Thanksgiving in Joliet in 1909 was some of the old and new

Thanksgiving has been an official holiday in the U.S. since 1863, and the people of Joliet have found ways to celebrate the occasion ever since.

Some of those long-ago Thanksgivings reflect the past and future – and somewhat resemble modern celebrations. There was much to be thankful for in Joliet in 1909, and a lot was going on.

Movie theaters are busy places today on Thanksgiving, but in 1909, motion pictures were just catching on. Live theater, however, was available at the Joliet Theatre on Thanksgiving night with the comic play “In Wyoming,” described in a Joliet News ad that November 20 as “a beautiful story, delightfully told, by characters of the Western plains.”

The ad carefully mentioned that “In Wyoming” was “a comedy of ranch life, not a Wild West drama.” Tickets for the Thanksgiving matinee cost 75 cents, 50 cents or a quarter. The night performance was more expensive, with a top ticket price of $1.

Since the 1800s, Americans have sent Christmas cards and Valentines. In 1909, Thanksgiving cards also were popular. An ad in the Joliet Herald on Nov. 18 for Earl’s Candy Kitchen and Newsroom, at the corner of Cass Street and Eastern Avenue, offered “Thanksgiving Post Cards” at two for 5 cents.

There were a lot of takers. The day before the holiday, the Herald reported that “the postal card craze is as predominant now as it has ever been.” At the Joliet post office, an astounding 20,000 Thanksgiving cards were processed, “more than has been handled on any previous Thanksgiving Day.”

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People also were eating well in Joliet. That same day, the Herald noted that the “sale of poultry is breaking all records,” with demand the “heaviest ever experienced in Joliet.”

The demand was “despite the fact that the prime birds sold for twenty-five cents a pound.” Turkey was the bird of choice, but “the demand for ducks and geese was also exceptionally heavy, the majority of the purchasers apparently preferring them to chicken for their Thanksgiving feast.”

The poultry came free in an unusual offer by Art Lennon and Co., a clothier at 210 N. Chicago St. A newspaper ad Nov. 16, 1909, implored shoppers to “buy any suit or overcoat that pleases you, and we throw in a nice big fat duck that makes a dandy Thanksgiving dinner.”

For side dishes, grocer Arnold Schwiesler printed a classified ad Nov. 16 offering one of the most popular holiday selections of the time: “fine, crisp celery.” Schweisler also had cabbage and winter radishes for the Thanksgiving table.

At 105 North Jefferson, the Schreiner grocery store ran a Thanksgiving ad in the Herald on Nov. 23 with the usual poultry selections as well as other holiday favorites, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, “choice eating and cooking apples, fresh and smoked meats, choice butter and eggs,” Schreiner also carried another of the popular holiday choices of the day, oysters.

Sweet treats were a big deal at the holiday. That same day, an ad from Hutton’s Bakery on State Street in Lockport offered the “finest English plum pudding” for 25 cents a pound, with homemade mince pies for 15 cents each. Pumpkin pie, sold for 13 cents.

Two days earlier, the Grand Theatre Candy Store ran an ad in the Herald, urging consumers to “buy a box of ‘College Cream Chocolates’ for Thanksgiving Day.”

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Like today, many Joliet residents spent the holiday with family and friends. The personal sections of the papers in 1909 were full of the comings and goings of locals, who would have traveled mostly by train. In a few cases, the automobile may have been the method of transport, although roads were generally in poor condition at the time.

Some of the gatherings were larger than others, including the Thanksgiving dinner at the H.H. Gaines home in Joliet, where four generations gathered for good times and company. In a time of shorter life expectancy, the Joliet News called it “an unusual and quite remarkable feature of this most enjoyable occasion.”

The Gaines group included two great-grandmothers, a great aunt, a grandfather and grandmother, three uncles, three aunts, and five great-grandchildren.

Some families were just starting out. On Thanksgiving evening in Braidwood, two weddings were scheduled. The correspondent to the Herald happily wrote that “all of the young people are well known, and very popular in Braidwood social circles.”

Then, of course, there was the shopping, and Joliet merchants were ready. At the Larus-Altheimer clothing store at 416 Cass St., an ad in the Herald on Nov. 19 urged shoppers to “spend your money on the turkey and use our credit for the clothes.” Men’s suits went for $15, while women’s fur sets were $10.98 and women’s coats cost $11.98. Alterations were free.

Few people wear fancy hats today, but they were in vogue in 1909. The Peerless Millinery outlet at 306 N. Chicago St. offered “elegant hats for Thanksgiving,” with “$5.00 and $7.50 grades.” An ad in the News on Nov. 12 proclaimed, “It is none too early to place orders for rich patterns in Thanksgiving hats.”

That same day, the Sterns “Big Store” at Chicago, Ohio and Clay streets in Joliet placed ads in the News offering “Thanksgiving linens,” including “pure linen hemstitched table cloths” for $1.25 and “pure all-linen hemstitched napkins for a dime apiece.”

That would have complemented the “Thanksgiving tableware” at the jewelry store of Robert P. Kiep at 207 N. Chicago St., because, as the ad in the News claimed, “every hospitable housewife is now laying plans for the Thanksgiving dinner,” and “she naturally has great pride in the appearance of the dining room and table.”

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Certainly, informality was not part of the program on Thanksgiving in 1909, at least in the minds of the merchants. For a more relaxed holiday, dances were a big part of the festivities in the era. On Thanksgiving night, those who wanted to cut a rug could attend the dances hosted by both the ladies of Sacred Heart Church in Joliet and the Monee Fire Department, which was holding its annual ball.

The firemen of Lockport held their annual dance the night before Thanksgiving, while on Tuesday evening, 45 couples danced at the Masonic Hall in Minooka.

For the sporting types, the Will County Gun Club hosted its annual Thanksgiving turkey shoot four days before the holiday in 1909, on Sunday afternoon. The meet was at the corner of First and State in Lockport, with 10 events of 10 targets each. As the News reported, “the first, second, and third prizes in each event will be a turkey, duck and chicken.”

That kind of showed how people in 1909 ranked their favorite birds on the Thanksgiving table. On Thanksgiving afternoon, the Braidwood Gun Club planned its “biggest shoot of the year,” while the populace of Braceville looked forward to a big amateur soccer game.

Many people spent part of their day in church, as services were held throughout Thanksgiving Day by many congregations in the area. In some Joliet churches, the News declared that “the offering of the day will be devoted to the relief of the sufferers” in Cherry, where a coal mine fire had claimed 259 lives Nov. 13, 12 days before Thanksgiving in 1909. It remains the deadliest mine accident in Illinois history.

Six days before Thanksgiving, Mrs. J.A. Henry of 112 S. Eastern Ave. welcomed “all friends of the Illinois Children’s Home Aid Society.” The News stated that each guest was asked to “come with an offering of canned fruit and jelly, as a Thanksgiving contribution to the children of the home.”

Even those incarcerated celebrated the day. The News reported that the inmates of the state penitentiary and the Will County Jail “were not forgotten in Thanksgiving preparations.” At the penitentiary in Joliet, inmates enjoyed a “customary holiday dinner, followed by cigars.” Work was suspended on the holiday, which also featured Thanksgiving services in the chapel.

An “elaborate chicken dinner with all the extras was dished out” at the county jail, where “cigars followed the dinner and all went fine.” Indeed, it was a Thanksgiving to remember in 1909 in Joliet.

• Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilcivilwar@yahoo.com.