Christmas in 1922 was warm and bustling in Columbus
Christmas in Columbus in 1922 was a balmy kind of day. The weather was clear, and for a town where snow in October was not unheard of, the temperature was a pleasant 51 degrees. It was shirtsleeve weather and welcome to many people who had places to go and people to see over the holidays.
And there was a lot to see and do. Ohio’s capital city was a bustling town of transportation and trade, as well as a center of government and the home of Ohio State University. A small city at the turn of the 20th century that prided itself on being “America’s Hometown,” Columbus had become an industrial and manufacturing town, as well. Four steel mills on the south end of town gave that neighborhood the nickname of “Steelton,” whereas factories making products as diverse as coal mining equipment to pitchforks made their home in the area that local police and nearby neighbors had called the “Short North.”
The economy was doing reasonably well as America moved into the decade that was known as the Roaring ’20s and Ohioan Warren Harding was spending his second Christmas as president of the United States. While most families enjoyed the holiday by exchanging gifts and enjoying food with family and friends, there were always people in the city who needed a bit of help.
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And there was help at hand. A local newspaper reported that “Some idea of the good work done among the poor families of Columbus this Christmas may be gained from the announcement at ten o’clock Monday, the 24th, that 2351 families alone had been given baskets by the Santa Claus Club alone.”
Other groups were helpful at the same time. “One hundred and seventy-five families were befriended by the Salvation Army, which also gave a dinner to needy ones at noon. A Christmas tree for children Wednesday in the hall on East State Street will also be given. Fifty members of the Elks Club delivered heavy baskets to 660 homes Monday. In the baskets were a sugar-cured ham, a plug hat full of potatoes, oats, flour, butter, coffee, sugar, bread, seven cans of vegetables and two pounds of candy.”
Other provisions, supplies and gifts of food and clothing were provided by church groups, fraternal organizations and charitable organizations like the Charity Newsies.
Special musical programs of one sort or another were offered both on the holiday and through the previous weekend in local churches and by local choruses and choirs. And for people with means or the desire to dine, there were a variety of offerings locally. In the new era of alcoholic Prohibition, an alternative called the Moireen at Third and Broad Streets offered “Cabaret-Music-Dancing on Christmas Night and every evening during Christmas week [with] Special Turkey Christmas Dinner-Noon and Evening-$2.00 per plate.”
A little more in the mainstream, one could find that the Chittenden Hotel “will serve their usual Christmas dinner-noon and evening-$1.50 per plate-[with]-special musical program by the Francis Handibeau Orchestra.”
The Deshler Hotel at Broad and High Streets offered even more. “On Christmas Day the Deshler has always been the favored place of those who wish to entertain a bit more formally and amid cheery surroundings which are in perfect keeping with the spirit of the season.”
“This year plans for Christmas Day are more elaborate than ever at the Deshler. A special Christmas dinner will be served in the Crystal Room from 12:00 noon to 9:00 PM. Every care has been taken in preparing the menu. It includes just the things that have long been established traditions of a Christmas dinner, and served in a manner that you are sure to appreciate.”
“On Christmas night Tom Howard’s orchestra will play in the Crystal Room from 9:00 to midnight for supper dancing. Wonderful music, a complete supper, and no cover charge.”
And there was a final gentle reminder. “Make reservations now for the two big New Year’s Eve parties-one in the Crystal Room, the other in the Ball Room. The demand for tables is greater than ever before. Phone or write today.”
Most of the rest of the major hotels in Columbus offered similar dinner arrangements, and local theaters offering vaudeville and motion pictures stayed open late on Christmas night. There were a lot of places open for people looking to spend their time in ways formal or frivolous – or a bit of both.
But for a number of people, a new form of entertainment was available. In an era when electric lights and crank handle telephones were still considered novel, and there was no television, digital photography or cellphones. It is difficult to imagine how wondrous the coming of radio seemed to the people of the 1920s.
Wireless radio had been around in one form or another since Guglielmo Marconi had perfected it at the turn of the century. But the technology was fragile and expensive and only used by governments or the military until the end of World War I. Then in 1920, radio station KDKA of Pittsburgh transmitted the results of the 1920 election to a few local radio receivers.
In 1922, there were local radio stations in Columbus, the newest of which was founded by Ohio State to go on to a century of service as WOSU Public Media. Radio in the 1920s was a wonder to many people. For as little as $30, about one week’s pay for a local worker, one could put a radio receiver in one’s living room and listen to the world. In an era before frequency power regulation, many stations put out very strong signals. A local newspaper offered weekly radio listening options of music and other programs from stations as varied as KYW of Chicago, WJZ of Newark, New Jersey, WWJ of Detroit and WOC of Davenport, Iowa, as well as KDKA of Pittsburgh. All were offering musical programs on Christmas.
Local historian and author Ed Lentz writes the As It Were column for ThisWeek Community News and The Columbus Dispatch.
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