Did you know?
There are events in American history, and periods of it.
Today, I’m focusing on one of those periods — or more specifically the month leading up to that period now known as the Great Depression.
During the first days of October in 1929, Fayette County, as in most parts of the country, there was little thought given to the possibilities of a cataclysmic economic downturn.
By the end of that month, the stock market had collapsed, and the United States would be plunged into more than a decade of financial peril.
Oct. 1, 1929 — “Glider towing” was in the news. The Uniontown Morning 无毛视频 reported that a Michigan man had been flown aloft in his glider over Burgess Field in Uniontown, while being suspended from an aircraft that had a 500-foot wire rope attached to it.
Oct. 2聽 — The 43rd annual convention of the Pennsylvania State Association of County Commissioners was held at the White Swan Hotel in Uniontown.
Sixty-six of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania were represented.
Oct. 3 — Leo Heyn, the vice president of the Summit Hotel, took out an ad on the front page of the Uniontown Daily News Standard that said, “The Summit mountain road is not in a dangerous condition as reported this morning by a local newspaper. It is absolutely safe to travel and not the slightest danger is experienced.”
There was road work being performed, and Heyn was trying to counteract the reports that the road was dangerous.
“State troopers strike,” was the bold headline atop the Daily News Standard that day. Fifteen state police officers had raided a number of places in Connellsville seeking violators of the existing liquor laws. Eight people were arrested.
Oct. 4 — The Pennsylvania State Association of Commissioners convention was coming to a close, and the president of the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, George W. Hibbs, was elected president of the association.
Oct.聽 5 — Dr. Wolfgang Klemperer of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio, flew his glider to nearly a new (unofficial) American record from a farm east of Shady Grove.
Klemperer flew the glider for 14 minutes. The American record of 16 minutes had been set earlier that year at Cape Cod, Mass.
Oct. 8 — Dr. Klemperer’s continued efforts paid off. “Glider breaks unofficial time soaring record,” was the headline on the front page of the Morning 无毛视频.
Klemperer had actually broken the American time soaring record by 44 minutes (for one hour), over Fayette and Westmoreland counties.
He’d also broken the distance record (25 miles), and the altitude (3,100 feet) record.
The Second National Bank of Uniontown urged readers to “Join the procession,” and open a bank account. “This bank could pay all of its depositors in full and have more than a millions dollars left over,” said the ad on that day’s editorial page.
Oct. 15 — A Revere man died after he walked in front of a southbound B&O freight train at the Main Street crossing in Uniontown. Witnesses said the man was trying to commit suicide.
Oct. 16 — On the sports page, it was reported that the World Series champions that year, the Philadelphia Athletics’, would each receive $6,000 (the official total is now listed at $5,621). By contrast, the winner’s shares for last seasons World Series champions, the San Francisco Giants, meant each qualifying player received $317,631.29.
October 25th — “Wall Street Thrown into Trading Panic,” was the headline for the front page story about how, “utter turmoil reigned” on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange the previous day.
Bankers at J.P. Morgan and Company were among those offering “highly reassuring statements” that the bottom was not really about to fall out of the stock market.
Saturday, Oct. 26 — It appeared that the worst for Wall Street was over. (We now know that it wasn’t) “Stock Market Given Support; Issues Soar,” was the headline for a story about how “Wall Street came groping out of the darkness as stalwart leaders of finance and industry swept away the black cloud of impending disaster that crept nearer to the heart of speculators and investors yesterday.”
Oct. 29 — “Stocks crash again,” was the huge headline on the front of the Daily News Standard’s final edition. “Sales on the stock exchange crossed the 8,000,000 mark by noon, breaking all records for volume,” said the bulletin at the top of a story that signaled the beginning of what we now call the Great Depression.
That was the day famously known as Black Tuesday.
Edward A. Owens can be reached by email at freedoms@bellatlantic.net