. Services in both German and English followed on Christmas Day.
Just before Christmas, the paper informed readership about
the school Christmas programs. Students at San Sauveur school joined the kids
at Duvall Graded as they were treated to an educational movie. Any kind of a
movie was a treat in those days when the county owned projector was scheduled
for use at the various rural schools. Casco High School announced its Christmas
concert on December 22 as the three other high schools were performing their
own band and choral concerts. Other musical news was Luxemburg’s Phyllis Rueckl
who made her operatic debut in the Chicago Opera Company. Phyllis studied with Theodore Harrison at the American
Conservatory. The really big news was in food production, and Lincoln cheese
factory got a new cheese vat big enough to hold 15,000 pounds of milk.
When the Christmas bells rang in 1944, Algoma residents were praying for relatives and friends in the military and the war’s end. The war did end, and 1945 saw a different kind of Christmas. There were still shortages and hardships, however fathers, sons and daughters were returning. In some cases, it took years for a body to come home.
Eighty years later, there are similarities. The older set
remembers; the younger people have no clue. What seems to have changed the most
is business. Algoma was a hub where one could find just about anything in 1944.
The bells have changed too. They are automated, electronic and digital, but they were heard "on Christmas Day in the morning."
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Algoma businesses – 15 of which were alcohol-related - wished residents Christmas greetings in the pre-Christmas Record Herald. The Hotel Stebbins and the Flora Lee Shoppe remain.
Mollie’s West Side Tavern, Mura’s Rustic Resort, Worachek’s Tavern, Dick DeGuelle’s Bar, Perry’s 4th Street Coffee Shop, Thora Wheeler’s Club Tavern and Restaurant, Kulhanek’s North Side Tavern, Marquardt’s Electric Service, Arno Graf’s Hotel Stebbins, Louis Hassberg’s Majestic Theater, Maedke Produce, P.C. Gerhart & Son, Heinie Damman Schlitz’ Bar, Henry Wiese Clothing Store. Red Zastrow’s Tavern, Blahnik Chevrolet Sales, Ebert Barber Shop, Stangel’s Tavern, Clarence Haucke’s Funeral and Ambulance Service and Furniture Store, Empey Monument Co., Schuch’s Market, Norb Hucek’s Victory Club, John Maedke’s Lakeview Lumber Co., Tom Stodola’s Owls’ Club, Rufus Entringer’s West Side Barber Shop, Otto Krohn’s O-K Barber Shop, Builders Veneer & Woodwork Co. of Rio Creek, Clarence Vandertie’s Sky Club, Rein Ponath’s Rein’s Tavern, Algoma Creamery, Timble Barber Shop, Rivers’ Bakery, Hubbard Welding and Body Shop, Reinhart’s Footwear, John Bero Insurance Agency, Paul Hoppe Perlewitz Paint Shop, William Mullen Insurance Agent, Groessl’s Drug Store, Algoma Oil Co., Sedivy’s Market, Nell’s West Side Grocery, Fellows’ Garage, A.S. Woles’ Melchior Jewelry Store, Muench Service Station. Earl’s IGA Store, Beaches, Pearley’s Standard Service Station, Gamble Stores, Fluck’s City Drug Store, Yahnke Wadham’s Service Station, Allen Schwedler Appliance Co., Ropson’s Motor Sales, Flora Lee Shoppe, Holtz Beer and Locker Service, Louis Sibilsky Insurance, Carl Fabry Cashier at the Bank of Rio Creek, Algoma Fuel Company and Horak’s Market.
Sources: Algoma Record Herald; Commercial History of Algoma, WI, Vol. 1
