Monday, October 28, 2013

Church photo



The work on the front of St. Michael's Church has been completed in time for the 175th anniversary of the parish.

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Newsletter

The Christmas dinners are filling up fast. There are already 345 reservations and we can't take many more than 400.

The museum won't be able to participate in the town Christmas activities this year because our dinners will still be going on so I'm sorry to say we won't have the train. I'm sure it will be set up somewhere else on that Sunday.

Jim Rosengarten spoke to Creative Marketing Strategies. They have new management and they may now be able to print on demand so we might be able to get more copies of "Fort Loramie Main Street and Beyond". They would be paperback.

The tables in the museum are very heavy and difficult to carry over to German Heritage so we may buy a couple of the lighter vinyl tables although it isn't certain whether or not they are sturdy enough.

The Fort Loramie Chamber of Commerce will be holding their annual business expo Nov. 6 at 3:30-7:30 in St. Michael's Hall. Public is cordially invited. It's a chance for local businesses to show what they do. There will be refreshments and door prizes.

We got a donation of military effects that belonged to Homer Bornhorst who was in the Merchant Marines during WWII.

The Rosengartens donated a new cordless phone with 4 handsets so we can have phone service all over the museum.

German Heritage was a success. Except for two inches of rain Friday night the weather cooperated. We sold several books and we have only 7 copies left of "Fort Loramie, Main Street and Beyond". Steve Meyer was the winner of the afghan that was made by Judy Prueter and raffled off.

It looks like the work on the front of the church is finished.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

1938-39 first grade


If you know who any of the kids are let me know what row, etc. they are in.
I've been told that the boy on the far left of the back row is probably Jack Busse and one of the boys in the front row behind the word Ft. Loramie is probably Ed Rosengaren.

It happened in October

In Oct. 1918 besides WWI the Spanish Influenza was raging. Looking through old newspapers the deaths seem to be mostly young males in their 20's. The disease ravaged the Army camps where soldiers were gathering before being deployed overseas. Local victims were Grover Cox who died at Camp Sherman in Chillocothe and 34-year-old Henry Hasebrook. 28-year-old Dr. Ruhlman died in Minster. Almost every town in the area had one or two deaths. Schools and colleges were closed and church services were cancelled. Some businesses shut their doors. People were advised to not gather in groups.

The US Health Department issued information on the disease. They said that although it was generally known as Spanish flu it was unlikely it originated in Spain. There had been periodic epidemics in Europe and over the world of the disease which appeared to have originated in the orient and spread by ships. The Germans reported the disease on the Eastern front in 1917 and it had spread across Europe in May, June and July of 1918.
The symptoms were the ones familiar to us today with a sudden high fever that lasted 3 or 4 days after which the victim recovered unless complications such as pneumonia or meningitis developed. The Health Department provided a poem:

"Cover up each cough and sneeze
If you don't you'll spread disease."

By the middle of November the danger was mainly over although there were still a few cases cropping up here and there. Schools reopened and people went back to church and work and public attention turned to end of the war celebrations.

Also in October

This was on the front page of the Minster Post which can be seen on the Minster Historical Society's website.

Also in October of 1918 the Minster Post stopped printing in German and began publishing entirely in English. It was pointed out that fewer people could read German anymore and the paper needed a new printer. The Lanston Monotype Keyboard and Caster, "the most wonderful machine ever invented", was installed at Post Printing.

Cure for pneumonia

In 1918 in the Minster Post who copied it from another newspaper.

Take 6 or 10 onions, chop fine and put in a large spider over a hot fire. Add the same quantity of rye meal and enough vinegar to form a paste. Let it simmer 5 or 10 minutes and put in a cotton bag large enough to cover the lungs. Apply to the chest as hot as the patient can bear. Keep reheating and applying.

A spider was a cast iron pot with feet made to cook in a fireplace.

Old Minster Posts are available on the Minster Historical Society's website.

http://www.minsterhistoricalsociety.com/minster-newspapers.html