Monadnock Moment No. 181

Era 8: Great Depression and World War II - 1890 to 1930

Amelia Earhart in Keene

Amelia Earhart was a heroine to American women of the 1930s. She was very attractive, intelligent and most importantly, a huge success in the male dominated field of aviation. During 1928 Miss Earhart was the first female passenger on a transatlantic flight. Four years later, in 1932, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone and immediately became a national celebrity.

In November of 1932, shortly after she completed her historic flight, she came to Keene to tell the story of her adventure. On the evening of November 15, Earhart spoke to a large audience at the Colonial Theatre on Main Street. She was described by a Sentinel reporter as "tall and slender, perfectly at ease, and better looking than many of her pictures."

Earhart spoke for an hour and a half, describing in great detail her flight across the Atlantic. She told the crowd that her flight began at Teterboro, New Jersey. She flew through storms and had instrument problems, but finally landed in a farmer's field near Londonderry, Ireland. From Ireland she made a victory tour of Europe, stopping at London, Paris, Brussels, and Rome.

Earhart predicted that anyone in her audience in Keene who had not flown in an airplane would do so within two years. Her speech here was a great success and did much to help convince the local citizens of the growing importance of aviation. Less than five years after her visit to Keene, she attempted to fly around the world. During this flight, on July 3, 1937, her plane vanished over the ocean and Amelia Earhart was never seen again.