The flood of 1933

The Jasper County Historical Society had its monthly meeting last night, and while waiting for the meeting to start, I browsed through some of the scrapbooks that were on display. An old one, Audrey Carson's Memory Scrapbook from the 1930s, had this picture:

Above the picture she had written, "This is the Creamery Bridge and Plaining mill." Below the picture she wrote, "This is a scene from the flood April 30, 1933. We were without lights 8 days and we had to boil our water until June 1st."

The planing mill on the left has been replaced with a laundry. The house on the northwest side of the bridge is still there. The building on the right may be part of what is now Aydas and Slice of Pie restaurants. When this photo was taken, the bridge on College Ave was a bowstring arch bridge.

The Historical Society how has a Facebook page. They need more likes--they only have 38. If you like them, you can get information about a fundraiser they have planned--a cook book. They are looking for recipes, so if you have a favorite recipe from grandma, and perhaps an interesting story to go along with it, they would like to have it. They even have a submission form, which can be obtained from the Museum.

The program for the evening was about women and World War I. Why this for a local historical society? Because the local society has the cards that were filled out for the Council of National Defense, and it seems that virtually all of these cards were destroyed after the war when the Council and several other war organizations were disbanded. The speaker, Sue Caldwell, has been researching the records and what the government was doing to involve women in the war effort. These cards were a remarkably intrusive "inventory of women" that was undertaken. By the end of the war, women were urged to join food clubs and sign how the government tried to mobilize the women to conserve food. Herbert Hoover served as head of the Food Administration in the Wilson Administration, and as part of the effort, had people signing were called Hoover Pledge Cards. (It is odd that in the popular imagination Herbert Hoover is seen as a proponent of laissez faire. He was no Calvin Coolidge.) Some of the propaganda posters from the Food Administration can be seen here, and a bit of information on the program is here. (This summary does not do justice to the presentation. Hopefully Ms Caldwell will eventually write up her findings and publish them in some way.)