Then & Now
by Highlands Historian Stella Bailey
Everyone knows mothers are wonderful and, of course, there would be no fathers. Mom has her special day of appreciation on May 10 and soon Dad will have his on June 21. Our love and respect is given all the time.
Father’s Day was first celebrated in the state of Washington on June 19, 1910. The day became a nationwide holiday in 1972. There are 70 million fathers in the United States!
I can only imagine how this honor of parents must be for someone like Doctor Nyandoro of Zimbabwe who had 15 wives and fathered 128 children. Or – Winston Blackmore, the polygamist leader of a Mormon community in British Columbia who had 27 wives and fathered 145 children!
In past times in America the fathering of many children insured there would be many hands to complete the many jobs required to build a homestead and run a farm. Although it didn’t require as many of the children fathered by the above, there were many instances of five children and up. It is no wonder that the wives, sometimes 12 years and up, had short lifespans.
Father’s Day was scheduled for June 19, 1920 and the local news carried not a single item about it on that day or the whole month of June. The newsprint was taken up by West Point graduation and local graduation.
On the happy side, 100 years ago in Highland Falls Dad could be treated to a special dinner. Mom could go to the local grocery store, such as Antonio Galu’s Meat Market, and purchase a nice chicken for 25 cents a pound or a porterhouse steak for 30 cents a pound. If a special breakfast was in store for dad, bacon was available for 24 cents, and eggs at 35 cents a dozen. Of course you had to have a cake, and that could be purchased at H. Beekman’s Baker at West Schneider Avenue.
Dad may have wanted a new car or truck, but at Nathan Hoffman’s Main Street store you could pick up a dandy, the latest Columbia 10-inch record entitled ‘What Day that Will Be’, for $1.
Dad should have had no complaints!
