One Day in May, 1914 - Walking into Town

May 15, 1915, was a lovely Friday (partly cloudy and with a high of 70 degrees) -- a good kind of day for taking a walk into town. If you were leaving campus to walk along College Avenue, Main Street, and Madison Avenue, you would have had plenty to see, and opportunities to indulge in a treat as well!

J.C. Hill's store carried a "special line of college and fraternity pennants," and perhaps there would have been a display of them in the window as you walked by. If it was midday and you were hungry, you could go in to pick up some "lunch goods."

Ambling along, perhaps you'd stop at Tull's store to look at the new wallpaper patterns. Mr. Tull sold and installed wallpaper, and also did interior painting, but his son Roy (20 years old that year) may have had the student market in mind because he stocked groceries, candy, and tobacco, alongside the wallpaper and paint.

After enough walking, shopping, and chatting, you might think about ice cream. You could get some at William Stucker's "Confectionary and Meat Market." Going to a meat market for ice cream might seem a little odd, but Mr. Stucker was primarily a farmer, so he probably used fresh cream from his own cows to make his special ice cream.

Newspaper and census records can give us this window into everyday life at Hanover in 1914, but even with good luck and careful research, there's always much more we'd like to know! What did J.C. Hill's store look like? Did Roy Tull follow Hanover sports and talk about games with the Hanover students who stopped by? What flavors of ice cream did William Stucker offer? Were there benches along the street where people sat to chat and enjoy their treats?

Hanover's History Department and the Duggan Library Archives celebrate "One Day in May" every year, collecting material to help future historians understand everyday life for Hanoverians today. We'd love for you to join us.

Ad for Stucker's Confectionery and Meat Market

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Sources: "River and Weather," Louisville Courier-Journal, May 16, 1914, p. 10; Hanover College Triangle, May 20, 1914, pp. 3-4; 1910 U.S. Census, Hanover, Jefferson County, Indiana, s.v. "Roy P Tull" and "Namie L Hill," Ancestry.com.

Images: Imig's Ice Cream Shop, Des Plaines, Illinois, 1915 (https://desplainesmemory.org/documents/detail/111); Hanover College Triangle, May 20, 1914, pp. 4.