February 2008

1908 and 1958

Glancing Backward

News items from the Naples Record 100 years and 50 years ago

by

Beth Flory

February 1908

A bitterly cold month with roads impassible and many suffering from "la grippe." Ads in the Record urged coughers to find relief with Foley's Honey and Tar which would heal and strengthen lungs. Visiting specialists from the Cleveland Institute of Medicine and Surgery came to the Hotel for one day for consultations, examinations, diagnoses, advice and to introduce the latest medicines. All free. "You will be told whether you can be cured or not. Those under the care of a local physician are not invited."

Another Record ad included a drawing of a new car, the Halsman. It resembled a big-wheeled buggy, was low in price and said to be able to go through snow and mud and outrun other autos on hills.

February 1958

Present oldtimers remember vividly the "month long storm." It was a widespread record-breaker, especially hard on country dwellers who were snowed in for weeks. When J. Robert Brink reached the Leon Woodard house in Gulick, he found snow piled up to the eaves. Coping competently, Leon was left food by the highway for him to retrieve.

Five men climbed for three hours from Delmar Drake's in West River to reach the Geisingers on Sunnyside who were running low on food. Mr and Mrs William Kayser were isolated at home in West Italy for four weeks.

Drifts were close to the tops of phone poles. When plows weren't strong enough to move the tons of the white stuff, bulldozers were. Unfortunately one broke a gas pipe line in Bloomfield, temporarily depriving about 400 homes of heat. -

Workers toiled overtime, people took care of each other and mail delivery, a matter of competitive pride, went through more often than not.

Beth Flory's "Glancing Backward" column in the Naples Record is compiled from
old news items that appeared in the Record. Reprinted with permission of the Naples Record.

Index of articles by Beth Flory

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