Al and Ann: In Their Time and Space In the 20th Century

By Roger J. Rawe

It isn’t unusual to see our parents as heroes or to view decisions and events from a different time with detachment from our human condition. My parents certainly told us stories of their lives growing up and we’ve acquired plenty of knowledge of local, national and world history to understand facts and significance.

But writing this book allowed me to appreciate that everything my parents did as children, teenagers, young adults and parents was as real as when I did them years later. And writing this book gave context to time, complexity and thought of the issues, actions and happenings around them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Oct 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483438979

Book preview

AL AND ANN

In Their Time and Space in the 20th Century

Roger J. Rawe

They lived with faith; they made life about family and they embraced their community. And they passed it on to us with their example.

Copyright © 2015 Roger J. Rawe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3898-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3899-3 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-3897-9 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 10/21/2015

CONTENTS

Introduction

1.   Setting The Stage

2.   First Impressions And Foundations

3.   Connections

4.   The Flood

5.   After High School

6.   The Service Years

7.   Early Married Years

8.   The Family

9.   Community

Epilogue

About The Author

Endnotes

INTRODUCTION

We have all looked at old photographs and allowed the memories to return. In many cases the memories are the ones we chose; the selected ones. Thoughts of the good or challenging times past; of loved ones or acquaintances whom were in our lives; of special events or special conditions; or of our perception of roots and our anchors to the present. Count me among those who use photos or other aids to take us where we want to go down memory lane. However, to look at a photo, to study the detail, to recall the particulars may give us a different perspective yet a stronger connection to the past, to others and to ourselves.

Take a look at one of your photos as I look at mine. I had forgotten that the tree was that small. And the dents in the front storm door attest to all the fun we had playing strikeout against the front porch steps, yet the frustrations it must have caused our parents as they strove to maintain the appearance of their home. And that dress on my youngest sister? Hadn’t I seen that on another sister a few photos back? The balance between sharing resources and having something new and our own must have been handled well, for I have clear memories of both. And seeing the neighbor’s Edsel in the background reminds us that apparently not all good ideas work out. And the frown on one brother probably indicates he had just been corrected for some minor act of mischief while my smile may have been forced, for it was about that time I was cut from the high school baseball team. And dad is in none of the pictures yet there for all of them; for he was always the photographer.

Photos are snapshots of a particular time and place. The more photos you look at the better chance you have of understanding the reality of it. But even then the interpretation is from a certain perspective and some distance of time. Stories are our verbal photos and the following book is a collection of stories of two individuals as they recount the pictures of their lives. The individuals are my mom and dad, the setting is generally Newport, Kentucky and the time covers most of the twentieth century. Although the particulars may be uniquely theirs, it is precisely in recalling that detail that connects these stories and has the potential to transcend their time and place. Beyond learning a few more facts I am not sure this exercise will let me know my parents any better. Yet in preparing to write this book I have already learned a lot more about human nature and about myself.

CHAPTER I

SETTING THE STAGE

The size and age of the Cosmos are beyond ordinary human understanding. Lost somewhere between immensity and eternity is our tiny planetary home. In a cosmic perspective, most human concerns seem insignificant, even petty. And yet our species is young and curious and brave and shows much promise. In the last few millennia we have made the most astonishing and unexpected discoveries about the Cosmos and our place within it, explorations that are exhilarating to consider. They remind us that humans have evolved to wonder, that understanding is a joy, that knowledge is prerequisite to survival. I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky.

Carl Sagan, Astronomer and Science Writer 1934 – 1996

Time is starting to run out for the internal combustion engine.

No one is saying the pistons and crankshafts that have powered automobiles and the auto industry for more than a century will disappear right away. But auto makers from Tokyo to Stuttgart to Detroit have reached a surprising consensus on an idea deemed heretical not long ago: A fundamental shift in engine technology is needed.

These are the opening words in an article titled Shifting Gears published in the January 5, 1998 edition of the Wall Street Journal. The article goes on to report that the industry is being pressed hard to increase fuel economy and lower emissions. What will replace the internal combustion engine is not clear, but auto makers all over the globe are making strategic decisions and forging alliances that will allow them to develop alternative technologies. Some predict a slow phase out over the next twenty to thirty years. The change would eventually make obsolete the world’s 600 million cars and trucks, change every service station on six continents and require huge investments in new tooling. Changes in supporting industries would surely parallel those of the auto industry.

Looking forward we can appreciate the slow but persistent path toward new technologies. Competing ideas stretch our imagination. Failures and roadblocks force assessments of assumptions. Successes in technology may not immediately translate into commercial acceptance but may lay a platform for the next level of activities. Cost will probably be a limiting factor in the first generation of any new technology and simply getting new products into the hands of all consumers will take time. At what point we will be able to say the change has been made will be hard to define, but twenty to thirty years to completely obsolete a technology that has driven us for several generations is a relatively short period of time.

Looking backwards it is hard for some of us to develop that same appreciation for time and change. We often study history by specific dates and attempt to associate one set of conditions to everyone over a given time period. Yet the question what was the world like when you were a kid, may entice different answers depending on whether you lived in the east or in the west; in the country or in the city; or even uptown vs. downtown. General or specific dates can be attributed to the inventions of a particular technology but the incorporation of that technology into society is affected by a multitude of physical, cultural and economic concerns. The utilization of indoor plumbing could only move forward as fast as the construction of the necessary infrastructure. Not learning how to drive an automobile was a choice many middle aged citizens chose to make as driving became generally acceptable. And financing change rested both on individuals’ ability and preferences.

The first internal combustion engine was designed by a Dutch scientist named Christiaan Huygens in 1678. It was never built. In the mid to late nineteenth century development activity picked up and Henry Ford built his first car in 1893. With the basic technology for a self propelled road vehicle now accepted early twentieth century efforts concentrated on improving the whole product and the production, marketing and support processes. Believing that size could wield the same kind of influence on the auto business that U.S. Steel had on the steel industry, William Crapo Durant merged Buick, Oldsmobile and Oakland car companies into General Motors in 1908. Charles Kettering invented the electric starter in 1912, a benchmark development that helped moved the automobile to becoming an acceptable mode of transportation. And in 1913 Henry Ford established a moving assembly line in his automobile manufacturing plant at Highland Park, Michigan, dramatically increasing production efficiency. The development of the assembly line allowed the industry to maintain economical prices and meet the steadily increasing demand for automobiles.

In 1912 approximately 600,000 automobiles were operating in the U.S. In 1915 alone Ford produced over 508,000 units and had plans to double production. Yet despite the activity and growth in the industry the country was still in the early stages of converting to a society literally driven by the automobile. When Ford announced a roll back in prices in August 1916 some speculated that the increased access to more efficient transportation would reverse the recent exodus from the farms to the cities. As part of the cost cutting plans at that time it was also suggested that retail sales outlets be eliminated in favor of garage owners doubling as automobile salespersons. While these projections did not develop as planned or anticipated, other projections were enhanced by the vision and focus given to them. John S. Cravens, chairman of the Highways Transport Committee in 1919 believed that future economic growth of the United States depended on the development of road and highway construction. Speaking to the National Association of Motor Truck Sales Managers he proclaimed good roads mean quicker and cheaper transportation, a saving of labor and the opening of new channels of employment, while being the avenues for wider and better social relations. While such a statement may seem obvious today, the country, its inventors, its entrepreneurs, its policy makers and its people in the 1910’s and 1920’s were simply in the midst of understanding and participating in the major technical issues of their time.

In addition to the automobile, many technological breakthroughs made during the nineteenth century were further developed and nurtured throughout the first half of the twentieth century. It was in 1879 that Thomas Edison publicly exhibited the incandescent electric light bulb and in 1882 developed and installed in New York City the world’s first large central electric power station. Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for an electric speaking telephone in 1876 and produced the first telephone to transmit and receive the human voice in 1877. Guglielmo Marconi initiated the development of the radio with the transmission of a wireless signal for a distance of just over one mile in 1896, established communication between England and France in 1899 and communicated signals across the Atlantic Ocean in 1901. It wasn’t however until the 1920’s that it became clear that electricity would become the dominant method for lighting and that commercial radio signal transmissions began finding their way into American homes. And although local exchanges and long distant lines proliferated in the last decades of the nineteenth century, telephones were still a luxury in only a relatively few homes in the 1920’s.

As with the automobile, growth and acceptance of these various technologies came after recognition of their potentials, gradual and consistent improvements to the products and development of supporting processes, markets and structures. When KDKA in Pittsburgh became the first broadcast station to transmit presidential election returns in 1920, only a few thousand people are believed to have heard the results. Four years later hundreds of stations were broadcasting election returns as millions of people in groups collected around the nearest available receivers. Early reception of broadcast signals was poor and required tuning of two, three and sometimes four stages of amplification. Regulation of the rapidly expanding industry signed into law by president Coolidge in 1923 helped improve reception by assuring that there would be no interference between stations. Aggressive competition among manufactures drove improvements in technology and by 1930 most radio sets required only a single tuning dial. With the market for radio sets in the home becoming saturated by the early 1930’s, development and sales efforts were turned to installing radios in automobiles.

*****

Al, born in 1916 and Ann, born in 1923 have lived their whole lives in Northern Kentucky with all but a couple of years in the present day city limits of Newport. I would imagine that the Northern Kentucky / Greater Cincinnati, Ohio area was much like other mid-western urban areas in the early twentieth century. River cities like Pittsburgh, Louisville and Saint Louis; national trail communities such as Columbus, Dayton and Indianapolis; and The Great Lakes ports of Cleveland, Toledo, Detroit and Chicago all shared a common experience of their time and place. These cities and others like them grew out of the nation’s birth and push westward. They were now into their second century of existence, growing in size, solidly ground in the industrial development of the previous century and maturing as they incorporated the latest technology of the day.

The Ohio River forms the northern border of Kentucky. Although it generally flows southwest from Pittsburgh to the Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois; through eastern Kentucky and eastern Ohio it flows northwest. Near Moscow, Ohio the river turns sharply north and then starts approximately a seventy-five mile twisting journey that forms a rough semi-circle around the tip of northern Kentucky. At the northeastern part of the loop lies Cincinnati on the Ohio side and Newport and Covington on the Kentucky side of the river. Rolling hills line both sides of the river for most of its journey through the eastern parts of the two states. Near the northern turn however enough flat land on either side probably made this area an ideal spot for the early settlers to establish communities.

Looking south across the river from the Cincinnati shoreline one would see the mouth of the Licking River emptying into the Ohio. To the right, or west of the Licking is the city of Covington. To the left or east is the city of Newport. Newport in the early nineteen hundreds was built right up to the Ohio River bank. About a mile wide between the Licking River and the eastern border, the city stretches south for approximately one mile on relatively flat land. The streets were laid out in block fashion so the city was easy to understand and simple to navigate. Two rather steep hills rise quickly on the southern edge of the city. The community of Clifton was built on the western most of the two. Cote Brilliant was on the east. Both of these communities eventually became part of the city of Newport. Beyond them the rolling hills stretched into the suburbs of Ft. Thomas, Southgate and beyond.

In the early 1900’s Newport was a self contained city. Although connected well to the other communities in the area, it had a complete mix of housing, manufacturing and commercial establishments within its own boundaries. Many of the residents worked within the city and much of the city’s labor force was made up of city residents. Generally the houses were built close to the street. They were also built close to each other with a narrow passage way or very small yards between them. The population of Newport hovered around 30,000 during the first three decades of the twentieth century. While very dense the city was an attractive place to live due to its convenience and to its central location in the region.

Bellevue and Dayton were similar to Newport in their layout, density and character. These two communities east of Newport also existed on the relatively flat strip of land between the Ohio River and the rolling hills. Newport and Bellevue were separated by an area known as the mill bottoms. Varying between approximately a quarter and half mile wide from the southern hills to the river this low lying land served somewhat as a flood plain for the creek running between the two cities. The shallow water that backed up into this area easily froze during the winter and served as a source of commercial ice for the community. Over the years recreational facilities were developed by each city on both sides of the creek; some of the land was eventually developed for commercial use and for a new high school; and an expressway was constructed as transportation needs unfolded over the years. Today the cities blend together as simply right or left turns as one exits the expressway, but in the early 1900’s this open expanse of land served as the outer reaches of each distinctive community.

Dayton, Kentucky stretches out along the river east of Bellevue and tapers off as the river bends and the rolling hills on the southern edge of these three communities flow into the river. The geography west of the Licking River is similar creating parallel communities of Covington and Ludlow. Newport and Covington being directly across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati, developed as connecting points to Ohio. Yet all these communities were independent and served as a basis as northern Kentucky developed into a larger metropolitan community throughout the century.

A toll road, privately owned by the Newport and Alexandria Turnpike Company was the major route out of the city to the south. Eventually called Alexandria Pike the road was one of several arteries constructed throughout the last half of the nineteenth century that led into the southern highlands that buffeted the river cities. Jamestown Pike, now known as North Fort Thomas Ave. connected Dayton to Alexandria Pike by winding south along the hills high above the river. Grand Avenue and Water Works Road led out of Newport like spokes connecting to Jamestown Pike. And River Road was constructed off of Jamestown Pike to connect to ferry traffic on the Ohio well south of the Newport. This transportation network developed over time opened up the area for both current and future growth.

In 1895 the army relocated the Newport Military Barracks from its location at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers to the highlands. To provide better transportation to the new fort, street car tracks were laid from Newport to the new facility. The street car line coming out of Tenth Street in Newport, ran along what is now Memorial Parkway and South Fort Thomas Avenue to the fort located at the top of River Road. The fort also spurred development of a small business district in the area called the Midway. The growth of the area and the talk of annexation by Newport led to the incorporation of a new city in 1914. To capitalize on the military fort and its national reputation the city adopted Fort Thomas as its name. To keep connections to its past, the high school was named Highlands.

The electric streetcar played a major role in satisfying transportation needs as the area grew and developed during the first four decades of the century. Compared to today’s standards, streetcars were primitive, uncomfortable and inconvenient. In the early 1900’s they were the means to expanding an individual’s environment. Streetcars ran on tracks and were connected to overhead wires for their power source. They were enclosed. However wind often whipped through open doorways and straw was piled on the floors as a comfort to keep the riders’ feet warm during the winters. Many cars were staffed with a motorman in front and a conductor in the rear. A pull string and bell system was used to communicate loading and unloading information between the two.

Although parts of some routes were constructed on segregated right-of-ways, most streetcar tracks ran down the middle of streets. Passengers would get on and off the rear of the streetcar in the middle of the street. As automobile traffic increased this became a growing safety hazard.

By the late 1910’s the previously developed network of roads, the extension of streetcar lines throughout the area and the slow but sure integration of the automobile into society began to change the nature of the Northern Kentucky communities. People were beginning to wonder further and further away from their homes for work, shopping and social activities. With a solid network of bridges connecting Newport, Covington and Cincinnati; northern Kentucky and southern Ohio were sharing more and more economic activity. A coordinated effort undertaken by both the private and public sectors to construct a transportation terminal in downtown Cincinnati helped foster and manage this growth.

The Dixie Terminal opened in October 1921 as an answer to streetcar congestion in Cincinnati, as a sheltered focal point for northern Kentucky commuters and as a landmark that became an experience to everyone who passed through there. The terminal building had two large semi-circle stations. The second floor station generally handled commuters from Covington and the other Kenton County communities with direct access to the Suspension Bridge. The lower station serviced traffic from Newport and the other Campbell County streetcar lines with its vehicle entrance and exit away from the busy business district streets. The terminal was capable of handling 165 streetcars and 12,000 passengers an hour.

In addition to the terminals the huge building housed over 100 companies in its 11 floors of offices and shops. Disembarking passengers exiting the streetcar stations wonder through a series of ramps and stairs and into a beautiful arcade lined with shops and elaborately decorated archways. Commuters would only then exit the building onto fourth street, be surrounded by its tall buildings and be amongst the hustle and bustle of activity in this growing metropolis. Commuters returning to Kentucky felt equally strong emotions as they strolled back through the building, unwound from their activities and headed for the comforts of their homes. Dixie terminal was truly a gateway between communities and its existence was a significant part in the evolution of northern Kentucky.

A streetcar traveling from the terminal to Newport would head east on Cincinnati’s third street for a couple of blocks and then across the Central Bridge. The southern end of the bridge ended in Newport on a diagonal to the intersection of Third and York Streets. Besides being a central Newport location it was also a focal point for heading toward different parts of the county. Turning east onto Third Street one could head toward Bellevue and Dayton. Turning south onto York Street would lead one to Clifton, Southgate and out Alexandria Pike toward Fort Thomas. Either way would lead to the heart of Newport. As a streetcar approached the end of the bridge it would be brought to a stop so that the motorman could reach out with a long iron bar and switch the track to the direction they desired.

As automobile and streetcar traffic increased at this busy intersection safety became more and more of an issue. Eventually a segregated right of way was constructed on Third Street between York and Monmouth Streets. The streetcar tracks were located in the middle of the street with concrete pedestrian islands built on both sides of the tracks for passengers embarking or disembarking the streetcars. Although fairly narrow islands they provided the necessary cushion at that time between pedestrians and the evolving automobile traffic.

Also in 1921 the county purchased Alexandria Pike for $90,000 and closed the toll booths. The free road was an additional boost to development in Southgate and southern Fort Thomas. It was also beneficial to farmers in the southern part of the county who were looking for better access to markets in Newport, Covington and Cincinnati. The local northern Kentucky area was also aided in its growth by the development of regional and national transportation networks. Aggressive lobbying helped Covington to convince planners of a federal road from Chicago to Miami to run it through northern Kentucky. The road known as the Dixie Highway and U.S. 25 was opened to traffic through Covington in December 1916. In 1921 the Alexandria Pike was designated as U.S. 27. In 1929 the first section of a road, Kentucky 10, linking the area to Ashland in eastern Kentucky was opened approximately half way to Maysville. To underscore the importance and celebrate the opening of Kentucky 10 the merchants and other civic organizations of both Newport and Maysville dedicated the event with an official caravan between the two cities. While these two lane winding roads were a long way from the quality and conditions we experience on our high speed expressways today, they were part of the progress that made the world a little smaller and helped define future development of northern Kentucky.

Over the years development gradually continued south along Alexandria Pike and included the incorporation of communities of Highland Height and