Published November 23, 2024
By Beth Lane
The 1915 holiday season did not begin with Black Friday sales during Thanksgiving, although stores had some special offerings. The Leiser Company held its Seventh Annual After Thanksgiving Sale at 417 Hampshire Street. Their ad featured a “Coat Sensation” offered for sale at 9 o’clock in the morning, for two hours only. Sixty-three suits and coats from last season, with values up to $35, were sold for an astounding $2.97 each.
As a comparison, the average household income was about $686 per year and the value of each 1915 dollar today would be about $23.00. A car cost just over two thousand, and an average home price was $3,200. There was no federal minimum wage or home owners’ insurance, but income tax had been in place for two years.
There were also no smart phones, tablets or computer notebooks. The communication device most wished for was a Remington typewriter. That instrument was costly, so the Remington Typewriter Company of Peoria, Illinois advertised in the Quincy Daily Journal that you could rent a typewriter for three months for $7.50. If you decided to purchase, your rental would be applied to the sale. Remington was also experimenting with producing a smaller “junior” model which claimed to be ‘portable.’
Sterns, the self-proclaimed “Quincy’s Greatest Clothing House” and “Home of Hart Schaffner & Marx Good Clothes” explained that the “Right Clothes Will Help You to Win…no man can expect success in life unless he is willing to prepare for it and good clothes, together with neat appearance is half the battle.” $15 would purchase a silk-lined serge suit or a man’s business suit with two pairs of trousers.
Reib’s, “Smart Wear for Women” at 521 Maine Street offered a “Tremendous Purchase and Sale of Coats” from broadcloth to fur-trimmed, and dresses in sizes from 14 to 44.
- T. Duker held a ten-day clearance sale, from November 22 to December 1, 1915. Their ad declared, “With Christmas in sight, with its multitudes of presents to be purchased, this time is always a period of economy with many people. Our November sale presents countless opportunities to economize.”
For the holiday table, Halbach-Schroeder Co., “The Store of Quality” offered a Thanksgiving Linen Sale, to “…give your Thanksgiving dinner a cheerful and appropriate setting.” They offered “one lot of scalloped cloths, round and square, regularly priced at $1.00 for 69 cents.”
Tenk Hardware Company opined that the turkey, “to be good must be properly cooked.” They offered “Sanitary Roasters” ranging in price from 75 cents to $2.50. And to divide the bird, “Tenk’s Clipper Carving Sets make carving a pleasure.” Three-piece sets cost $2.50.
Jonas Meyer & Company, “Reliable Clothiers, the Home of Good Outfitting,” wished their customers, “…a good big Thanksgiving Dinner, and a jolly Reunion around the Family board!” And they noted that their store closed at noon on Thanksgiving Day.
Turkey, the star of the dinner itself cost between 25 and 30 cents a pound. This was relatively expensive because a wet and late spring meant that the turkeys were behind schedule and would not reach prime market weight by Thanksgiving. The Quincy Daily Journal said that the supply of turkey would be brought in from Oklahoma and Texas to meet local demand.
The war overseas also affected some supplies. In New York City, additional inspectors were being employed because some dates, figs and other “oriental imports” were being condemned due to decay and spoilage. The ships had been delayed in sailing “on account of the war.”
If turkey seemed too expensive, other options for the menu included Spanferkel, a whole suckling pig, for $3 or $5 each. Beef roast sold for 12 to 17 cents a pound, pork cuts cost 15 to 20 cents a pound, Lamb was 15 to 25 cents and veal sold for 15 to 20 cents a pound.
If you preferred oysters, New York Counts were 60 cents a quart, scallops 75 cents a quart, live lobsters 45 cents each, and lake fish (trout, etc.) for 20 cents a pound. The list holds a wide variety of prices for various vegetables, fruits and nuts available in Quincy that rivals today’s grocery stores.
The list of holiday activities, festivals and feasts was lengthy. The November 24, 1915 Quincy Daily Herald in a column called “How To Spend The Holiday” listed as things to do on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, the opening of the Poultry Show at the Armory; a bazar and play at St. Boniface school hall; Thanksgiving entertainment and bazar at St. Francis school hall; whist at St. Mary’s; dancing and whist at the Moose lodge, and the Molders’ Ball at Turner Hall.
Thanksgiving day itself saw morning services at all the churches in town. Afternoon activities included a football game between Canton High and Quincy High at Baldwin Park at 3:30; a soccer game with Chaddock hosting Webster, and the Opening of the Belasco Theater.
Evening entertainment included a Cantata at the First German M.E. Church; a banquet at the Hotel Quincy for exhibitors at the Quincy Poultry association, and a dance, O’Farrell’s sixteenth Annual, at Ertel Hall. On Friday, the fourth annual High School football prom was held at the Knights of Columbus Hall.
Quincy did not forget those who couldn’t attend activities. Sheriff Coens purchased thirteen turkeys for Adams County prisoners. His wife prepared turkey, cranberry sauce, oyster dressing, pickles, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery, pumpkin pie, and cigars for the inmates. In the House of Correction, Superintendent Gottfried Eberhardt served chicken with mashed potatoes, vegetables and cranberries. The same menu applied to the children at the Detention Home and inmates at the County Home.
Cheerful Home sent out twenty-four Thanksgiving baskets to provide dinners for households that could not otherwise afford them, and hoped to send out more as additional supplies came in. They served a chicken dinner to the day-nursery and kindergarten kids. “The little girls wore Puritan caps which they had made in the kindergarten, and the boys wore Indian caps which they had made. No festive board was ever surrounded with brighter or happier faces.”
Beth Lane is the author of Lies Told Under Oath, the story of the 1912 Pfanschmidt murders near Payson, Illinois, and a previous Executive Director of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County.
Sources:
“How To Spend The Holiday.” Quincy Daily Herald, November 24, 1915, 1.
“St. Francis Bazaar Is Opened Today.” Quincy Daily Herald, November 24, 1915, 5.
“Thanksgiving At Cheerful Home.” Quincy Daily Herald, November 24, 1915, 5.
“Turkey In County Jails, Etc.” Quincy Daily Whig, November 25, 1915, 3.
“Unfortunates To Be Given Spread.” Quincy Daily Herald, November 24, 1915, 5.
“What A Thanksgiving Menu In Quincy Will Cost You.” Quincy Daily Herald, November 22, 1915, 10.
