Today, this column is looking back to the 1930s and somewhat into the 1940s, thanks to Bud Anderson, Moorhead.
Bud sent Neighbors his recollections of those days. He also cleared up how Moorhead High School students became known as Spuds.
Getting to school
Around 1939 or 1940, WDAY Radio had a noon program that largely concerned life on the farm. It featured Don Wardwell and his accordion.
Bud remembers one program that featured a farm family he knew named Tonsfelt, from either the Sabin or Baker, Minn., area.
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Another time it had a really exciting program about butchering hogs.
Then Bud switches to the topic of how parents got their kids to the one-room schools in the mid-1930s.
"They used automobiles for buses," Bud says. "The people would bid on school routes for different schools.
"In the winter, when the roads were blocked, they had buses mounted on runners, and they were pulled by horses. We would have to get up two hours earlier to get to school on time.
"The only methods we had for heat were foot warmers heated with charcoal. We were dressed warm, so we would sing and tell stories on the way."
Bud went to the school in Averill, Minn., which had a big year in 1939 when the Works Progress Administration remodeled the school, installing showers, a new kitchen and a wood-working room.
The school had four grades in the lower-grade room and four grades in the upper-grade room. Each room had two student teachers, who were replaced every six weeks.
Tuning in
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The Averill elevator's grain was picked up and coal was delivered to it by a Great Northern train that would also drop mail off at the depot. The depot agent would take it to the post office.
When the snow was too deep for people to get to the post office, a mailman brought their mail to them in his 1937 Chevrolet pickup with skis mounted on the front and small tractor tires on the rear.
Now Bud goes back to radio, that era's chief source of entertainment. Bud said a big show for his family and many other people was Jack Benny at 6 p.m. on Sundays.
At 7:15 a.m. on weekdays, Bud's family listened to the Texas Ranger over KVOX, with studios in the basem*nt of the Comstock Hotel in Moorhead.
KVOX also had a popular noon program featuring Bernie Ostrem, who was known as the Minnesota Woodchopper. Bernie and his group played for many area dances, Bud says.
A popular noon show on WDAY was the Co-op Shopper program featuring Hank and Thelma, "who were very good singers," Bud says. The show also featured Linda Lu, "also a very good singer, and they all could yodel," he says.
Bud really liked the amplifiers WDAY installed outside the Black Building in Fargo, where its studios were located. At Christmas time, WDAY sent Christmas carols via amplifiers to people on the sidewalks, "which were very nice to hear," he says.
Getting around
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Bud also writes about Fargo's streetcars. He often rode one to the Fargo fairgrounds, where Fargo North High School is now located.
He also used to ride the streetcar to Dilworth. The price for that trip was 15 cents. The line was discontinued in 1936.
And, of course, Bud mentions the train that ran from Fargo to East Grand Forks, Minn., which was nicknamed both the Galloping Goose and the Dinkey. It went through Hawley, Minn., then north parallel to Highway 32.
Eddy's place
Some of you, like Bud, will remember Eddy's Coffee Shop, which operated on Center Avenue in Moorhead from 1936 to 1973.
It was owned and operated by Edwin "Eddy" Savre, who posted a sign in his shop reading: "Come in for advice and coffee ... we only charge what each is worth. The advice is free ... coffee is 10 cents."
Eddy died in 2006 at age 97.
Farming changes
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"Another big change since the 1930s came in farming," Bud writes.
"In the early '30s they used steam engines to power the machinery. Today, farms are bigger, and they use bigger tractors than they did back then."
And finally, this information from Bud:
"During the war (World War II)," he writes, "farmers could not get enough people to pick potatoes, so they would let children out of school to do it. That is how the Moorhead school got its 'Spuds' name."
If you have an item of interest for this column, mail it to Neighbors, The Forum, Box 2020, Fargo, ND 58107, fax it to 241-5487 or email blind@forumcomm.com .
