As Christmas Day of 1921 approached, Huron County residents were busy with the typical concerns of the holiday season.
The United States had just emerged from the tumultuous, tragic years of the Great War and the Spanish Flu pandemic, and Americans were settling into a semblance of normal life. Little did they know the Great Depression and another World War awaited them in the years to come.
The pages of the Huron County Tribune from Friday, Dec. 23, 1921, (the Tribune was a weekly paper back then) offer a glimpse of what Christmastime was like a century ago, and in some ways, its bears a striking resemblance to 2021.
A story in the Tribune published immediately after Christmas lauded the Goodfellows Club for its "splendid work" that Christmas providing 15 families with "relief from cold and hunger." The club raised almost $500, some of which was donated to the county nurse (more on her later in the story), church societies and the county agent.
The Goodfellows told of "unbelievable cases of destitution" in Huron County, including a family with six children that had only two pair of shoes among them and no clothing except calico aprons. They related the story of another family whose cupboards contained only flour, which was mixed with water to make pancakes on a flat stove.
Advertisers offered a lifeline to procrastinating shoppers with sales on modern conveniences like "flash lights," electric irons and percolators, phonographs (available at a store known as Arthur Dundas for $100), spark plugs and even an electric washing machine. The Automotive Sales and Service Co. of Pigeon advertised a brand new, two-passenger Studebaker coupe-roadster for the now-unbelievable price of $1,550.
This uncredited poem appeared on the front page of the Huron County Tribune on Friday. Dec. 23, 1921, along with an illustration featuring a group of children holding hands as they stand in front of a Christmas tree.
Now, after many patient weeks,
The kiddies have their tree.
They scamper out of bed in haste
And romp down-stairs in glee!
A wonder comes into their eyes,
As hand in hand they gaze,
To try to understand old Kris
Of course, advertisements for toys proliferated the pages of the paper just two days before Christmas. On the front page, the Slack Bros. department store attempted to lure shoppers with a Christmas Eve 10%-off sale. Druggist John C. Ort, whose store sat in the east end of Bad Axe, sold kewpie dolls for just 99 cents and rocking horses at a discount for $2.99.
Flowers and candy were also popular with gift-givers. Gifford's Candy Store raffled off a large candy church, which sat in the window of the confectionery shop. Tickets for a chance at one of the raffle prizes — which included a large candy cane, 10 pounds of mixed candy, five pounds of mixed chocolates and five pounds of ribbon candy — would set you back 25 cents.
Florist E.A. Henny encouraged holiday revelers to remember "friends at distant points" by sending Christmas floral greetings by wire. Thompson's Jewelry and Gift Store promised to fix up shoppers with the perfect gift "for Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Sweetheart or Beaux."
After those gifts were exchanged by sweethearts and beauxs, Huron County residents of 1921 spent the holiday doing what many do today: They went to the movies. The Rex Theatre in Caseville advertised a "Big Christmas Special" consisting of a showing of the 1920 drama "Homespun Folks" featuring silent film stars Lloyd Hughes and Gladys George plus "two reels of comedy." Tickets cost 15 cents for kids and 25 cents for adults.
Advertisements and the front page of The Huron County Tribune's Dec. 23, 1921, edition show a great deal — but not everything — involving the Christmas holiday has changed over the past 100 years.
Advertisements and the front page of The Huron County Tribune's Dec. 23, 1921, edition show a great deal — but not everything — involving the Christmas holiday has changed over the past 100 years.
Advertisements and the front page of The Huron County Tribune's Dec. 23, 1921, edition show a great deal — but not everything — involving the Christmas holiday has changed over the past 100 years.
Advertisements and the front page of The Huron County Tribune's Dec. 23, 1921, edition show a great deal — but not everything — involving the Christmas holiday has changed over the past 100 years.
The Star Theatre in Kinde offered a Christmas Eve matinee of the romantic drama "Once to Every Woman" starring Dorothy Phillips and William Ellingford. Perhaps the best option could be found at the Owendale Theatre, which showed a double feature on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of silent film legend Buster Keaton's comedy "The Saphead" and the short film melodrama "The Ne'er to Return Road" with Wallace Beery.
In non-holiday related news, the Tribune carried an item from the Port Austin News about the new county nurse, Miss McKinney. The brief article mentioned how McKinney had "been captured by the Germans" while serving overseas during the Great War. McKinney had appeared at a Port Austin school meeting — where she was declared "the sweetest ever" — to advocate for a hot lunch program, which she explained was necessary to health, and told of arranging a Christmas feast for wounded soldiers in France.
A poem credited to the Rev. Robert Brown, simply titled "Christmas," is tucked away among the various news items toward the bottom of the front page. It reads:
"It is Christmas once more, and the heart of the world is tender,
for Christmas Day is a day of memories. It is a day of childhood.
A babe lies at the heart of it, symbol of that undying youth
that clings to the heart of age as the sunset clings to the hilltops.
Christmas! And the children come home again from work and
school and skies until silent rooms are vocal with old joys.
Christmas! And young eyes are shining and the morning
comes back into the face of grandfather.
Christmas! And the lights are in the windows and good cheer is everywhere.
Merry Christmas! That drives the troubled look out of the face of the world.
Blessed Christmas! That brings neighbors and friends and loved ones
into closer intimacies and helps us to feel Heaven's ageless gift of love."
Mark Birdsall has been a reporter at the Huron Daily Tribune since July 2019.
Prior to arriving at the Tribune, Mark was night desk editor for the Cadillac News, where he also helped out the sports department on busy high school football and basketball nights. He previously worked at the Holland Sentinel and the Greenville Daily News.
He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in print journalism from Grand Valley State University, where he was editor of the student newspaper, The Lanthorn.
A native of Bay City, Mark is an avid fan of the Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Tigers, Michigan State Spartans and the Chicago Cubs. He's also a movie buff and enjoys fishing in his spare time.