It is 1933. We're going back in time. Mr. William Joseph Showalter is helping us with his National Geographic Magazine article, New York - An Empire Within a Republic, November, 1933. Want to go to Coney Island? It is a New York City neighborhood with a huge amusement park on the ocean.
"Coney Island, the Mecca of Millions: During the long summer season this world-known amusement area is daily and nightly invaded by huge crowds seeking escape from the hot city. Excursions by water from New York began about 1840. By 1875, steam railroads were operating, giving way later to fast electric lines. The extensive beach is covered not with bowlders (boulders), but with humanity at play," (photo caption, p. 545).
FYI: Robert Fulton invented the steam engine. He navigated his first steamboat up the Hudson River from New York to Albany in 1807. In 1933, all but 2% of shipping was done by steam power.
In this article there is a second 8-page color photograph section, a visual treat of New York scenery which starts with a spectacular show of a rainbow over Niagara Falls. No wonder it was and continues to be such an international tourist attraction!
One industry that is nearly obsolete now was flourishing in New York in 1933: making film for cameras. "The Eastman Kodak works at Rochester also make 200,000 miles of motion-picture film annually - enough to make eight bands of film around the waist of the earth. Cotton from the sunny south, saltpeter from Chile, sulfur from Texas, wood alcohol from Tennessee, hides from the Argentine pampa, silver from Mexico, and potassium bromide from the salt brines of the Great Lakes are brought together in the manufacture of film," (photo caption, p. 565).
There is yet another, a third 8-page section of color photographs in this article, featuring sports to be enjoyed in the snowy winter New York mountains. History abounds in this state: "The restored South Platform at Fort Ticonderoga: Built by the French in 1755, this old fort changed hands repeatedly during the quarter of a century that followed. Crown Point and Ticonderoga were the keys to New York from the days of Champlain to those of Washington," (photo caption, p. 576).
Schenectady, New York boasted of a large General Electric research facility in 1933. Predictions were that "Household air-conditioning plants constitute the next step beyond household electric refrigeration, and will follow the telephone, the radio, and the electric refrigerator into your house and mine," (p. 577). Amazing now that telephone land lines will soon be in danger of obsolescence!
Have you heard of "Woolworth's" stores? These were the five-and-dime stores that were the precursor of "Dollar Stores" and "Wal-marts." It was in Watertown, New York that Frank Woolworth persuaded a local merchant to let him set up a five-cent table in the former's department store," (p. 579), Unfortunately, none of the younger generation (born in the 1960's and later) know about Woolworth's. Picture all kinds of merchandise without being encased in plastic packaging, just lying in bins on tables. Picture all wooden floors. That was Woolworth's.
One October, when I was about eleven years old, I wanted to try on the black wigs in the Woolworth's store nearest my home in Louisville, Kentucky. The movie actress, Elizabeth Taylor, was very popular and I wanted to see how I would look in black hair (I had really light blond hair). In the store, I happened to be the only customer and there was only one sales clerk. I went to the Halloween costume section and took a black wig. I looked into the mirror and put on the wig. I started laughing out loud! The black wig was such a stark contrast that it looked like my pale face disappeared! The sales clerk came over and politely asked, "Is anything wrong?" I said, "No," replaced the wig on the counter and left. I enjoyed my Elizabeth Taylor paper dolls (if you don't know what these were, just ask the nearest grandma!)
Mr. Showalter begin this long article about the State of New York with lavish, well-deserved praise and ends it in the same manner: "New York! A Redskin dominion before becoming a Paleface empire; land upon which pivoted world issues in colonial times and the fate of the United States during the Revolution and the War of 1812; devoted friend of Washington in guiding the destinies of a nascent nation . . . the traveler leaves you with regret, but with a new appreciation of your past and present and of the destiny toward which you move!" (p. 584). I couldn't agree more. This was an amazing presentation of the greatness of a State!
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