Good neighbors and families, more than government, helped the children of the 1930s survive the Great Depression, which started 79 years ago this week.
Black Thursday was Oct. 24, 1929, followed by Black Monday and on Oct. 28 and Tuesday Oct. 29. There were long-lasting consequences of the stock market crash that didn’t see an upturn until World War II.
With today’s financial markets volatile and the world leaders jittery, families in 2008 are concerned that there will be another recession or depression and perhaps wondering what the children of the Great Depression did to survive.
Back then, neighbors would provide food, merchants would put charges in the book that may never be repaid, relatives let families move in. Kids played street games and families moved north, from coal mines to steel plants.
Ed Klem caught a job through the landlord at the cemetery when he was 13. He dug graves, cut the grass and buried people for 12.5 cents an hour. The boy earned six dollars in six days.
Agnes MacFarlane Betsch had a grocery store. “A number of people told me that my mother was a saint because our grocery store had a big book with people who had credit,” said Ray Betsch. “I was quite young. When they finally sold the store, there was thousands of dollars out on credit that never materialized.”
Betsch, 85, served as mayor of Lockport for two terms from 1972-75 and 1986-89.
“People helped each other,” said Bud Niethe. “My family moved in with my aunt. They were fortunate. They had a job throughout the Depression. You helped family. Everyone was in the same boat. Everybody was helping everybody.”
That meant that aunt and uncle, mother and father, and children shared a three-bedroom home. Then another uncle, who lost his job, moved in.
Ed Klem grew up in a little town near Wilkes-Barre, Pa. There were five coal mines in the region, and the miners would listen to the radio to see what mine would be hiring.
“Nobody was working,” Klem said. “Some children couldn’t go to school because they didn’t have shoes to wear. If you put in two days a week you got $10 or $11.”
His father, Fred Klem, was injured in a mine cave-in and was out of work nine months. The church would send a basket of food once a week.
“There was no compensation. You were on your own,” Ed Klem recalled. “My mother scrimped. We had a nice Jewish merchant there and he put everything on the book. She would go and get a loaf of bread or baloney or meat to make soup. We had a lot of soup.”
Fred Klem made up his mind, he was getting out of the mines and came to Buffalo to find a job in 1940. He worked at Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna.
Ray Betsch was born in 1923 in Lockport, where his father became the superintendent of streets. “People were out of work and used to go out to the city garage and line up,” Ray said. “He would give them one day a week and I think they gave them a dollar a day. They had long lines waiting to work one day a week.”
Joseph Betsch had a farm on Checkered Tavern Road, and Ray’s father had barrels of apple cider, hard and sweet, in the basement which he sold for 25 cents a gallon. Men would work for him on the farm and be rewarded with a gallon of cider.
“People helped each other. You knew your neighbors,” the former mayor said. “We knew everybody up and down the street and for blocks around ... We played football, baseball, unorganized. Night time we played games, kick the can, stick hockey, king of the hill. One was called Relieve-O.”
Relieve-O was a team hide-and-seek game where children would hide in the neighborhood and try to storm home before they were caught. “You go and get hid, just staying hid didn’t accomplish anything,” Betsch said. “If you didn’t get caught, after a while it would get boring so you would holler “RELIEVE-O!” and let them know where you were and let them try to catch you.”
Josephine Valery Evoy, a “Depression Baby” recalled that her father got a job as a projectionist at the Palace Theatre when he was 13. “During the Depression, nobody had a job. He’s the only one who could get a good job,” said Josephine.
George Valery earned $5 a week and gave the money to his mother. Josephine’s grandmother would have the vaudeville acts, like the Sons of the Pioneers, come to her house for Italian cooking. She came from Italy and the family name was changed to Valery from Valerio. “They loved my grandmother — she made spaghetti,” Josephine said.
Folks on a farm may have been cushioned from the crash. Zilpha Petty, who was born in 1919, grew up on a dairy farm on the Southern Tier. “There was always talk of Depression that you hear as a child,” she said. “We had milk. We had eggs. I can’t say I was deprived. I don’t remember going without things. We lived pretty simply. We went to a one-room school and everyone about the same as I was.”
In Lockport, children from Lowertown would load up carts and go uptown to sell vegetables door-to-door. The money was used to run the household.
Katherine Meloon, 82, was born in a small town in Missouri in 1926 and got a job at a defense plant at Harrison Radiator after she graduated from high school in 1944.
“There wasn’t much in Missouri. Things were better here, better than they are now,” she said. “We had enough to eat, but we didn’t have much, like all the rest of the people. Nobody had much in those days. I think we are in a Depression now. They call it a recession, but I don’t believe that.”
“You helped out relatives,” said Niethe who worked at Harrison Radiator for 25 years. “Obama wants the government to do everything for you, from cradle to grave.”
Contact reporter Bill Wolcott at 439-9222, ext. 6246.
Communities
Related Photos
-
DOUG BENZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
-
DOUG BENZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
-
DOUG BENZ/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ECONOMY: Lockport lessons from the Great Depression
- Communities
-
-
Newfane's Apple Blossom Fest has something for everyone
An apple a day may keep the doctor away and the apple blossoms of Niagara County are cause for celebration. Sunday’s Apple Blossom Festival will lure hundreds of visitors to step back in time to the good old days.
The Newfane Historical Society’s annual event takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the museum grounds at the corner of West Creek and Ide roads. Admission and parking are free, and families can while away a sunny afternoon perusing everything from antique tractors to a Civil War encampment.
-
NFTA targets Lockport bus routes for closure
Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s proposed service reductions would eliminate all bus service from, to and within greater Lockport.
-
Library adds online selections
Library card holders can check out and download e-books anytime, anywhere by visiting lockportlibrary.org. Patrons can download to a personal computer, Mac and many mobile devices, according to librarian Claire McDonough.
-
Mayor Maedl
Julia A. Maedl is stepping away from politics after 19 years of service to the Village of Middleport in 2001.
Maedl, who was a village trustee for nine years and village mayor for 10 years, will not seek re-election. She says she will remain very active, however.
Since the death of her husband, Robert Maedl in 2008, the Middleport mayor has been running Maedl Woodcrafts. She is on the tourist committee, chair of business association and trustee of Middleport United Methodist Church. She sings in the choir and is in charge of Harvest dinner and chicken barbecue. She manages 28 apartments. -
Memorial tree program off to a good start
The town’s new memorial tree program has been growing quickly.
Councilwoman Cheryl A. Antkowiak said the program is being done with Stedman’s Nursery of Newfane. Residents who wish to have a tree planted will receive an information packet from Stedman’s as well as a map of Day Road Park showing where each of the 85 trees are located. Stedman’s sells the trees along with a plaque if the resident wants one to be put up. -
New recycling bins available soon
Town residents could have some new bins to go along with its new recycling incentive program.
At Monday’s work session meeting, Town Board members approved the purchase of new recycling bins. The town placed an order of 1,000 of the 18 gallon bins for $8,845 and another order of 200 of the 32 gallon bins for $3,110. The large bins are 31 and a half inches in height and 22 inches in diameter.
Both sets of bins will be blue in color and the 32 gallon bins will come with lids.
The 18 and 32 gallon bins were produced by Otto Environmental Services in Charlotte, N.C., a company Supervisor Marc R. Smith said the town has used before for bins. The company still has a rubber stamp with the town logo on it. -
Library names new director
Beverly Federspiel, Director of the City of Tonawanda Public Library, has been appointed as the new Director of the Lockport Public Library.
Federspiel, 49, will succeed Marie Binderman, who is retiring, on Feb. 28.
“I’m excited,” said Federspiel, who has been at the Tonawanda Library three years after serving at the Buffalo and Erie County Central Library for 18 years. “I’ve always loved the Lockport building and the community is very supportive. There are lots of opportunities out there.” -
Winterfest, take two
Winterfest was a big success last year and Winterfest 2011 may even be bigger Saturday at Royalton-Hartland Elementary School and the Hartland Bible Church.
“Last year was the first year and well over 650 people attended, that’s a huge response for an inaugural event,” said Helen Feron, the chairman of the steering committee. “This year we expect more.”
Entertainment and activities are scheduled from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. including a basket auction at the Hartland Bible Church at 3 p.m., where Magician Robert Geckler will also perform at 2:15 p.m.
The event is geared towards school aged children and free to children 10-and-under. Admissiong is $3 for adults and includes Chinese auction tickets. -
High school project coming along
Construction on Lockport High School is continuing throughout the winter months. Construction crews work on a scaffold on the west side of the building, which is the Locust Street side. The school is undergoing a $23.5 million capital improvement project that includes adding a fitness center, a six classroom addition and completely renovate the auditorium into a brand new fine arts center. The auditorium will also have stage work completed, new music rooms, a renovated foyer and a new entrance on the Locust Street side. There will be improvements made to ventilators and mechanical systems, an art gallery, new windows, as well as new padding and bleachers in the gymnasium. The technology wing also will be updated, and the library renovated to make room for a computer lab. Also, bathrooms will be added nearby. The entire project is expected to be completed in September.
-
Going green
With a symbolic “shot heard ‘round the community,” Lockport’s historic Kenan Center Arena unveiled its new artificial turf indoor soccer field and renovated “annex.”
About a dozen local dignitaries were on hand Thursday night at special dedication ceremony, attended by about 200 parents and soccer players, who wasted little time putting two new soccer fields to work.
The new turf installation was part of a larger arena capital project, which included the renovation of the arena’s adjacent annex room, which was gutted last year to create almost 6,000 square feet of additional space. Parts of the old artificial turf field were used to cover the new, smaller soccer field in the annex.
Lockport Mayor Michael Tucker lauded the Kenan’s effort and others who joined in to make the $106,000 capital improvement project — more than 10 years in the making — a reality. Funders include the Kenan soccer players, who raised about $60,000 selling candy, the Grigg-Lewis Foundation, the Kenan Arts Council, Rotary Club of Lockport and the Lockport Lions Club. - More Communities Headlines
-
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow
Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
