1931 - 1932 - 1933 - 1934 - 1935 - 1936 - 1937 - 1938 - 1939

1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

Fort Wayne and the Great Depression: The Early Years, 1929–1933 by Iwan Morgan from Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 80, Issue 2 (June 1984), pp. 122-145 (24 pages), in a pdf online in the Indiana Magazine of History journal in the archives at Indiana University Scholarworks.

Fort Wayne and the Great Depression: The New Deal Years, 1933-1940 by Iwan Morgan from Indiana Magazine of History Vol. 80, No. 4 (December 1984), pp. 348-378 (31 pages) , in a pdf online, in the Indiana Magazine of History journal in the archives at Indiana University Scholarworks. See PDF.

The Great depression and World War II “In our generation, we knew how hard it was to come by things and make money last. . . . [I]t was something that stayed with me because I realized how quickly it could all be taken away.” — Betty Gehrke, Whiting, Indiana on IndianaHistory.org.

August 12, 2012 post post by the US National Archives on Facebook:

The National Archives was one of the first buildings in Washington with air conditioning. The building was designed in the 1930s to safeguard the records, and the vault-like structure included an air conditioning system that could maintain 70 degrees in winter and 80 degrees in summer throughout the entire building. Relative humidity was kept at 55 percent in stacks and 45 percent in workrooms.

Officials wondered if the relatively cool air elsewhere in the building would pose a health problem to staff. Surgeon General H.S. Cumming wrote this letter regarding the health risks of air conditioning on National Archives staff.

To read the full letter, go here: A warning from the Surgeon General about air conditioning

August 4, 2023 post by Newspapers.com on Facebook:

Did you know chocolate chips were invented AFTER chocolate chip cookies? That's why the original recipe calls for a cut-up semi-sweet chocolate bar!

Chocolate chip cookies (usually called chocolate crunch cookies or Toll House cookies early on) were created by Ruth Wakefield in the mid-1930s. They became so popular that Nestle bought the rights to the recipe in 1939 and began selling chocolate chips in 1940 specifically to make the cookie-baking process even easier!

This clipping with an early chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from a 1940 ad for Nestle's semi-sweet chocolate. See the full ad in the Minneapolis Star Journal on our site: https://www.newspapers.com/.../the-minneapolis.../129212270/

Or learn more about the history of chocolate chip cookies: https://blog.newspapers.com/the-worlds-first-chocolate.../

1930

1. Onset of the Great Depression reduces vehicle purchases in Fort Wayne to 4,353 from 7,538 the previous year, when the stock market crashed. Local vehicle sales drop to a Depression low in 1932, at 1,484.
2. Lincoln Trust Co. opens Lincoln National Bank in Lincoln Tower, which builders began constructing a month after the stock market crash. Of the dozen local banks at the start of the decade, only Lincoln National and Peoples Trust & Savings Co. survived the Depression without reorganizing.
3. Dudlow Manufacturing Co. sold to Addison Holton of Detroit, the forerunner of Essex Co.
4. Lincoln National Life Insurance Co. assets top $1 billion.
5. Indiana Technical College founded; it eventually becomes Indiana Institute of Technology. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.
6. 1930s Hoovervilles popped up around the country during the Great Depression. The largest in Fort Wayne was in the thumb of the 3 rivers now Headwaters Park. By 1939 the last of the shanties had been torn down. The area was known as the Jailhouse Flats since the first jail built there in 1825.
7. Chapter 6 Depression and War discusses how the Fort Wayne area dealt with the depression in the book Hard News, Heartfelt Opinions: A History of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette by Scott M. Bushnell.

1930 - 70% of Americans have electricity

Industrial survey of Fort Wayne, Indiana (Volume 1930 supplement) - Greater Fort Wayne Chamber of Commerce (Ind.) Archive.org

1930 - the swinging bridge in Foster Park was built from a 1939 photo posted February 1, 2019 by Hofer and Davis, Inc. Land Surveyors on Facebook.

1930, April 2 - John Zitzman, the census enumerator, started recording the 15th U.S. Federal Census in Aboite Township.

1930, August 7

August 7, 2017 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

On the night of August 7, 1930, Abram Smith and Thomas Shipp were lynched in Marion, Indiana. Smith, Shipp, and a third young man, who narrowly escaped the same fate as his companions, were arrested on suspicion of the murder of Claude Deeter and the rape of Mary Bell.

A mob of men, women, and children began to form outside of the Marion jail, where the men were being held. As news about the shooting and racially charged rumors circulated, the mob grew to somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 people, "perhaps the majority of the inhabitants of Grant County," according to historian Emma Lou Thornbrough.

The mob forced entry into the jail, took Shipp and Smith from their cells, then beat, abused, lynched, and mutilated the two young men. Their bodies were not removed until the next morning. Since there was no black mortician in Marion, the pastor of Muncie's Shaffer A.M.E. Chapel retrieved the young men's bodies and took them back to his church to shield them from further mutilation.

Learn more about this dark chapter in Indiana's history here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php...

Or find a copy of state historian James H. Madison's book "A Lynching in the Heartland" at a library near you http://evergreen.lib.in.us/eg/opac/record/14941041

 

See photo on Strange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching published August 6, 2010 on NPR.org.

August 7, 2023 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

#OTD in 1930, Black teenagers Abram Smith, 19, and Thomas Shipp, 18, were victims of a racial terror lynching in Grant County. Accused of murdering a white man and raping a white woman, the pair were dragged from their cell, beat, and hung before either could stand trial.

James “Jimmy” Cameron, the third teenage suspect, narrowly survived the attempted lynching. He later became a civil rights activist and founded three chapters of the NAACP in Indiana, served as the State Director of Civil Liberties under Indiana Governor Henry Schricker, and founded the America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Read more about the 1930 lynching of Smith and Shipphere:Strange Fruit: Anniversary Of A Lynching

Read more about James Cameron here: https://wisconsinlife.org/.../the-legacy-of-dr-james.../

The image is courtesy of Wisconsin Life.

1930, August 20 - Fort Wayne newspapers report the first city bank robbery of Broadway State Bank at the corner of Taylor and Broadway.

1. The straight story on 'Machine Gun' Kelly OK, for the last time: George "Machine Gun" Kelly did not rob a bank in Fort Wayne in 1930. It wasn't him. He was innocent, at least of that particular crime. It was another George Kelly. August 9, 1990 by Richard Battin in SUMMIT CITY HISTORY NOTES in The News-Sentinel newspaper.
2. Anatomy of Historic Fort Wayne Bank Heist by Eric Olson published October 23, 2015 on ABC WPTA21.com TV station now on Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

3. December 29, 2015 post by The History Centeron Facebook:

   Don't miss the story of what Fort Wayne newspapers called Fort Wayne's first bank robbery during Poached Yeggs: The Story of the Robbery of Broadway State Bank, August 20, 1930 during the George R. Mather Sunday Lecture Series this Sunday, Jaunary 3 at 2pm!

   The George R. Mather Sunday Lecture Series: Poached Yeggs: The Story of the Robbery of Broadway State Bank, August 20, 1930 was an Event Janaruy 3, 2016 sponsored by The History Center

   Poached Yeggs: The Story of the Robbery of Broadway State Bank article in the Old Fort News Volume 78, Number 1 at The History Center.

4. Broadway State Bank --Fort Wayne, Indiana Nov 11, 2016 Allen County Public Library on YouTube
   This clip is a short piece that is part of a longer series of Fort Wayne landmarks documented on open reel video tape in the 1970s. The series was made possible by the Fort Wayne Public Library, now the Allen County Public Library. This segment was recorded August 11, 1976 at 1930 Broadway in Fort Wayne, IN.
   Camera and Editing by Steve Fortriede.

1930, November - the Lincoln Tower opens. It is one of tallest buildings in Fort Wayne and had a German Immigrant influence in its formation.

1931

Zollner Piston Co. relocates to Fort Wayne from Duluth, Minn., building its new headquarters and factory next to a major factory of International Harvester, which was the nation's largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer. Zollner Corp. had invented the aluminum piston, which found favor with the heavy-truck industry because it was much lighter and quieter than the iron versions made by competitors. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1931 - the tulip tree (Liriodendron Tulipifera), also known as yellow poplar, was adopted as the official state tree of Indiana (Indiana Code 1-2-7). See Indiana State Tree and Flower by the Indiana Historical Bureau.

1931-1942 - Little Orphan Annie radio show had a special appeal to children and was featured in the classic 1983 movie A Christmas Story. American Children Faced Great Dangers in the 1930s, None Greater Than “Little Orphan Annie” Advertisements for Ovaltine were just part of the problem by A. Brad Schwartz on Smithsonian.com.

ACPL image

1931, January 1 - during prohibition two Beer Seized photos shows a beer siezure on Maysville Road at Lunz's Corner from the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Library.

1931, March 3 - President Hoover makes "The Star-Spangled Banner" written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 during the War of 1812 our national anthem. The Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner. How the flag that flew proudly over Fort McHenry inspired an anthem and made its way to the Smithsonian. By Cate Lineberry published March 1, 2007 on Smithsonian.com. Why is the national anthem so hard to sing? by MK Macko published May 14, 2014 in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog. O say can you sing a different patriotic song? by Tony Altman published March 3, 2015 on The The National Museum of American Historysite.

1931, March 5

March 5, 2023 post by Fort Wayne Sports History on Facebook:

March 5

In 1931, WGL broadcasts the first professional basketball game.

When the Fort Wayne Hoosiers made the American Basketball League playoff finals in 1931, it was big news, especially since the Hoosiers were playing in the finals for the third time in four years. In fact, the Fort Wayne Basketball Association sponsored a radio play-by-play of the first game at Brooklyn, including pre-game interviews. It is believed to be the first time ever a professional basketball game was broadcast live on radio.

There had been previous games where reporters would call in reports while the contest had been in action. One of those reporters was Gunnar Elliott, who made the live calls on this game. According to reports, Elliott sat in a small both at one end of the 23rd Armory in Brooklyn.

According to Todd Gould’s book ``Pioneers of the Hardwood,’’ ``the broadcast was unrefined and filled with static, but it was live.’’

Fort Wayne lost the game and the series. Led by Homer Stonebraker and Benny Borgman, they turned Fort Wayne into a basketball hotbed. Stonebraker, a 6-foot-4 center, was called the best basketball player alive by Abe Saperstein of the Harlem Globetrotters, and Borgman led the ABL in scoring five times, with a high of 11.2 points in 1927. Future Indiana coach Branch McCracken was also a member of the 1931 team.

Maybe the highlight for the Hoosiers was beating the world-famous New York Rens on Jan. 27, 1929, a shocking upset at the time.

Shortly after the 1931 series, the Hoosiers and the league disbanded, ending a near decade-long run as one of the nation’s best pro teams. Most of the teams returned to barnstorming.

1931, May 1 - President Herbert Hoover attended the grand opening of the Empire State Building in New York. The 103-story skyscraper was constructed with 18,630 tons of Indiana limestone.

1931, October 18 - Thomas Edison died with a record 1,093 patents, including 389 for electric light and power.

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1932

The statue, "Abraham Lincoln – The Hoosier Youth," created by noted sculptor Paul Manship, is erected at the main entrance to the Lincoln Life corporate offices. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1932, March 1 - Charles Lindbergh III, the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped from his family's new mansion in New Jersey. Although ransom was demanded and paid, the infant was killed the night of the kidnapping and was found less than a mile from home. The heartbroken Lindberghs ended up donating the mansion to charity and moved away. In the aftermath of the crime—the most notorious of the 1930s—kidnapping was made a federal offense.

1932, May 21 - Amelia Earhart landed in a field at Culmore, near Derry in Northern Ireland, after flying solo across the Atlantic – she was the first woman to achieve this amazing feat. See British Newspaper Archive blog.

May 20, 2023 post by Newspapers.com on Facebook:

Amelia Earhart made headlines when she completed a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean on May 21, 1932, becoming the first woman to do so.

This front page article reported: "Through rain and fog, with an engine that was slowly giving way to the strain of many flying hours, Amelia Earhart Putnam today drove her red monoplane safely across the Atlantic to a landing in a pasture."

Read the full article in the Holdenville Daily News on our site: https://www.newspapers.com/.../holdenville.../124762387/

Or see more news coverage from Earhart's life on our Topic Page: https://www.newspapers.com/.../famous-people/amelia-earhart/

1932, August 24-25 - Amelia Earhart became the 1st woman to fly across the US non-stop. See Amelia Earhart - Women In Aviation and Space History on the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum blog.

1932, September 2 - the Waynedale News started publication. Waynedale News Celebrates Community Legacy published September 2, 2018 on The Waynedale News.com.

1932, September 16 - Abraham Lincoln bronze figure by Paul Manship dedicated downtown on Harrison Street in front of Lincoln Financial Group. Called "Abraham Lincoln the Hooiser Youth," it depicts Lincoln when he lived in Indiana. Photo on Downtown Fort Wayne on Facebook. \

1932, October 5 - Herbert Hoover 31st President of the United States: 1929 ‐ 1933 Rear Platform Remarks in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At The American Presidency Project.

1933

1. Fort Wayne National Bank founded at 123 W. Berry St. to fill a void left by the closing of Old-First National Bank and Trust, which was shut down after a run by fearful depositors six months earlier.
2. Centlivre and Berghoff breweries resume full operations after repeal of the Volstead Act, which brought prohibition. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1933-1940 Great Depression years discussed in Fort Wayne and the Great Depression: The New Deal Years, 1933–1940 by Iwan Morgan on Indiana Magazine of History, Volume 80, Issue 4, pp 348-378. The plywood houses built in late 1930s by the Fort Wayne Housing Authority were discussed with photos on pages 362-363.

1933 - Did you know Fort Wayne once had a dinosaur factory? For the 1933-1934 World’s Fair in Chicago, Sinclair Oil commissioned the construction of life-size replicas of dinosaurs to resemble those used in their promotional materials. Local showman George C. Bischoff helped establish the fabrication efforts in Fort Wayne, and saw the project through to transportation and set up in Chicago. As one of the most popular exhibits at the World’s Fair, it garnered the paleontological interest of the general public, and established a legacy for the Sinclair Dinos throughout the twentieth century. To learn more about Fort Wayne’s role in the creation of this prehistoric exhibition, read “The Dinosaur Factory,” in our upcoming issue of the Old Fort News. Copied from a November 4, 2019 post by The History Centeron Facebook.

1933, March 2 - the Indiana General Assembly adopted the cardinal (Richmondena cardinalis cardinalis) the official state bird of the State of Indiana (Indiana Code 1-2-8).  See Indiana State Bird by the Indiana Historical Bureau. Also known as the redbird, the cardinal is the state bird of seven states: Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia. The bright red males are easily spotted, especially in the winter. Females cardinals are brown with a dull red crest. Cardinals remain in Indiana year round and nest in thickets of brambles or low saplings. The eggs, 2 to 4, are bluish-white with brown markings. Copied March 2, 2017 from Indiana Bicentennial Commission on Facebookon Facebook.

1933, March 4 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt says We have nothing to fear, but fear itself at his inauguration

1933, March 22 - President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Beer-Wine Revenue Act amending the Volstead Act and permitting the sale of beer and wine with an alcohol content of less than 3.2% by volume.   The act represented the first relaxation of the prohibition laws since 1918 and was followed up at the end of the year with the passage of the 21st Amendment repealing prohibition.

1933, March 31 - The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), established by Congress on March 31, 1933, provided jobs for young, unemployed men during the Great Depression. Civilian Conservation Corps at the National Park Service. Records of the Civilian Conservation Corps [CCC] at The National Archives. Civilian Conservation Corps at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

1933, April 5 - Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6101 which established the Civilian Conservation Corps to provide jobs for young men during the Great Depression while implementing a general natural resource conservation program. See The Library of Congressphotos. It was disbanded in 1942 as the country geared up for World War II.

1933, April 19 - FDR takes U.S. off the gold standard to combat the Great Depression.

1933, May 6 - FDR creates the Works Progress Administration

1933, 10 May - Nazi-supporting students burned over 25,000 books that were deemed to be ‘un-German’ In most university towns of Nazi Germany during the night. From Nazi Book Burnings – 10 May 1933 on The British Newspaper Archives.

1933, June 5 - the United States went off the gold standard, where our currency was backed by gold, after Congress enacted a joint resolution nullifying the right of creditors to demand payment in gold. See FDR takes United States off gold standard on History.com.

1933, June 6 - the first drive-in movie theater opens, in Camden County, New Jersey.

1933, July 28 - CCC was founded giving unemployed men and youths jobs building the nation's infrastructure and national parks and working to conserve forests and wildlife across the country. By September 1935, there were nearly 500,000 men serving in the CCC.

December 5, 1933 - Prohibition Ends when the passage of the 21st Amendment was ratified. The 21st Amendment repealed the18th Amendment ratified January 16, 1919, ending the increasingly unpopular nationwide prohibition of alcohol. December 5, 2022 discussion of local efforts on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook.

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1934

Central Soya Corp. founded by Dale McMillen; eventually it grows to become one of the nation's largest soy processing companies. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1934 - Homer Van Meter of the John Dillinger bank robbing gang was gunned down in St. Paul, MN and his body returned to Lindenwood Cemetery for burial. See Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Wanted Poster of John Dillinger, 06/25/1934 on the The National ArchivesToday's Document.

1934 - deer were reintroduced in Indiana

May 19, 2022 post by Historic Southern Indiana on Facebook:

#ThrowbackThursday - Did you know that white-tailed deer were non-existent in Indiana for over 40 years due to overhunting? The last reported wild deer was killed in Knox County in 1893. From 1934 to 1942, 296 deer were purchased from other states and released in Indiana through a program from the Department of Conservation (the forerunner to today's DNR). In this 1934 photo, deer are being released from crates into Ferdinand State Forest.

Photo courtesy of Indiana Album Flick Family Collection

1934, March 3 -

March 3, 2023 post by Indiana Archives and Records Administration on Facebook:

#OTD John Dillinger escaped from the “escape proof” Lake County Jail in Crown Point. Using a fake gun, Dillinger and Herbert Youngblood took hostages and stole weapons and a vehicle from the jail. The vehicle theft was the catalyst for the U.S. Bureau of Investigation (later FBI) to get involved in the case, and their agents would gun Dillinger down in Chicago on July 22nd, 1934. #JohnDillinger #LakeCounty #Indiana #PrisonEscape

1934, May 23 - On a rural road in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, ... Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were shot dead in a police ambush. The couple were criminal celebrities during the ‘public enemy era’ in the USA, from between 1931 and 1934. It’s believed that they killed nine police officers and several civilians during the course of their careers as armed robbers. Copied from Bonnie and Clyde Are Killed in a Police Ambush – 23 May 1934 from the British Newspaper Archive blog.

1934, June 19 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the National Archives. Read more in Happy 80th Birthday National Archives by Jessie Kratz in The National Archives Prologue: Pieces of History blog.

1934, July 22 - John Dillinger the bank robber was gunned down by federal officers when he walked out of the Chicago north side Biograph Theatre. He had a face lift and dyed his hair. He was born, and buried, in Indianapolis. See his June 25, 1934 Wanted Poster on US The National Archives Facebook page. Read about his three gang members Infamous Burials here in Fort Wayne cemeteries. See front page of Daily News Los Angeles, California Page 1 July 22, 1934 newspaper at Newspapers.com.

1934, July 22 - was the first time the high temperature was recorded as 106°. It matched that temperature again on June 25, 1988. From Fort Wayne Indiana Climate at the National Weather Service.

1934, August 20 - potato chip company Seyfert’s opened in Fort Wayne.

1935

Indiana State Library Map Collection > Allen County, Indiana, 1935 - zoomable on their site
1935 map of Allen County showing property owners. Lists of the county officials are listed along the top.

1935 - Beavers (Castor canadensis) were once rare in Indiana due to overharvesting but are now abundant. In 1935, the Indiana Department of Conservation obtained a few breeding pairs from Wisconsin and released them on Jasper-Pulaski Fish & Wildlife Area. Beaver populations expanded, aided by strategic relocations to certain parts of the state to help with expansion. Presently, beavers are found in almost every county. Copied from Beaver at Indiana Department of Natural Resources. "Although the species currently is considered secure across its range, unregulated fur harvest and habitat destruction caused severe declines or extirpation of beavers by 1900 in many parts of the United States." From North American eaver (Castor canadensis): A Technical Conservation Assessment Prepared for the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, Species Conservation Project February 6, 2007 at fs.usda.gov.

1935, January 19 - men's briefs sell out when Tighty-whities first hit the market 80 years today by Laura Clark published January 19, 2015 on Smithsonian.com.

1935, February 14 - 3Rivers Federal Credit Union opened as International Harvester Company Fort Wayne Works Employees Federal Credit Union.

1935, March 20 - Amelia Earhart lectured at the Shrine Auditorium in Fort Wayne as a guest lecturer for the Psi Iota Xi Sorority Pi Chapter.

1935, April 8 - the Works Progress Administration was established. The work-relief program would go on to employ over 8.5 million Americans at an average salary of $41.57 a month building bridges, roads, public buildings, public parks and airports all across the United States.

1935, May 24 - Cincinnati Reds first ever MLB night game!

May 24, 2023 post by Bally Sports Cincinnati is with Cincinnati Reds on Facebook:

88 years ago today, the Reds became the first team in MLB history to win under the lights!

#ATOBTTR

1935, August 1 - the first three Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects in the State of Indiana began in Gary and Marion County. The WPA, a program enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to provide relief to those impoverished by the Great Depression, allocated $1.2 million and employed 1,500 men to work in Gary and Marion County. Gary workers were tasked with improving city parks, such as Gleason's Park and Lincoln Park, by constructing a bird path, golf courses, roads, and a greenhouse. Copied from an August 1, 2018 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook. Their post shows an image of WPA workers in Muncie during their lunch break circa 1935, courtesy of Ball State University Libraries.

1935, August 8 - Camp Anthony Wayne was established by the CCC in Fort Wayne. The camp officially known as CCC Camp D-2, Co. 1590, was located on Hillegas Road (today 5642 Huguenard Road) between US 30 and Washington Center Road. The camp existed until the elimination of the CCC program in 1942. The original pillars at the entrance of the camp still stand on Huguenard Road. Copied from a December 8, 2020 post with several photos of Camp Anthony Wayne by The History Center on Facebook and posted with more information on our Civilian Conservation Corps - CCC section.

1935, August 14 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act (1935) which established a system of old-age benefits for workers, benefits for victims of industrial accidents, unemployment insurance, and aid for dependent mothers and children, persons who are blind, and persons with disabilities. See FDR's Statements on Social Security at SSA.gov.

August 14, 2023 post by U.S. Government Publishing Office on Facebook:

Happy Birthday, Social Security! On this day in 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. GPO employees produced the legislation and make the law digitally available on GPO’s GovInfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/.../USCODE-2014-title42-chap7.pdf

1936

1. United Electrical Workers Union founded in Fort Wayne to represent workers at General Electric Co. and other electronics manufacturers here, and eventually becomes national in scope. A number of its founders later create the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers.
2. WOWO and WGL radio stations purchased by Westinghouse Radio Stations, and moved into a tall building at the corner of Harrison Street and Washington Boulevard. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1936 - The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, enacted on May 20, 1936, provided federal loans for the installation of electrical distribution systems to serve isolated rural areas of the United States. Need to work on this for history of I & M - History of AEP The American Gas and Electric Company was incorporated Dec. 20, 1906. It moved into Michigan in 1922 with the acquisition of Indiana and Michigan.

1936-1940 the Indiana Works Progress Administration WPA. Indiana WPA Indexes by the Tri-States Genealogical Society states During the period 1936-1940 the Indiana Works Progress Administration (WPA) indexed a large part of the birth, marriage and death records of 68 of Indiana's 92 counties. Marriage records were indexed from 1850 through 1920. Birth and death records were indexed from 1882 through 1920. Marriages have been recorded in Indiana from the territorial period until the present day by the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the county where the marriage was performed. Births and deaths, however, have been recorded by the civil authorities in Indiana only since 1882. Records of births and deaths are maintained by the County Health Officer of the county where the birth or death occurred. Be sure to read the 7 page WPA LIBRARY PROJECTS IN INDIANA By Marcia Caudell, Deborah Jones, Ben Jessup, & Marti Reeser printed in the Indiana Libraries, Volume 20, Number 1 on IUPUI.edu. The Works Progress Administration in Indiana at the Lilly Library at Indiana University.

1936, July 13 - the city opened a pool, complete with Red Cross lifeguards, in the St. Joseph River below the Waterworks Dam on Anthony Boulevard. So many swimmers rushed to the pool that planned improvements to the municipal beach and the river bed became impossible - and the board of works announced a preferred route for the public to travel there. Copied from a photo caption in THIS DAY IN HISTORY: July 13 in photos by Dan Vance published July 13, 2018 in The News-Sentinel newspaper. See Fort Wayne Municipal Beach for more information.

1936, July 14 - Indiana experienced the highest recorded temperature in the state's history when thermometers hit 116 degrees in Collegeville, Jasper County. Fort Wayne was 106° on July 14, 1936 after -18° on Janaury 22, 1936 from Fort Wayne Weather in 1936 at ExtremeWeatherWatch.com. Fort Wayne was also 106° on July 22, 1934, June 25, 1988, and June 28, 2012 from A decade later: record heat and the 2012 derecho Nathan Gidley June 28, 2022 on CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.

July 14, 2018 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook:

On July 14, 1936, Indiana experienced the highest recorded temperature in the state's history when thermometers hit 116 degrees in Collegeville, Jasper County.

The United Press reported: "Relief from one of the most severe droughts in the history of the state . . . The scorching heat wave will leave in its wake a state death toll of at least 173 lives. Thousands of dollars of damage has been done to crops, and additional damage has been caused by fires, started by the intense heat. Fifty-seven deaths, including nine in Indianapolis, were reported in the state yesterday. The blistering heat took hold on the state July 4 and for the last eight days the temperature has soared above 100 degrees, establishing a record for Indiana. City dwellers and rural folk suffered alike in the heat." 

Read more about the heatwave in the Greencastle Banner via Hoosier State Chronicles: The Daily Banner,Greencastle, Putnam County, 15 July 1936.

1. Fort Wayne Climate at the National Weather Service Northern Indiana.
2. Fort Wayne - Lowest Temperature for Each Year at Current Results
3. Fort Wayne - Highest Temperature for Each Year at Current Results
4. Fort Wayne Weather Records Fort Wayne, Indiana weather averages and records from 1897–2023 based on data made available by the NOAA. at ExtremeWeatherWatch.com. 

July 15, 2023 post by NOAA Climate.Gov on Facebook:

What's in a record? When you hear or see news that a region had its hottest or wettest month since records began, you can check the climatological record books yourself to see what that really means.

https://www.climate.gov/.../us-climatological-rankings...

National Rankings

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1937

1937 - Indiana General Assembly resolution adopted the Indiana State Motto as The Crossroads of America.

1937 - Questa Education Foundation was Established in 1937 by R. Nelson Snider, principal of South Side High School, and later incorporated as the Fort Wayne Educational Foundation, Questa Education Foundation continues the tradition of providing affordable student loans and generous scholarships to support students in northeast Indiana as they pursue their first associate or bachelor’s degree. Copied from Questa Education Foundation About page.

1937 - the zipper was invented

1937 - the Wolf & Dessaur Christmas Wreath was first displayed

1937, March 2 - Crossroads of America became the official Indiana state motto when it was adopted by the Eightieth Session of the General Assembly. The Indiana Department of Administration states: “‘The Crossroads of America' signifies the importance of waterways, railroads, highways and other transportation facilities in the state, viewed by many as some of the finest in the nation." From a July 30, 2022 post by Indiana Department of Natural Resources on Facebook. Crossroads of America on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

1937, May 6 - the German airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built, explodes as it arrives in the U.S. Thirty-six people died in the fiery accident that has since become iconic, in part because of the live radio broadcast of the disaster. See video Hindenburg Disaster With Sound (Herb Morrison, WLS Radio) on Archive.org.

1937, May 17 - the childhood home of James Whitcomb Riley in Greenfield, Indiana was opened to the public after restoration by the Riley Old Home Society. From May 17, 2013 post by the Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook.

1937, July 9

July 9, 2023 post by Newspapers.com on Facebook:

A film storage facility in New Jersey caught fire in the pre-dawn hours of July 9, 1937, destroying numerous silent films. A 13-year-old boy later died from injuries sustained when the fire spread to nearby homes.

A heatwave and poor ventilation had caused aging nitrate film housed in the Twentieth Century Fox facility to combust, sparking the blaze. This paper reported that the "spectacular fire [...] consumed thousands of feet of motion picture film in a storage plant" and "shot blazing rolls of film atop adjacent homes."

See this article in the Meriden Daily Journal: https://www.newspapers.com/.../the-journal-fox.../127546156/

 

Although 20th Century-Fox officials at the time remarked that "only old films" were destroyed, the fire is now understood as a significant loss of American film heritage. Motion picture historian Anthony Slide called the destruction of the Fox vault "the most tragic" American nitrate fire. The highest-quality examples of every Fox film produced prior to 1932 were destroyed; all known copies of many movies had been stored in the facility. Copied from Legacy at 1937 Fox vault fire on Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia 

1937, September 30 - The Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana officially became a 501(c)3 so they could operate as a charity since their Federal recognition was removed by the State of Indiana in 1898. Copied from a September 30, 2022 post by the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana on Facebook. See our Miami Indian section for more information.

1937, November - a WPA photo from The National Archivesshows the Robert Snyder family of Fort Wayne and another shows A WPA culvert project in Fort Wayne, Indiana, 1937 both were posted in A New Deal for Indiana published April 19, 2015 on New Deal of the Day blog.

1938

1. Fort Wayne Industrial Union Council, consisting of six local unions, was chartered by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
2. Civil Aeronautics Authority approves night airplane service for Fort Wayne after its airport (Baer Field) installs electric runway lights and radio communication.
3. Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the television, relocates his new TV manufacturing company to Fort Wayne. It eventually becomes ITT Corp., which now makes military radios and optical equipment used in satellites. Copied from the 1930 to 1939: Decade of bankruptcy & bureaucracy is various newspaper articles from the Fort Wayne History Stories about time periods in the archives of The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1938 - South Side High School became the first team from a city of more than 50,000 to win the Indiana State Basketball Tournament after the first 27 years when teams from small towns dominated, creating the mystique upon which much of Hoosier Hysteria is based. From Last Archer title winner dies Roth was last member of 1938 championship team by Blake Sebring published April 17, 2013 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1938, January 3 - the March of Dimes is launched to fight polio.

1938, April 4

August 30, 2023 post by Newspapers.com on Facebook:

Bikes of "yesteryear"! These were considered "pedal relics" even in 1938 when this clipping was published!

They were collected by a Minneapolis bike shop owner and included "an early type bicycle with a large driving wheel," "a tandem bicycle built for four," "an old-timer with wooden tires," and "a bicycle built for two."

Ever seen (or ridden) one of these yourself?

See the photos in the Minneapolis Star on our site: Gone Are the Days--But Not the Bikes

1938, June 25 - on a Saturday, to avoid pocket vetoes 9 days after Congress had adjourned, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 121 bills. Among these bills was a landmark law in the Nation's social and economic development -- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). Against a history of judicial opposition, the depression-born FLSA had survived, not unscathed, more than a year of Congressional altercation. In its final form, the act applied to industries whose combined employment represented only about one-fifth of the labor force. In these industries, it banned oppressive child labor and set the minimum hourly wage at 25 cents, and the maximum workweek at 44 hours. Forty years later, a distinguished news commentator asked incredulously: "My God! 25 cents an hour! Why all the fuss?" President Roosevelt expressed a similar sentiment in a "fireside chat" the night before the signing. He warned: "Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000 a day, ...tell you...that a wage of $11 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry."2 In light of the social legislation of 1978, Americans today may be astonished that a law with such moderate standards could have been thought so revolutionary. Copied from Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage by Jonathan Grossman , see also Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act, and the 64-page document The Fair Labor Standards Act Of 1938, As Amended at the U.S. Department of Labor. One law was Public Contracts Act of 1936 (Walsh-Healey) which required most government contractors to adopt an 8-hour day and a 40-hour week but it was limited. It took a few more attempts to get a broader law, but in January 1938 the bill that became the FLSA was sent to Congress. After the bill was debated and voted on, it was signed by President Roosevelt and became effective on October 24, 1938. Copied from Fair Labor Standards Act Signed at This Month in Business History at The Library of Congress. Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

1938, July 16 - photo of Bobby Lambert, veteran of three News-Sentinel Soap Box Derbies, was preparing for the 1938 race with his brother, Billie, who was participating for the first time. With the permission of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Lambert, the boys put the finishing touches on their cars in their living room at 2201 Holton Ave. Copied from THIS DAY IN HISTORY: July 16 in photos published July 16, 2018 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1938, July 18 - About 100 drivers lined up for the fourth annual Soap Box Derby Parade on July 18, 1938, the night before the running of that year's race. Thousands of spectators stood along the 2-mile parade route, from the News-Sentinel building on Barr Street to Bueter Road. Copied from THIS DAY IN HISTORY: July 18 in photos by Dan Vance published July 18, 2018 in The News-Sentinel newspaper.

1939

1939 - Brown Trucking truck from Great Memories and History of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

1939, March 14 - Capehart-Farnsworth opened for business in Fort Wayne. The company produced radios, phonographs, and television equipment. From a March 14, 2018 post by Indiana Historical Bureau on Facebook. The Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation (FTRC) after scouring the nation for a manufacturing plant, in 1938 selected the former Capehart Phonograph Company building and opened in 1939 stimulating the city’s economy with the production of radios, phonographs and television equipment. From Philo T. Farnsworth: Conversing with Einstein & Achieving Fusion in Fort Wayne by Nicole Poletika posted on May 23, 2017 on the Indiana Historical Bureaublog. See Philo T. Farnsworth.

ACPL photo on Facebook

1939, May 16 - A streetcar photo from the Allen County Public Library Digital Collections at the Allen County Public Librarywas posted May 16, 2022 on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook. It is labeled: Indiana Service Corporation: last streetcar run on West Jefferson, 16 May 1939 1.15 p.m., replaced by bus. Tracks laid for horse drawn carts 1874, converted to electric service 1892. Among those on last streetcar (l-r) David Lewis (Board of Works), Henry F. Modemeyer (operator), A. M. Mardaman (bus operator), Josephone M. Zimmerman (Mayor Baals' secretary), W. Marshal Dale (president of ISC), John R. McKay (street railway manager), Robert G. Beams (Board of Works). shows streetcar with bus parked beside it.

Streetcars came to Fort Wayne in 1871 as a way to easily get around town after the Civil War. They ran on tracks in the ground and were pulled by horses. Relying on horses came with a few problems, such as disease that would shut the whole system down. In 1890, there was a fire that killed several dozen horses in one of the stables. As a result of these issues it was determined that a better system was needed, so they went electric. “In 1892, they came up with an electrified system, they strung wires all around and ran on the same tracks. That really helped the system go, it ran from 1892 up until the 1940s”, explained Beatty. On May 16, 1939 streetcar service on West Jefferson was replaced by bus service, one of the first spots to start phasing from streetcars to busses in Fort Wayne. The process would take nearly a decade. “In 1947, the last what was called a street railway, stopped,” said Beatty, “They still ran what were called trolley coaches, which were buses that were electrified, but they were they ran on wheels rather than on tracks and those continued until 1959.” Copied from May 16, 1939; Fort Wayne begins transition from streetcars to buses with several Allen County Public Library photos by Adam Solarczyk posted May 16, 2022 by CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15. Also posted May 16, 2022 on their Facebook page.

May 16, 1939; Fort Wayne begins transition from streetcars to buses with several Allen County Public Library photos by Adam Solarczyk posted May 16, 2022 by CBS WANE-TV NewsChannel 15.

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