Better Baby Contests

 In Jim Kershner's column, 100 Years Ago Today, 5 Sep 1923, had this bit:  "Carol Mahoney, age 20 months, was declared "Grand Champion Baby of the Inland Empire" at the Interstate Fair. Judges gave little Carol a score of 99.875%.....yes, babies were judged.... while her closest competitor scored only 99.75%. She won $120 in gold after "four days of grueling examination by the corps of doctors and nurses." 

I did some follow-up research on "little Carol Mahoney." Born on Christmas Day in 1922, Carol Arleigh Mahoney was born to William and Ruth (Hoffman) Mahoney. She married Robert Hepker; she died on 22 Dec 2010. No children were listed. (Information from Find A Grave.)

If you find the idea of judging babies to be wild and weird, Google this article and read on: 

‘Better Babies’ Contests Pushed for Much-Needed Infant Health but Also Played Into the Eugenics Movement

Contests around the country judged infants like they would livestock as a motivator for parents to take better care of their children

Francine Uenuma

History Correspondent, Smithsonian Magazine

January 17, 2019

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Geiger Field..... Now GEG

 

Spokane played a unique part in the history of aerial warfare in the World War II days and afterwards. Called Sunset Airport, the facility was taken over in 1939 by the Army Air Corps for a training base. Eleven of the twenty groups of B-17 bombers stationed in England during World War II were trained in part at Geiger Field.

The history of aviation in Spokane began in 1911when a daredevil pilot flew across the country from Ohio to win a bet. In 1912, aviators were flying in and out of Glover Field (below Monroe Street bridge). After World War I, a Flying Circus staged stunts and took customers up for $5 ($81 today). Another new landing strip was created in the near valley and dubbed Parkwater Field (now Felts Field since 1927). 

Geiger Field was named in honor of Maj. Harold Geiger, an aviation pioneer and war veteran who, incidentally, never was in Spokane. 

After the war, personal air travel burst upon Spokane. Commercial airlines used Felts Field but soon found that was an inadequate location. In 1938 the city purchased 1280 acres of land west of town for a new airport to be named Sunset Airport (soon Spokane International Airport). Sunset Airport was renamed Geiger Field in 1939. 

So why is our Spokane airport designated GEG?  Easy answer. There are dozens of airport designations beginning with "S" and very darn few beginning with "G."  So we became GEG. 

(If you'd enjoy reading more on this history topic, read "From Geiger To Glory," by Marshall B. Shore, in the 1996 Vol. 40, No. 4, The Pacific Northwesterner..... can be accessed at the Eastern Washington Historical Society archives at the MAC.)

Multi-Course Dinners...... Would You Survive?

 The holidays are nearly upon us and family dinners are likely being planned. Will you be using "mom's antique china" dishes and/or fixing a multi-course dinner?? Likely a resounding NO!

Antique and thrift shops these days seemingly always have "grandma's old china set." And these dishes end up in such shops because people don't "eat like that" any more. The day of 16-course dinners is long past. 

Dinners in days of yore were dress-up affairs (eating in a corset for hours??) and lasted a very long evening. Up to sixteen courses could be served on fancy china, fancy linens, fancy flatware, fancy glassware, etc. etc. All of which had to be hand washed and carefully stored away. (They had maids in those days.)

A typical Very Fancy Dinner might include these courses:

• raw oysters
• soup, a thin or cream soup
• hors d'oeuvres
• fish
• vegetables (asparagus, artichokes or corn)
• sorbet
• hot roast
• "entremets" a half-way mark, likely to be sweets
• game (wild birds or beasts)
• salad
• pudding
• ice cream
• fruit
• cheese

Guests were not supposed to eat everything; it was like picking from a buffet. (Think of all the hours of preparation and wasted food.) And the portions served were usually small. (And, I'd guess, not very hot.)

"Turning the table" meant turning first to talk to the person on your right and then, when the hostess switches, to the person on your left.

AND, all of that dressed like this (in a dozen layers) and having had maids spend hours on your hair just for one dinner! Would you???

Rules of the Road, 1913, Part 2

 

Want to know more about the history of traffic lights? Ask "Grandma" Google! Click to Wikipedia!

Continuing the Digest of Traffic Ordinance, City of Spokane

SPEED LIMIT

Speed must not exceed 15 miles an hour inside of fire limits. In other parts of the city 20 miles an hour may be maintained. NOTE: State Law provides that outside of thickly settled or business portion of any city or town speed must not exceed 24 miles per hour.

In crossing or turning, speed must not exceed one-half the legal speed limit.

In proceeding by inertia or momentum of car, the feet of the driver must be on both pedals. 

PENTALTIES

Violation of ordinance subjects the offender to a fine of not less than one dollar nor more than 25 dollars, or in default of payment imprisonment in city jail not exceeding ten days.

Hummm...... how fast to you drive when heading east or west on I-90 through the fairly straight and empty (but beautiful!) part of our state????? At 25 MPH, getting to Seattle would take 14 hours. Ouch. 

Manresa Castle in Port Townsend

 

 

Port Townsend, Jefferson County, Washington has a castle! Did you know? Have you been there?

Manresa Castle, as it's commonly called, sits high on a hill overlooking Port Townsend and was completed  in 1892 as the home of Charles and Kate Eisenbeis. He was a prominent member of the community and in 1878 had been elected the first mayor.

First referred to as the "Eisenbeis Castle," the residence consisted of 30 rooms (and only three bathrooms) and was reminiscent of the Eisenbeis' native Prussia. The walls were 12 inches thick and the roof was slate. Tiled fireplaces and finely crafted woodwork were installed by German artisans.  

Charles died in 1902 and Kate remarried a few years later; the Castle was left empty for almost 20 years except for a caretaker. 

By 1928, the Jesuits had purchased the Castle for use as a training college. They added a large wing housing a chapel and sleeping rooms and also installed an elevator. They named the complex "Manresa Hall" after the town in Spain where Ignatius Loyola founded their order. 

The Jesuits left in 1968 and the building was converted into a hotel. The elements "Manresa" and "Castle" were taken from the two previous owners to create the current name. 

You may vacation-stay at Manresa Castle for just under $300 per night. Ghosts perhaps included. 

Rules of the Road, 1913, Part 1

 The Digest of Traffic Ordinance, City of Spokane (1913)

LAW OF THE ROAD

Keep to the right, near the right hand curb.

In meeting other vehicles, pass to the right. (sic)

In overtaking other vehicles, pass to the left. 

Before starting on street, give an audible signal.

On turning to the left into another street pass to the right of and beyond the center of the street intersecting before turning.

In turning to the right into another street turn the corner as near the curb as practicable.

In crossing from one side of street to the other, turn to the left so as to head in the same direction as the traffic on that side.

Do not stop with the left side to the curb.

RIGHT OF WAY

All vehicles going in a northerly or southerly direction have the right of way over any vehicle going in an easterly or westerly direction. 

In slowing up or stopping with other following, signal by raising the hand vertically.

A signal or request from a person riding or driving a restive horse or driving domestic animals requires that the automobile should be stopped or remain stationary until animals have passed.

In moving slowly keep close to the right hand curb to as to allow faster moving vehicles to pass on the left. 

In 1913, Spokane published the "Automobile Guide and Directory." This booklet listed by license number each business or person owning a car or truck and the brand owned. A few representative pages were reproduced in The Pacific Northwesterner, Vol. 43, Issue 2, October 1999. Just glancing through the list, I noticed these makes of cars: Packard, Rambler, Buick, Ford, Winton, Franklin, Lozier, Reo, Chalmers, Brush, Cadillac, Mitchell, Elmore, Overland, Midland, Indian, Pierce-Arrow, Baker Electric, Maytag, Flanders and many more. Very few of those names are recognizable today! 

U.S.S. Spokane, 1944-1973

 

The U.S.S. Spokane was named for the city of Spokane and was built in New Jersey; she was classed a light cruiser. The Washington cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia also had Navy ships named for them.

Commissioned after the end of World War II, the Spokane never saw any war-related action.  

Spokane departed New York for training and battle practice near Guantanamo Bay. In 1946, she visited several European ports. In 1947, the Spokane represented the U.S. Navy at the wedding of Her Royal Highness, Princess Elizabeth of England. On Christmas Day, 1947, she was boarded by 100 guests and underprivileged English children as the invited guests of the crew for dinner, party, movies and tour of the ship.

Completing her goodwill tour, Spokane joined a group staging bombardment exercises in the Atlantic. She was decommissioned in 1950 and assigned to the mothball fleet of the New York Group, US Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Struck from the Navy's list of vessels in 1972, she was purchased in 1973 for scrap. Her final voyage took her to Brownsville, Texas, to be dismantled. 

Naval tradition mandates that the city in whose honor a ship is named give a silver service to its officers. In 1946, the citizen of Spokane purchased a silver service for the newly constructed USS Spokane. The 135-piece included service for twelve officers. This silver set is on display at the Naval Reserve Training Center by the VA Hospital in Spokane. (Could not find an image of Spokane's silver; this set belonged to the USS Maryland.)

Taken from an article in Vol. 39, No. 3, 1995, of The Pacific Northwesterner.