The 1930s Decade in Centerville and Washington Township
Exhibit at Asahel Wright House

 

As with all decades in our community history, the decade of the 1930s is interesting and fun to delve into.  Centerville was a small country village that supported an active farming community.  The crossroads were lined with overhanging maples and the streets were lined with houses of various style; the oldest made from stones provided by the various quarries in the community.  The front yards were decked out in numerous colorful blossoms and the back yards filled with gardens of vegetables to eat and sell. 

In our exhibit, we seek to set the tone of the time by our inviting front porch.  In Celia Elliott's, A Centerville Memoir:1933, she remembers that "there was a keen sense of belonging in our town, where "everyone knew your name" and you spoke to everyone even though you passed a porch sitter a dozen times a day."


In 1930, there were 500 people in the city and 125 houses.  In 2000, there were 25,000 people and 11,163 houses.
 

 

We have a large aerial photograph of the four corners of Centerville and a map of pictures to see if you can locate the buildings on the map.

There were two grocery stores; Mr. Decker was on the northwest corner and Mr. McCray on the southwest corner.  Mr. Kleckner ladled out ice cream and sold penny candy.  The Village Inn was a good place to have a meal and Mamie Puterbaugh ran the post office out of her home which was attached.  Mrs. Montgomery's hotel was reminiscent of the old taverns that made the village famous as a traveler's rest. There were filling stations and pumps to fill your car.  Two physicians, Dr. Slagle and Dr. Keever, lived across from each other and shared the medical needs of the community.  Mr. Eby, the village barber, cut hair and passed on the news of the day.  Mrs. McCray had an antique shop and there was a blacksmith shop down the street and the library in stone cottage next door.  Jim White, the traffic officer, rode a motorcycle and gave out traffic tickets.  He was allotted $10 a month for gas and oil.


The Grange, an organization for farmer's, held its sessions in the Town Hall.  The Knights of Pythias, for the promotion of universal peace, met in their own hall on West Franklin Street.

The Ladies Glee Club was formed out of the Washington Township Schools PTA and flourished from 1932 to 1946.  It was directed by Marie Stanye Marks.   The Garden Club was conceived by Ida Weller and Dale Seitner in May 1930 for "the advancement of gardening, flowers and vegetables; development of home gardens and furthering of village and countryside beautification; to aid in the protection of forests, wildflowers, birds and game."

The Washington Township Adult School was formed in 1933 by Ida Weller, who was dean of the school until her death in 1952.  It replaced the Farmer's Institute that fell because of the Great Depression.

In the Rural Washington Township section of the exhibit, you will find pictures from several local farms and a variety of farming tasks, such as butchering, haymaking, threshing wheat, and corn shredding.

You will learn that...
 Hay is clover, timothy and other dried grasses that are fed to cattle and horses.

Straw is the stem of the dried wheat plant and is used for bedding.


Families went to Miamisburg on Saturday night to shop, bank, and visit with friends.
 


In 1938 there was one school, 319 students, 15 teachers, 8 bus drivers, and one janitor.  In 2004 there were eleven schools, 8,146 students, 578 teachers, 130 bus drivers, and 254 janitors, cooks, and secretaries.  When you visit the school section of this exhibit you will see pictures of teachers, students, the band, a school bus, sports teams and cheerleaders.
 
In the hearth room, we have a 1930s kitchen set up from the apron and the canned goods to the stove and refrigerator, gratefully borrowed from the Montgomery County Historical Society.