The Eureka Herald Community March 5, 2025 • Page 9
1930s (Part 3 of 10), submitted by Mike Pitko Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex in Topeka-$19, 448), Mother Bickerdyke Home( opened in Ellsworth 1897 for widows and orphans of Civil War veterans, closed 1952-$10,569), Soldier’s Home( opened in 1890 at Fort Dodge, still open for veterans with expanded services today-$81,879), School For the Blind( opened in 1868, located in Kansas City, Kansas-$33,174), School for the Deaf( open in 1866 in Olathe, originally called Asylum for Deaf and Dumb-$19,527). These reductions in spending totaled about 1.2 million dollars and would help keep the state mill levy at 1.43 mills.
Eureka had an indoor baseball league that played at Memorial Hall in the 1930s for a few years. The rules and equipment had to be different than traditional baseball. They did play nine innings. There were four teams in the league and sometimes out of town teams played Eureka teams also. A few of the visiting teams out of Wichita had players that were playing in the major leagues in the summer and picked up extra money in the off season by playing indoor baseball. In 1931 there were 40 Eureka High School boys practicing basketball at Memorial Hall. That would have been a crowded floor to practice on.
The Hon. John E. Errickson, governor of Montana was in Greenwood County visiting a brother and two sisters. He was born in Wisconsin and raised in northwest Greenwood and after high school went on to college and graduated from Washburn College and then went to Montana 40 years ago. He is serving his second term as governor.
In December of 1931, a meeting was held by service clubs, chamber of commerce members, ministerial alliance and mayor to organize a movement to help the real needy in Eureka and send the unworthy professional on his way.
In 1932, there were thirteen high schools in Greenwood County. Five of those schools has enrollment ranging from 25 to 50. Five schools had 50 to 75 students. There were three schools that had over 75 students, Hamilton, Madison and Eureka. Total enrollment for all high schools was 1033.
The Eureka Board of Education reduced its budget for teachers’ salary for the school year 1932-33 by $7,726. This is about a 14% reduction. In the last two years the total salaries paid teachers has been reduced from $63,748 to $46, 774.
On April 18, 1932, a lynching occurred near Atwood. This was the 47th lynching in Kansas. The last previous lynching in Kansas took place in April, 1920 in Mulberry. A 15-year-old girl was attacked and had her throat slashed by a razor, near Breezy Hill. A mob got the key to the jail and lynched one of the men on Main Street in view of children returning home from school. The state had abolished capital punishment in 1902, except for treason. The State of Kansas last carried out a death penalty in 1870. Only five persons previously had been hung by the state. (State later reinstated death penalty, remember Smith and Hickok in the Clutter killings- “In Cold Blood”).
The Greenwood County Chapter of the American Red Cross received word in July 1932, that enough wheat to make 364 barrels of flour (the weight of a barrel of flour was 196 pounds) will be shipped to Eureka from western Kansas and made into flour at the Eureka Roller Mills. The finished product will be distributed to needy families in Greenwood County. In September of 1932, a special meeting was held by the local chapter of the American Red Cross to discuss the distribution and use of cotton cloth furnished by the federal farm board to make garments for the needy. Greenwood County’s quota will be around 5,500 yards and a local committee will oversee the making and distribution of the garments.
The Community Welfare Association which was started in 1931 to address the needs of the poor in the community had various activities that helped the needy and destitute. It established a community wood pile, community garden and provided sleeping quarters for transients in addition to its principal function of extending aid to local families and persons in the form of food, clothing and medical and surgical attendance.
The community garden was a rented tract of 11 acres southeast of town and just outside the city limits and divided into 24 garden plots. The association paid ground rental and paid for first plowing and furnished seeds, in exchange for a share of the potatoes raised by each gardener. The association got 80 bushels and distributed them to the poor. Seeds were also furnished for 30 gardens in town. A few families have been put up for the night at hotels or lodging homes, but a room in the courthouse basement, supplied with cots and a blanket, takes care of most of the men transients. The following is a list of local relief over the past year of 1932: CLOTHING: Children shoes-137 pairs, Shoes repaired- 12 pairs, Overalls- 40 pairs, Hose-37 pairs, Beds-5, Underwear-34 suits. MEDICAL AND SURGICAL AID: Tonsil operations-12, Braces for crippled children-2, Major operations-2, Twenty- seven train tickets to K.C. for crippled children. MISCELLANCOUS: Seeds for gardens-54, Christmas baskets-92, Milk-1,213 quarts, Books for 56 school children. TRANSIENTS: Gas and oil-40, Lodging in hotel-40, Meals-328, Grocery orders-19.
In March of 1933, banks in six Greenwood County towns were open for business, the official permission to reopen for banking functions after a nine-day bank holiday that had been ordered by state and national banking departments. Banks had been closed to stem bank failures and to restore confidence in the financial system. Banks offering traditional deposit service could no longer engage in investment activities like underwriting securities. The FDIC was established to insure individual bank deposits up to $2,500. Those six banks included Home National Bank of Eureka, Eureka Bank of Eureka, Fall River State Bank, Virgil State Bank, First National Bank of Madison, First National Bank of Hamilton and Lamont State Bank. The Madison State Bank was open under restrictions limiting withdrawals to 5 per cent of the amount on deposit when the national holiday went into effect. The Severy State Bank has also received authorization to reopen. Other banks will receive their permits later. Throughout Greenwood County banks that opened report a material increase of deposits over withdrawals.
