History Packet No. 1

Era 7: Emergence of Modern American - 1890 to 1930

Keene During the 1920s

This history packet is a social history of Keene in the 1920s. It tries to capture aspects of what it was like to live in the Ashuelot River valley in southwestern New Hampshire during the second decade of the twentieth century.

The Ashuelot River flows through a valley west of Mount Monadnock on its way to join the Connecticut River in its race to meet the ocean. During the 1920s the valley was mostly farmland. The flat plains that flooded annually were well suited to growing corn, vegetables, and raising dairy cattle. The river valley was also a good place for manufacturing with its abundant waterpower. The railroad, too, looked favorably on this valley because of its geographical proximity to both Vermont and Massachusetts. By 1920 more than 11,000 people lived and worked in Keene, a city growing along the banks of the Ashuelot River.

If you visited Keene in the 1920s you would have found a city in transition. The men who had gone off to fight in World War I returned with an expanded sense of the world. Men who had flown with the Army Air Corps brought home an interest in aviation. When Charles A. Lindberg, the first to accomplish a solo flight across the Atlantic, circled Keene in his plane on July 27, 1927, people stood in the street and on rooftops to see him. A year later, the Keene Airport opened on September 21 in a large field in West Keene near the Wyman Road. The opening drew 15,000 people who came to see stunt flyers, Navy and Marine aviators, and to take rides in a Ford Tri-Motor plane. Dorothy Putnam, the states first aviatrix, demonstrated her flying skills as well. The early history of aviation in Keene was not all smooth, however. Two months after the opening of the airport a training plane of the newly established Granite State Flying School crashed and killed its student pilot.

The early months of 1920 brought two events to Keene that may have had a broader impact on the city then seemed likely at the time. At the end of January, a second influenza epidemic hit the city. The first, in 1918, had all but shut down the city. While this epidemic was considered "milder," public meetings were cancelled. An emergency hospital was established at the Elks Home on Roxbury Street. The epidemic lasted until the middle of March, with over 200 cases of the disease and 12 deaths reported. What is significant about the epidemic is that the city learned about the value of modern medical care. Regulations pertaining to sanitation, quarantine, and public health were passed. The Keene District or Visiting Nurse Association was formed in March 1920, and received its own automobile the following year. The city appointed a municipal health officer in 1921. That same year the hospital, renamed the Elliot Community Hospital, conducted a huge fund drive for an addition to the building. The concern for good medical care was shown during the influenza outbreak and continued in other ways throughout the decade.

The second significance event was in February when William E. Wright, a "jeweler and optician," attached wires running from the tower of City Hall to his shop on the ground floor of 7 Washington Street. Mr. Wright wanted to receive wireless time signals from Arlington, Virginia. It is logical that a man who made part of his living from clock repair would want accurate time. Yet his actions also served to connect the city to the world outside. Wireless, or radio, transmission would bring the outside world into Keene during this decade. The City Directory for 1920 does not list either radio repair or radio sets for sale. By 1930 there were, however, two radio repair shops and nine radio retail sales outlets operating in Keene.

Radio was not the only modern method of entertainment to reach Keene in the 1920s. Motion pictures were shown at both the Majestic Theatre on Church Street and the Scenic Theater on Main Street. On November 21, 1923, Demetrius P. Latchis opened the Latchis Theater at 39 Main Street. This theater would seat 1,070 patrons for both vaudeville and cinema. Charles C. Baldwin opened his Colonial Theatre on January 29, 1924, and celebrated the event by entertaining 6,000 people free in the new facility. The new theater caught on as a popular meeting place, as the Woman's Club held their Washington's Birthday celebration there in February.

Summers brought other forms of entertainment as well, such as Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey's circus and Chautauqua. The circus came to town by rail. Any enterprising young man who wanted to help set up could earn a free circus pass if he met the train when it pulled into the rail yards in the early hours of the morning. The circus paraded down Main Street to the fields off Lower Main Street where the tents were pitched. Chautauqua was a week long event that was popular with all ages. Junior Chautauqua was held every morning for children. Evening performances might include Shakespeare or light opera. Meetings were held in tents behind the High School on Spring Street.

On an ordinary summer day a family outing might include a trolley ride to Wheelock Park in West Keene for a picnic, or to "the Rec" on Wilson Pond in Spragueville (North Swanzey). The Red Cross held swimming classes for those who wanted to earn a life-saving certificate at the Deep Hole on the Ashuelot River. (The Deep Hole was reached by going down to the end of Linden Street and crossing a cow pasture to the river. Local tradition describes it as located "just above the Wadeacross.") It was not until 1929 that the old reservoir on Beech Hill was turned over to the city to be used as a public swimming pool.

In winter the local citizens who preferred outdoor sports could skate on Mill Pond or the river, where speed skating races were often organized. The more adventuresome could try the toboggan run on Beech Hill. The chute ran from Robin Hood forest over North Lincoln Street and ended in what is now Woodland Cemetery. The toboggan run was cared for by local service groups, which included the Knights of Phythias.

By 1925, the city's interest in indoor sports had resulted in an addition to the high school on Washington Street. The new gymnasium (with balcony seats) was home to the fledgling high school basketball program. Harold Drew organized basketball as a regular team sport in 1925. These early teams under Coach Mulvaney drew crowds of people. A typical program would include the girls' varsity game and than followed by the boys' game. The Sentinel sports page carried stories about both high school sports and local basketball league play.

The twenties were a turning point for the high school as well. After the addition of the gymnasium, the school district appropriated money to purchase the Dinsmoor property off of Spring Street to build the Mechanic Arts building. The Keene High School yearbook, the Salmagundi, also dates from this era. The high school band was formed in 1925 when Karl Beedle and the Rotary Club became involved in its formation.

Over the years Keene has shown great interest in its children. City reports from the 1920s include references to the number of children who visited summer programs at Wheelock Park, the Fourth of July celebrations, and the "Bridge of Joy" at Christmas. Prominent among the service organizations that participated in these activities were Gordon-Bissell Post No. 4, American Legion, and the Woman's Club.

By 1930 the city had ten elementary schools, two junior highs, and a high school (see school appendix). When inclement weather made closing school advisable, the announcement was made through a system of whistles. Three blasts on the company whistles of the Impervious Package, Keene Wooden Ware, C.L. Russell Chair Company, and Sprague and Carleton meant no school to hundreds of Keene children.

Another theme that pervaded the 1920's was the issue of women's rights. Women "achieved full political status" in 1920. During this same year two other events occurred which showed that women were taking their new responsibilities seriously. The Keene Woman's Club was formed to provide women with an outlet for public service. The club sponsored Christmas programs for children, planted shade trees, did hospital work, and sought to improve local motion picture programs. In the city elections of 1920, women won five of the fifteen chairs on the City Council, and Laura E. Mason was named superintendent of cemeteries. Keene also had two women doctors, Drs. Eleanor Tighe and Elizabeth Reed. Dr. Tighe was reputed to be one of the first women in Keene to drive a car.

Transportation was another facet of life that changed in the 1920s. The trolleys of the Keene Electric Railway provided public transport for five cents a ride. The lines ran from Central Square west to Wheelock Park, southeast to Marlborough, and south to Spragueville. The trolley company also owned the Wilson Pond Recreation Area (affectionately known as "the Rec"), where it ran a dance hall and an outdoor theater. Trolleys ran every 40 minutes, except during rush hour when workers rode them to their jobs in numbers. Children who participated in the parks program often rode the trolley to Wheelock Park.

It was during the 1920 that automobiles were also making a greater impact. There were now enough cars in Keene that the first traffic laws had already been passed when the decade opened. By 1926 the Keene Electric Railway had asked for and received permission to operate busses. The trolley company operated the busses until 1929, when it sold to Cheshire Transportation Company.

Like many communities in the region Keene was in a process of change during the 1920s. Nowhere is that more evident than in the photos of Central Square. The Opera House, which had once held stores, offices for City Hall, and a theater, became the City Hall. The wooden awning over the sidewalk was removed, the stores relocated, and public toilet facilities installed. The building east of the First Congregational Church on the square was torn down, and replaced by the Keene National Bank. The early scenes of horse-drawn carriages were now scenes of a mixture of automobiles, horses, and trolleys. Even the lighting on Central Square changed from gas to electric lights. According to the Keene Evening Sentinel for Nov. 12, 1925, the electrifying of Keene's "White Way" was celebrated by approximately 10,000 people who came to see the seven-division parade, hear speeches, and listen to a band concert. Officials from Westinghouse, the installing company, were impressed. According to the Sentinel, they stated that "no other city in the country had a lighting system like Keene's." Certainly the city on the banks of the Ashuelot River had come a long way from a sleepy little town to a progressive community ready to join the world.