Virginia Theatre Wedding

Massanutten Regional Library patrons pose a variety of research related questions to the reference department librarians. Some of those questions are easier to answer than others. Earlier this year a former Harrisonburg resident asked the reference department to help her locate information about the marriage of her parents which took place on the stage at the Virginia Theatre. The patron provided her parents’ names, the location and year of the wedding, and the name of the business which sponsored the wedding contest. In the age of the Internet this sounds like a lot of information to use in a search, but when one is searching through old newspapers on microfilm searching an entire years worth of newspapers is quite daunting.

At this point we enlisted the help of our wonderful reference volunteers. Two volunteers took up the task of looking through the 1929 Daily News-Record newspapers on microfilm. The first volunteer began searching the January 1929 newspaper in case the contest had been held in conjunction with New Year’s or Valentine’s Day. Two hours later having perused two months of newspapers this volunteer was ready to give up the search. Having a year, but no month, for the wedding ceremony the second volunteer decided to start the search in May as he figured that month begins the most popular season for weddings. Four hours later after having searched three months worth of newspapers this volunteer was looking for a new angle for the search.

So, his next stop was the courthouse. There our volunteer was able to look at the marriage record for the couple in question. The record revealed an important detail that our patron had incorrectly communicated to us. Her parents’ marriage took place in 1930 rather than 1929. Now with a corrected year and an exact month we began our search again. This time the microfilm of the Daily News-Record newspapers proved to be extremely helpful.

The Virginia Theatre formerly located on Main Street in downtown Harrisonburg was a Warner Bros. theater. In 1930 Warner Bros. was celebrating its 25th anniversary of participation in the motion picture industry. Celebratory events were taking place in various Warner Bros. Theatres across the country. Here in Harrisonburg those events included special movie showings and a wedding contest. [1] The July 21, 1930, Daily News-Record included an entry blank for the contest, which asked interested parties to submit the names of the bride and groom along with the groom’s address and telephone number in order to obtain further details about the contest. [2]
 

Looking north along Main Street in the 1920's. Image from Harrisonburg volume of the Images of America Series by Scott Hamilton Suter and Cheryl Lyon.

An advertisement in the Daily News-Record on July 29, 1930 listed the numerous gifts that would be given to the bride and groom by various local businesses.

Franklin Furniture Co. – Table Lamp

Friddle’s – Wedding Supper

Kavanaugh Garage – Transportation

McCrory’s – Dishes

Merit Shoe Co. – Shoes

Murphy’s – Helen Rubenstsin Cosmetics

Jos. Ney & Sons Co. – Suit for Groom

J.E. Plcker & Co. – Corsage

Ralph’s – Wedding Gown

Schewels – Lane Cedar Chest

Taliaferro’s – Wedding Ring

Ye Valley Beauty Shoppe – Beauty Treatment

Friddle’s Bakery – Wedding Anniversary Cake [3]

On August 5, 1930 an advertisement appeared in the Daily News-Record inviting readers to attend a wedding to be held on the stage of the VirginiaTheatre at nine o’clock the following evening. The advertisement promised that the wedding service would be “conducted in a most impressive manner.” [4]

The Virginia Theatre was packed on the evening of August 6, 1930. First the crowd saw a showing of the movie “Son of the Gods” starring Richard Barthelmess and Constance Bennett. After the movie the theatre goers witnessed the wedding of Miss Elsie Charleton and Mr. Albert Hockman who were united in matrimony on the stage of the Virginia Theatre as part of the Warner Bros. silver anniversary celebration.

After the movie ended the stage curtains were pulled back to reveal a stage decorated with ferns and cut flowers. As the wedding march played the bride and groom entered the theatre, the bride marched down the left center aisle and the groom used the right center aisle. The bridal couple was accompanied by their witnesses Mrs. Charles Charleton, maid in waiting, and Charles Charleton, best man. The Reverend B. J. Earp officiated and Miss Virginia Harlin, organist, provided the music. [5]

Entrance of the Virginia Theatre and the Arcade, 1926-1927. Image from the Harrisonburg volume of the Image of America Series, by Scott Hamilton Suter and Cheryl Lyon.

The Reference department truly enjoys assisting patrons with their research. And though this search had a successful ending, unfortunately we can not always find the information for which a patron is searching. Had our diligent reference volunteer not gone the extra mile in conducting research at the courthouse we most likely would not have found any answers. For more information and fees for having the Reference Department conduct this kind of research please consult our Website at http://www.mrlib.org/MRL-Services/Information-Searches.aspx or call the Reference desk at 540-434-4475 x 122.

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[1] “Warner Bros. Silver Anniversary Will Open Here Thursday Night.” Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA] 29 July 1930: 1.

[2] Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA] 21 July 1930: 3.

[3] Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg,VA] 29 July 1930: 2.

[4] Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA] 5 August 1930:2.

[5] “Couple Married on Theatre Stage.” Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA] 7 August 1930: 6.

Dog Days of Summer

On the morning of the first rising when the sea boiled, the Wine turns sour, Dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid; causing to man among other diseases, burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies*

In the northern hemisphere, depending on the latitude, the “dog days” are between early July and early September and are characterized by stagnation and inactivity. From ancient times people looked at the sky, connected the dots between the stars, and imagined pictures. Constellations (star pictures) in the European culture included bears, a bull, and dogs. The dogs were called Canis Major and Canis Minor. The brightest star in the big dog is Sirius, which rises at sunrise (helical rising). It was the ancient way of calculating the dates of Canicular Days to which many civilizations attach significance.

Ancient Egyptians named the Sirius star that appeared before the flooding of the Nile after their god Osirus. Greeks and Romans both used the term “dog days.” The Romans sacrificed a brown dog to appease the rage of Sirius. Virgil’s Aeneid associated Sirus with infesting the sky with pestilent heat. The Christian feast day of St. Roch, the patron saint of dogs, is August 16. The 1552 Anglican Book of Common Prayer called the period between July 6 and August 17 the “Dog Daies” and the lectionary of the 1611 King James Bible had the days in its calendar of readings. The readings were dropped in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, but by then the references to the “dogs days” made it to the new world. The Old Farmers’ Almanac dated the dog days between July 3 and August 11, which are the days of year with lowest level of rainfall and coincide with the rising of Sirius.

“Dog Days” have found a place in literature and other media. These references include: John Webster’s 1623 play the Duchess of Malfi; John Brady’s 1813/15 Clavis Calendaria; Richard Harding Davis’ 1903 The Bar Sinister, the main character of which is a dog; Charles Dickens in A Christmas Carol referred to Scrooge as having “iced his office in dog days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas;” and Jeff Kinney’s 2009 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days. This time of year has been a theme of several movies including the Sidney Lumet’s award winning Dog Day Afternoon, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale, was based on P.F. Kluge article “ The Boys in the Bank” about a Brooklyn bank robbery in August 1972.

Natalie Babbitt, the author of the children’s book Tuck Everlasting, described the first weeks of August as “strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they as sure to be sorry for after.” A local librarian knows this to be true when years ago a grandfather forbid swimming or fishing in ponds or lakes in August because of infections found in the water. It was hot, so she and friends went to the river anyway. Grandfather found out and all of the disobeying crew received a whipping.

• J. Brady. Clavis Calendaria. Vol. 89. Nichols, Son, and Bentley. 1813.
• Natalie Babbitt. Tuck Everlasting. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. 2nd 2000.

Sources:

http://wilstar.com

www.Wikipedia.org.

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu

Virgil’s Aeneid, Part18 ,astyanges weblog

Riven Rock Park – From a Public Works Project to a Recreation Area

In the Dry River watershed between Route 33 and under the Riven Rock Mountain in the George Washington National Forest about 14 miles from the City is the 27.5 acre Riven Rock Park.  At the turn of the 20th century the City purchased three thousand acres, including these, between Rawley Springs and Skidmore Fork to protect the watershed that provides tap water to Harrisonburg.  The City also secured the right-away between Rawley Springs and Harrisonburg to lay a gravity carrying ten-inch cast-iron water pipe.

Ownership of the watershed including the park land can be traced back to the late 1700s and included ownership by the New Rawley Springs Company.  In 1883 this entity sold 237 acres of its non-resort land to Mssrs. Silbert, Sprinkel, and Lowenbach.  The City of Harrisonburg purchased in 1897 more than fourteen acres of the 237 acres, the parcel then owned by John Joseph and Charles Sprinkel.   Three years later, the City purchased from A.M. Neuman 80 acres adjacent to the Joseph and Sprinkel purchase from which 14 acres became part of the Park. 

The Dry River often lived up to its name and endangered a constant water supply to the City.  The City Council sought ways to overcome this problem. In October 1930 it engaged a geologist to advise on the feasibility of constructing an impounding reservoir near Rawley Springs.  The ensuing exploration revealed the existence of large subterranean stream beds below the river’s surface that could be dammed to improve the water supply.  Unable to get federal WPA construction funds, the City turned to local banks to underwrite the project.  The locally-financed project provided needed employment opportunities in the area during the Great Depression.  The dam construction project also required building an office, tool sheds, a blacksmith shop, and cement making sheds at the site. 

At this cleared site, the Civilian Conservation Corps program set-up a camp in 1942.  During the two years it operated the Corps offered camping and military discipline to young boys between the ages of 7 and 14.  Among the 100 or so who participated in this experience several would become local and national leaders.  Some sources suggest the swinging bridge was one of the Corps projects.  After the Corps left, the site fell into disrepair.

In 1947, the City Council donated $1,000 to turn the site into a City park.  The Daily News Record, August 22, 1978, described the making of the park

Dick Keane [a recent veteran]…spent the summer clearing out brush, building picnic tables and outhouses, and supervising a crew of students….His crew built 18

oak picnic tables, moved an enormous old stove from the Masonic Temple downtown to the pavilion and added a gate to the swinging bridge…They gave me an old police car….we used it to haul rocks out of the river for fireplaces and chimneys ….He estimated the summer’s expense, including labor, at about $800.

Fifteen years later, in 1962, vandalism closed the Park.

For a third time, in 1978, the Young Adult Conservation Corps, a Federal program, assisted in the restoration of the Park.  The park reopened on August 1, 1978 with the cabin refurbished as an information, nature and arts and crafts center, but authorities closed the swinging bridge for safety reasons and to prevent public to the dam site.  The cleanup revealed what was believed to be the tallest sassafras tree in the state.

To maintain the Dry River watershed, the City awards small contracts to private logging operators.  In 1992, residents living near the Park protested the removal of about 300 trees.  The City defended the tree cutting as a way to keep the Park safe, to maintain the forest, and to protect the water supply.  The project provided lumber for other City Park projects and as well as earned some revenue for the City.  The City’s Public Works Department continues to permit limited harvesting of timber in the 1450 acres in the Rawley Springs to Skidmore Fork watershed.  The funds earned are used to maintain the property and currently to study the feasibility of adding recreation uses.

Today Riven Rock Park is opened from May 15 to October 31. There are four shelter sites, walking trails, and space for volleyball and a horseshoe pit.  The Park serves as a teaching laboratory for students to learn about soils, wildlife, aquatics, and forestry.  Vandalism and annoyances to nearby residents that plagued the Park in the past have been minimized by adding police patrols and by renting the cabin to city police officers. 

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Sources

Deed Books: 22:311; 57:181ff; 63:471

Daily News Record: 10/8/30; 8/22/78; 5/19/83; 3/5/92; 11/7/92; 8/15/94; 8/22/94; 5/24/02;

Interviews: David S. Wigginton, Asst. Director, Harrisonburg Parks & Recreation

                     Ande Banks, Director of Special Projects, City of Harrisonburg.

Independence Day

Dressed in layers of ruffled-neck shirts, vests, and cut-away coats and legs in silk stockings, in the heat of the summer of 1776, fifty-six men representing thirteen American colonies sat in Philadelphia behind closed doors debating the nature of their relationship with Great Britain. On the day British soldiers landed on Staten Island, July 2, this assembly of men voted to “dissolve the connection with Great Britain,” and thus committed treason.*

Levying of war against “our lord and king in his realm” was a treasonable offense in 1776. Conviction required two witnesses. Among the penalty options, if convicted, included quartering, cutting off of the head, and hanging. Until this step the American patriots only disagreed with Parliament, not with King George III. Thus, Benjamin Franklin who supposedly quipped “We must all hang together, or most assuredly we hang separately,” the act was not without serious consequences.

On the other hand, John Adams writing to his wife, Abigail, said that the July 2^nd declaration “will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival….It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this times forward forever more.”

On a pleasant, cool day, July 4th, without much fanfare the Continental Congress again meeting behind closed doors voted on the wording of “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America." This document, mainly written by Thomas Jefferson, set forth the reasons that impelled the colonies to separate. The case for this action was that the equality of men gave them certain unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Twenty-seven abuses of these rights by Great Britain were enumerated. Among the abuses specified were the “quartering of large bodies of armed troops” and “imposing taxes without consent.” John Hancock signed the document.

The first authorized printing of the Declaration of Independence appeared in Philadelphia on July 6. As the document reached the colonies there was ringing of bells and bonfires and other celebrations. While the Congress was now charting the course for a new country and its war with Great Britain, the delegates signed the document on August 6.

The 1776 celebrations of independence, which was not unlike the previous celebrations for the King’s birthday, now included the mock funeral for King George III. In 1781, Massachusetts became the first state to make July 4 an official holiday. After the second defeat of Great Britain in the War of 1812, patriotic celebrations on July 4th spread across the country. Thereafter, ground breaking events such as the opening of the Erie Canal and of the B&O Railroad were planned to coincide with this celebration. Not surprising, African-Americans did not/could not participate in the celebrations even though many of their leaders encouraged supporting the ideals of the Declaration. In 1870, Congress made the date a federal holiday. John Adams’ prediction of the celebratory activities came true. The most common symbol of the holiday is the American flag and the anthem it inspired.

In Harrisonburg, July 4, 2011, a ten-year tradition of celebration will include a parade, food booths, family-fun activities, and, of course, fireworks. The celebration begins at noon in front of the Court House with the reading of the Declaration of Independence and ends with nighttime fireworks.

*The New York Delegation abstained on this vote.  Several delegates who opposed separation absented themselves during the voting so their colony would vote in favor of the action.

Sources:

David McCullough.     John Adams.  Simon and Schuster.  2001.

                                   1776.  Simon and Schuster.  2005.

http://www.history.com/

http://www.umich.edu/

http://www.memory.loc.gov/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.downtownharrisonburg.org/

Summer Solstice

Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. The word solstice derives from the Latin “sol” for sun and “stice” which means to stop. Summer Solstice occurs at the mid-point of summer, or mid-summer (May 1^st – Aug. 1^st).

A major celestial event, summer solstice has been celebrated for millenniums. Stonehenge was built around 3100 BC and reflects the summer solstice from its center. The Druids termed the day, “the wedding of heaven and earth,” which is the reason weddings are still so popular in June. A June wedding is supposed to be a lucky wedding. The ancient Chinese used the day to celebrate the earth, femininity, yin, and the Chinese Goddess of Light, “Li.” Native Americans celebrate the connection of the heavens and the earth with dance and fasting.

After the spread of Christianity, in Sweden the day became known as St. John’s Day, June 24th, to honor St. John the Baptist instead of the pagan gods.

Needless to say, the day should be celebrated with flowers, especially white elder blossoms and any yellow flowers, plus feasting, bon fires, dancing, sun rise gatherings, the drinking of mead and other forms of merriment.

Don’t forget to leave an offering for the faeries!

Father's Day

On December 6, 1907, the town of Monongah, West Virginia, was devastated by a mine explosion that killed 362 men and boys[1] thus leaving behind 250 widows and more than 1,000 grieving children. This event prompted Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton to implore her pastor to dedicate a Sunday church service to honor and remember all fathers. On July 5, 1908, the Reverend Robert Thomas Webb of Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in Fairmont, West Virginia held the first Father’s Day observance in the United States. Mrs. Clayton and the people of Fairmont are not credited with the founding of Father’s Day as they never followed through with a proclamation establishing the annual observance of the day.[2]

While listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909 Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, conceived the idea of a similar celebration to honor fathers. She specifically wanted to honor her own father, William Smart, a widowed Civil War veteran who raised six children on his own. The Spokane Ministerial Association and the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) supported Dodd and her efforts to establish a day to celebrate fathers. On June 19, 1910 Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane, Washington.

Throughout the years various United States Presidents offered their support for a Father’s day celebration. In 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day. A permanent national observance of Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June was established by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

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[1] United States Department of Labor. Mining Disasters – an Exhibition. http://www.msha.gov/DISASTER/MONONGAH/MONON1.asp

[2] Meighen, D. D., Reverend. Father’s Day. http://www.firstfathersday.us/index_02.htm

Enthusiasm for Early Automobiles in the Valley

About noon on Monday, June 13, the rally teams of the The Great Race of 2011 will circle Court Square, park at the Turner Pavilion, and luncheon at The Smokin’ Pig. Car enthusiasts and the curious will watch about 100 vintage autos. Harrisonburg is the second leg of the 1,000 mile, seven day (June 11 -17) race between Chattanooga, TN and Bennington, VT. The Great Race is a controlled speed and endurance race that is “a test of a driver/navigator team’s ability to follow precise instructions and the car’s (and team’s) ability to endure a cross-country trip...GPSs, computers, and cell phones are not permitted and odometers are taped over." Many entrants make great sacrifices of time and money to participate. In addition to caring for a vintage car, individual participants pay an entry fee of $3000; corporations pay $3,500. In 2011, cars built in 1969 or earlier are eligible to participate.

The race is a revival of one organized in 1983 for pre-WWII cars. That race motored from LA to Indianapolis, IN and arrived for Indy Week. This year is not the first time participants stopped in Harrisonburg on the rally route. In 2005, a festive atmosphere around Court Square included country singers who welcomed drivers for the first overnight stay in the two week race between Washington, DC and Tacoma, WA. The local Valley Cruisers and the Antique Automobile Club of America were among the many who welcomed the racers. The rally prize committee awarded the Friendly City the second best overnight stop, missing out on the $10,000 awarded the first best stop. The race organizers awarded a total of $270,000 in prizes.

About 120 years ago, between the Gilded Age and WWI, Americans rapidly embraced the automobile for convenience and for racing. In 1895, on Thanksgiving Day, Frank Duryea covered 54 miles in 10 hours, 23 minutes and won the first automobile race. Horatio Jackson made the first cross country auto trip in 1903, without seeing a gas station, which did not open until 1907 in St. Louis. The first coast-to-coast road, the Lincoln Highway, was not completed until 1927

Enthusiasm in the Valley for the automobile was evident from the early days of the industry. J.L. Baugher, a local grocer, brought the first car to Harrisonburg in 1902. Ten years later historian John W. Wayland in his 1912 Historic Harrisonburg reported 40 automobiles in the Valley. An old-auto lovers from the Harrisonburg area organized in 1966.

Evans and Cline in Weyers Cave advertised “exclusive agency” in the surrounding counties for the Metz Runabout. The 1911 Metz was priced at $485, got 20 to 30 miles per gallon, and had a speed of 2 to 40 miles per hour. The car was made in Waltham, MA and like many other automobile manufacturers had branched into automobiles from bicycle manufacturing. Some automobile firms then expanded into manufacturing motorcycles and aviation. Today, depending on the condition and quality of restoration, the antique 1911 Metz Runabout would cost between $5,000 and $35,000

J. J. Hawes of Harrisonburg offered the Rambler, a brand name used by the Thomas B. Jeffrey Company of

Chicago. Local advertising focused on engineering details, such as an offset crank shaft. The Rambler price was not advertised, but other sources quoted the Rambler price as about twice that of the Metz. The mileage was comparable. Long-ago these cars passed into the antique category, though the Rambler name was carried on by successor companies into the later 1960s. The dealerships, Evans and Cline and the J.J. Hawes, have also passed from the local business scene. Another noteworthy dealership was the Rockingham Motor Company. This dealership opened in 1923 and was one of the first Ford dealerships in Virginia. Its former showroom at Liberty and West Market Streets won the 2004 award for restoration and repurposing of the Art Deco building. The firm had moved from this site in 1964.

The oldest car participating in the 2011 Great Race is the 100 year old 1911 Velie manufactured in Moline, IL. One 1911 ad bragged that it was “the raciest, snappiest, get there runabout on the road.” The car was advertised in the John Deere catalogue. The $2,000 car reached a top speed of 65 miles per hour. The Velie race-type roadster participated in the first 500 Brickyard race, finishing out of the money in 17th (out of 40) place. At the time the Velie Company, which also made touring cars, was considered leader in quality and low price automobiles. For additional information and the latest 2011 race event details contact Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance.

Sources:

John W. Wayland. Historic Harrisonburg 1912.
The Daily News. April 1 and May 23, 1911.
Daily News-Record. June 24, 2005; June 27, 2005; August 12, 2005; February 25, 2005; January 29, 1996
www.GreatRace.com
www.vintagecarrally.com
www.courtdaysfestival.org
www.bleedinggreen.com