With this year being the 75th anniversary I thought it might be interesting as well as fun to look back at Greendale’s beginnings from the viewpoint of its own residents and local news stories of the day. Every Thursday through the end of the year, I will be posting humorous, relevant or just interesting stories from Greendale’s original newspapers.
The following selected stories are copied exactly as they were originally written (including some misspellings) unless otherwise noted. Some may be shortened with “…”. They will be in bold and italicized type.
Also, just a reminder - Greendale first opened to residents on May 1, 1938
Find out what's happening in Greendalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
GREENDALE REVIEW – Wednesday, November 15, 1939
WARN DRIVERS TO OBEY SIGNS
Find out what's happening in Greendalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The department of public safety announces that parking restrictions on Schoolway, the school square and the mercantile section are being enforced.
Twenty-five parking violation tickets were issued Sunday, Nov. 5 to church-goers who drove their cars through barricades erected across Schoolway to get to the school square, according to Chief Robert Taylor.
No parking will be permitted on Schoolway, west of Broad Street, and no parking is permitted in the square in front of the school after 6 p.m. During the day parking is restricted to marked-off area.
Speed limit signs have been placed on Schoolway and other streets designating them as 15 m.p.h. thorofares. Other signs posted on Loomis Road and South 76th Street mark them at 40 m.p.h. roadways.
Motorists are cautioned to watch for and observe newly erected signs.
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Safety Device Saves Workman’s Life
A WPA workman, digging a hole for a traffic guard post along Grange Ave. at Acorn Court on Monday morning, owes his life to one of the many safety devices installed throughout Greendale’s electrical system. Walter Kroening, assistant manager, stated that “It was a miracle the man wasn’t killed outright by the high voltage. Had it not been for the oil switch opening up the same instant the crow bar came in contact with the line, it would have been a different story.”
The workman was using an iron bar to loosen dirt, when he accidentally dug into the four thousand volt cable that serves Greendale from the sub-station, causing a short circuit which opened up the oil switch, shutting off current all over the village. As a result there was no light, heat, nor power for several hours. Housewives used their coal hot water stoves to advantage and cooked their noon meal on it.
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PLEASE KEEP OFF THE GRASS!
Landscaping of village parks and private yards has been progressing at a rapid pace.
Hundreds of shrubs, bushes and trees have been planted with definite landscaping plans in mind.
Hedges and bushes have been planted at strategic points, for instance, at corners where the public has been in the habit of cutting across. It is hoped that shrubbery will help to eliminate this thoughtless act.
Shrubs have again been planted about the school building. Parents and teachers are asked to urge the children t use the walks and avoid short cuts across lawns and shrubbery.
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BOY INJURED
Donald Breitzman, 7, 5617 Berry Court, suffered cuts on the cheek and a bloody nose when he ran into the side of a car driven by Emilie Giuli, Dendron Lane. The accident occurred last Friday evening on Broad Street and Schoolway.
The Police Department again urges parents to caution children against playing in or running into streets. Co-operation of parents and drivers of automobiles is necessary to make the village safe for children.
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MARCUS INVESTIGATES PHONE
The Greendale telephone committee at their last meeting Friday evening delegated Arthur Marcus, who is not a member of the committee, to investigate service and rates offered by concerns giving phone service.
Marcus has conferred with officials of the Wisconsin Telephone Company and a further meeting will be held Wednesday evening.
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23rd or 30th?
(Editor’s note - Reprinted from Wikipedia: On December 26, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day from the last Thursday in November to the fourth Thursday. Two years earlier, Roosevelt had used a presidential proclamation to try to achieve this change, reasoning that earlier celebration of the holiday would give the country an economic boost.)
This year Thanksgiving is creating quite a furore. Shall it be the 23rd or must it remain the 30th? We’ll try to help you solve the problem by relating a little of our own experience and perhaps it will assist you in deciding upon a definite date, or again you might be in a worse muddle than you are now!
The 23rd has been officially proclaimed Thanksgiving Day in Greendale, but if we decide to eat the turkey on that day our Greendale daddy will be at work in Milwaukee, because many of the industrial plants are observing the holiday on the 30th. Of course, with our excellent electric refrigeration, we could save the turkey bones a week and cook daddy a nice bowl of turkey soup, when his Thanksgiving finally comes around on the 30th.
Another way to solve the problem would be through compromise. We could eat our Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday, November 26, and thereby save ourselves the work of preparing a regular Sunday dinner. One of the clergy, in the vicinity of Greendale, is preaching a Thanksgiving sermon on that day (it saves preparing a Sunday sermon too).
But it took the Greendale School Board to finally settle the problem in this family, however, until the board decided to observe both days as holidays, we were quite perplexed. How could we possibly cram Junior with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, cranberries and pumpkin pie all in a half-hour. (The other half simply must be devoted to baseball, thanks to our high-pressured recreational program!)
But one thing no one seems to recall, since we are faced with two holidays, are the “good old days” when it took a week to prepare that momentous meal. Housewives baked bread, stewed pumpkin, dressed the fowl, cooked mince meat, prepared cranberry sauce and cider all in their own kitchens. Can you imagine anyone preparing two such meals, and worse yet can you imagine some of our over-stuffed looking citizens eating two such meals? Although, it might be one way of filling the gym on Thursday nights, because they would certainly have to be taken out and trained down after two weeks of such Thanksgiving!
By this time we hope, you have found the solution to your own particular Thanksgiving problem, and if you do have to celebrate both days, just remember they are “both here to bring good cheer.”
And now let us say a word about the significance of Thanksgiving Day. In recent years our mode of celebration has become less rigidly religious and our attention has become focused upon the material things we enjoy this day. Everyone should make a special effort to attend Thanksgiving services, and those who do not, might remember to say a little prayer of thanks for our comfortable circumstances and homes here in Greendale.
And then as we contemplate our Thanksgiving fowl, all deliciously browned and savory, we are going to add these few lines to our own prayer of gratitude, “I wish there were just such a fowl on every table in the land today.
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Next week – Distant Phone Calls Cut for Thanksgiving.
Thanks to the Greendale Historical Society, for which I am a member, for providing the original newspapers.
Steve Peters
