A newspaper tells the tale of the times
A newspaper tells the tale of the times
Newspapers have always been the best source of news and local information.
The Mercury had been in business a little less than four years in July of 1934. During that time the paper had built its circulation to 7,248. It was a morning paper that published Monday through Saturday with a usual size of 10 pages, but sometimes it expanded to 15.
Within that small framework it managed to give its readers a lot of information. In addition to covering Pottstown news, it ran national and international news stories, a twopage women’s section, two pages of sports, and regular coverage of Boyertown, Spring City, and Royersford. Being a modern paper, it also had a comics page with a crossword puzzle, a radio programming schedule, and want ads ran on the next-to-last page.
Though America had been in the Great Depression for about three and a half years and people were hard pressed because of it, in July 1934 the paper, for the most part, published very little news about the struggling economy.
In the July 6 issue was a story written on a positive note about local young men returning from service in the Civilian Conservation Corps. “Bronzed, hardy and heavier than they were when they left, a score of Pottstown youths and associates from nearby communities came home yesterday after more than a year in jobs provided by one of the earlier phases of President Roosevelt’s New Deal.”
However, on July 30 the paper featured the opposite side of the coin as it reported that the 600 men who worked at Spicer’s, a Pottstown factory, voted to take a pay cut to keep the plant from leaving town.
Money was tight, but it seems that people could afford a night out. Sunnybrook Ballroom had already established its reputation as the place to dance to nationally known bands, but it also had a house band, Leroy Wilson’s Orchestra. Wilson’s band played there on Wednesday evenings, providing dance music from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Leroy Wilson was actually Harvey Leroy Wilson, born in Pottstown in 1913. He was a professional trombonist and orchestra leader who turned to teaching after World War II. When he died in 1994, he endowed the Pottstown School District with a scholarship fund for students who want to major in music in college. That endowment is, 26 years later, still providing assistance to music students.
Nightlife in the area got a big boost on Dec. 5, 1933, when Prohibition was repealed. With the beer taps open a number of new restaurants opened in the area. To our 2019 eyes, the prices were unbelievably cheap. Thus, when the Mansion House at High and Keim streets announced its opening on July 14 a deviled crab platter went for 50 cents, a sandwich was a nickel, and a 14-ounce glass of beer cost a dime.
Churches in these years were an important part of every community and the Pottstown area was no exception. Their primary mission was the spiritual care and development of their members, and when schools were not in session churches used some of that available time to nurture the spiritual side of their young members with vacation Bible school.
Local churches also provided a social network. The annual church picnic was an excellent example and that July they were in full swing. In Bahr’s Grove 2,000 Boyertown folks turned out for a combination homecoming and church picnic.
On Thursday (yes, a week day) July 27, 2,500 people swarmed Sanatoga Park in Lower Pottsgrove for Pottstown’s Emmanuel Lutheran Church and Sunday School picnic. Because few people owned cars, trolley service began at 1:30 p.m. The day was spent playing games. A large group sing followed and was capped off by a vaudeville show.
After reading The Mercury’s daily sports page it is obvious that baseball was not just a spectator sport as it is today. Throughout the month of July, The Mercury devoted one and a half to two pages of each issue to sports, and in those pages local baseball games received as much coverage as the major league games.
Recreational hardball leagues were everywhere and to list them all is well beyond the scope of this article. On any given evening or afternoon so many games were played that is not known how The Mercury sportswriters were able to cover them, but the next day’s issue had brief coverage and sometimes even box scores.
In the July 10 issue a headline that spanned the entire width of the sports page told readers “Trinity Overthrows Grace Lutheran, 4 to 3, in Upset in the SS (Sunday school) League.” This league is another example of the prominent role churches played in people’s lives at that time. Beneath that: “Gabriel Takes TriCounty League Lead with 5 to 1 Victory over Pine Forge.” That in big and bold headline easily captured attention.
On the next page The Mercury’s devotion to local baseball is revealed when the midseason hitting records, including games, at bats, runs, hits and batting averages of the 132 men who played in the Sunday School League were listed.
Conspicuous by its almost total absence is local news about violent crime: no shootings, stabbings, bar fights or fisticuffs between neighbors made the pages of The Mercury that July. The nearest violent crime happened on July 22 in Glenmoore, Chester County, a good 20 miles southwest of Pottstown when a 17-year-old boy shot and seriously wounded two teenage girls he didn’t know because they refused his attempts to lure them into his car. The Mercury reported later that the girls recovered. There was no follow-up on the fate of their shooter.
The biggest national news story that month was the death of the famous criminal John Dillinger, who was killed in Chicago on the night of July 22. In The Mercury’s July 23 issue, running the length of the entire front page, was the banner headline “FIFTEEN GUNS MOW DOWN DILLINGER.” Then, running down the righthand column: “Much-Sought Criminal Is Pumped Full of Lead.”
Newspaper editors were always on the lookout for human interest stories, so Mercury editor Shandy Hill (his real name was Wilbert Muchslitz.) must have been a happy guy when he heard about a boy who traveled on his own from Brooklyn, N.Y., to Pottstown to visit his grandfather.
Under the headline “George Frick Jr. Leaves Home to See Granddad,” Agnes Prince, the paper’s women’s page reporter, in the Saturday, July 28, issue, told the story of how 12-year old George Prince Jr. of Brooklyn left home with his “puppy dog” and, not telling his parents where he was going, headed for Pottstown to visit his grandfather, Charles Frick, who lived at Chestnut and Warren streets.
He showed up at Grandpa’s house about noon on Friday. The paper reported that during his odyssey he “accepted numerous lifts and experienced interesting escapades,” but unfortunately did not elaborate. It ended well for young George. As of that Saturday, “he and his dog were happy and well fed for the first time in several days.” And “they were to remain as guests of the Fricks for some time.”