Posted: 3/19/03

The ëRoaring 20sí in Forest Lake

(Editorís Note: The following Reflections column was first published on Sept. 23, 1982 as the first of a two-part installment on the depression. It is reprinted here as part of the newspaperís on-going coverage during its 100th year. This column and future Reflections columns are in tribute to the author who died on Friday, Feb. 7, 2003.)

By Elsie Vogel
Times Staff Correspondent

ìBrother, can you spare a dime?î This phrase heard the length and breadth of our country, typified of a time in the life of the people who lived in the years from 1929 through the ë30s, a time known as the Great Depression.

With the uncertain state of the economy on the minds of people today, I thought it would be a timely story. My husband Bert said, ìBut it is a sad story.î Perhaps it is, but I think it is time to recall how the people of our nation and in particular our area, lived and adjusted to a situation over which they had absolutely no control.

Our local people felt hopelessness and frustration, but they also proved they were survivors and through it all they could still laugh at things and hope for better times ahead.

Depressions

Prior to 1929 America had gone through several depressions, experiencing mass unemployment, but always recovering after a short interval. The Great Depression, starting with the ìstock market crash of 1929î was different in length and severity, affecting everyone, rich and poor alike.

But for the moment, letís look back in time to the period just before the depression. It might give us a better understanding about the events and the life style of the people prior to this traumatic time in the history of our country.

ìThe Roaring Twentiesî

The name itself describes the pace the American people were living: fast, furious, happy, and for the most part prosperous.

Electric refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners coming off the new assembly lines for sale in local hardware stores were replacing the wooden ice boxes and washboards. All these new wonders designed to take some of the drudgery out of housework, were making the women happy and life was becoming a little easier.

The men were eagerly buying a new toy, which was also coming off the assembly line: the automobile. In Forest Lake they bought their Fords from Al Johnsonís and Ray Van Syocís dealership in downtown Forest Lake. Overlands and Willys could be purchased at Finberg Motor Sales, another early forest Lake car dealership. The automobile was fast becoming the typical manís most prized possession.

And along with the automobile came the age of the telephone and indoor plumbing.

Entertainment

Long lines formed at the Forest Theatre in downtown Forest Lake to watch movie stars like Clara Bow with her bee sting lips. Sultry, passionate latin lover Rudolph Valentino thrilled the ladies with just a look.

Charlie Chaplin and the Keystone Cops kept the audiences doubled up with laughter at their humorous antics.

Mary Pickford, Americaís sweetheart, was a favorite of everyone. The young Saturday afternoon matinee crowd hung on the edge of their seats as the heroine hung on the side of a cliff... always to be continued next week.

ìListening to the radioî was the new form of entertainment as one by one Forest Lake folks bought radios. Music, comedy and plays poured forth from the Atwater Kent, Crosley and Philco radios.

The Amos ëní Andy Show, originating in 1928, had quite an impact on its listeners. Restaurants did not serve during that quarter hour, factories changed shift hours to allow workers to listen.

Walter Damrosch had a classical ìMusic Appreciation Hour.î Children hurried home from school to hear adventure shows designed just for them.

Legends in their own time

It was an exciting time for sports fans with Babe Ruth setting a home run record which stood until the ë70s. The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame and the name Red Grange helped to make football history.

Bobby Jones made golf a popular game and Jack Dempseyís name will always be remembered.

Dempsey - Gibbons Fight

Bill Enquist, former owner of Enquist Hardware Store, recalls the excitement of the local men crowding into his Forest Lake store to hear the Dempsey-Gibbons fight on Billís brand new R.C.A. radio.

The static crackled and the radio cut in and out at times as the men strained to hear the announcer describing the punches. What a great time! Just to be able to hear the fight from ringside was unforgettable for Bill and his friends. (Dempsey was the winner).

Enquistís Hardware Store was located where the Montgomery Ward Catalog Store is at present. Enquistís also handled the new washing machines coming on the market.

Ticker Tape Parade

In 1927, Charles Lindberg, from Little Falls thrilled the world with his feat of flying his little one-engine plane, the ìSpirit of St. Louis,î solo across the Atlantic, New York honored our new hero with a huge parade.

Jazz Age

The 20s had another name, the Jazz Age. Instantly, you think of the ìflappers.î The young girls started a new fashion: high heels, short skirts, long waist, rolled silk stockings, long strings of beads and spit curls. They had colored swagger sticks to match each outfit and danced the ìCharlestonî with gay abandon.

Caps or straw hats were high fashion for men and the college fellows had raccoon coats, pork pie hats and ìhip flasks.î Even older ladies were sneaking into the barber shops to get their hair ìbobbed.î

Mah-Jong, a game imported from China, became the newest rage for people to play.

Prohibition

The 18th Amendment, prohibiting the making and sale of liquor at the start of the ë20s, led Americans into another famous or infamous period that affected life in Forest Lake.

This amendment did not stop people from enjoying their libations: the result was law breaking.

ìHome Brewî was made in many kitchens for family consumption. Father mixed the malt, yeast and whatever the recipe called for, when it was time to be bottled the liquid was siphoned from the crock or barrel.

Sometimes using the ìbottle capperî to seal the bottles was a family affair. The brew had to rest awhile and many a bottle was known to ìpopî or explode before this elixir could be enjoyed.

It was a time when ìspeak-easiesî were crowded with people enjoying ìHootchî and ìbath-tub gin.î They sold ìset upsî and food and often offered dancing.

Some local people will recall certain sections of the Twin Cities that became well known for their night clubs. Rice Street was lined with night clubs. The Paramount Inn and the Dew Drop Inn, were perhaps the best known. West St. Paul had many also.

The closed doors to the exclusive, clandestine night clubs could be opened with a knock on the door and a whispered password, ìJoe sent me.î

Knowing a good bootlegger was as important then as wearing designer clothes is today. Bootlegging became big business for gangsters and Al Capone of Chicago was perhaps the best known in the country. But the Forest Lake area had several well-known bootleggers operating on the edge of town.í

Buy-Buy

The ìTwentiesî were a very good time for many Americans. Business profits were spiraling upward and more people were doing well. It was only natural to want to acquire many of the new things that were becoming available.

The old cautious habit of buying only what you had cash for gave way to a new philosophy.

ìA dollar down and a dollar a weekî was the new way to buy. ìEnjoy it nowî urged the salesmen and almost anything could be bought on the new installment plan.

Contrasts

Even with increased prosperity there were whole regions of the country suffering unemployment. There was a big gap between incomes.

The $10- and $12-a-week wages earned by some groups of people were in sharp contrast to increased income by some wage production earners and the astronomical profits made by business tycoons like Rockefeller and Ford.

Farmers everywhere suffered from low prices for their products. During World War I they had produced food for the army and fed the people of Europe. But now their production was still up and this created surpluses.

The Lure of Riches

For many it was a time to get rich quickly and this was done through speculation. Investing in land made some investors rich and some lost much in schemes such as the Florida Land Boom in the mid-20s.

Gambling on the stock market appealed to large and small investors alike. The wealthy were making astronomical sums in oil and industrial stocks and the little fellows, like clerks, joined the excitement of making it big on Wall Street, too.

How very simple and enticing to gamble like this! Simply buy on margin and pay only part of the purchase price now.

A hot tip on the stock would send conservative people to mortgage their homes or borrow money somewhere. Fortunes were made overnight! Those who made big profits bought more and more stock and the prices climbed higher and higher. There just didnít seem to be anyplace to go but up, and such was the situation in October, 1929.

Crash of 1929

For several weeks prior to this, Wall Street was a little jittery. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, there was an unexpected severe break in the stock market. Prices crumbled rapidly during the day and collapsed in the last hour of trading.

Thursday, Oct. 24, henceforth known as Black Thursday, found the opening prices moderately firm, but soon there was a deluge of sell orders.

ìSell-Sell,î the stock holders pleaded as the brokers tried to keep up. At noon the ticker tape fell hopelessly behind, the scene was bedlam. Panic seized the market.

The big bankers tried to halt the collapse by pooling their resources. Prices moved up a little in the afternoon, but within a few days plunged down again. This slide extended into November.

Life savings of many investors, especially those that bought on margin, were completely wiped out. Suicide was a way out for many.

Reassurance

President Hoover reassured the nation on Oct. 25 that the traditional business of the country was on a sound basis.

Big businessmen like Henry Ford and the chairman of Bethlehem Steel declared their confidence in the economic future.

In Forest Lake, like elsewhere in the nation, a great majority of the farmers and working people had little interest or knew very little about the stock market. But they too would be affected for the next decade. The Great Depression had begun.

Next week weíll try to recall how the depression affected our country and especially our local people.

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