October 5, 2012 Coats Museum News
In 1933, more than 90 percent of the banks operating in North Carolina had applied for National Deposit Insurance Corporation membership, or would have their deposits insured automatically because of the Federal Reserve, or because they are national banks. There were 277 banks in N.C. (Harnett County News November 23, 1933). Was there a bank in Coats in 1933? Read on.
On Friday, December 1, Coats School would have a program that would review the work of the students for the current year. Harnett County, according to the U.S. Census Department in Washington, D.C. , reported 24,983 bales of cotton ginned from the 1933 crop prior to November 14, 1933. This data as compared to the same time period in 1932 showed a gain of 2,373 bales in the year of 1933.
The same edition of the December 7, 1933 of the Harnett County News reported that J.B. Ennis of Coats Grove Township had been renamed Chairman of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and H. M. O’Quinn as vice chairman. The county tax collector George L. Cannady disclosed that property owners and other taxpayers of Harnett County had paid $280,000 of the $375.145.52 due for the 1932 tax year. Since 1932 was regarded as a “hard year”, this payment disclosure was proclaimed as splendid.
Without looking at your vehicle’s license plate, how many of you can tell me what color it is? New license plates were placed on sale on December 1, 1933. The 1933 tags were blue and white. If the colors were hard to distinguish the numbers, they had to be returned for ones not faded. The folks who graduated from Coats High School would like the plates for 1934—they were black and gold. Did the schools have school colors in 1934? I do know that A.C. Grimes, Ralph Gregory, J.S. Cobb, G.C. Kennedy, and Erastus Ennis were to report to Lillington for Superior Court jury duty (Harnett County News December 7, 1933).
The December 8, 1933 Coats Town Board meeting minutes recorded that the contract with CPL was to continue with the reduction of streetlights. The board was asking for the time in days regarding streets, cemetery, and the building of a jailhouse and town hall. The proper authorities were to receive this extension time frame. Do you recall reading about any of these items in earlier meeting of the town board? Dry-cleaning, pressing, and laundry services had to pay a privilege tax of $10.Where were those business operated in Coats and wonder how much money was generated from the tax.
Who has heard of the Gregory School in Grove Township? Did it ever have another name? Where was it located or did it have two sites? I do know that the Harnett County Board of Education met with H.W. Prince as chair and they voted to sell the Gregory School property to Mr. D.S. Langdon of Angier, Route 2 for the sum of $ 400.00 in cash (Harnett County News December 14, 1933).
Let’s revisit an item mentioned in last week’s column about midwives. Statistics showed that one-third of all children born in Harnett County were in the presence of midwives, without the assistance of a doctor. The paper also recorded that it was time to display those 1934 automobile license tags. If a strange man had approached a car in the yard, he might have been looking to remove those old car tags (Harnett County News December 28, 1933). Is that scary?
One has to wonder what it was like to live in the early thirties of the 1900’s. Carsie Denning, Sr. recalled to this writer that prior to the “Great Depression”, most farmers in the area had Model “T” Fords or one of the many other makes of cars that could be purchased for much less than five hundred dollars. When the Depression started in 1929, hard times followed for almost everyone. Most could not afford license plates or gasoline. They parked their cars, and mules and wagons became the common sight along the dirt roads. Wagons were good for hauling produce to market but cumbersome for people’s transportation. Cars were jacked up and the front axle and wheels or the rear axle was used to make a cart that could be pulled by a mule or horse. If the springs were used, it made a super deluxe cart. Some makers padded the seat and painted the wood for a cheap means of travel for business or pleasure. The cart was kept under the shelter where the car had once stayed, but the car was relocated to the back of the barn to keep it out of sight. Very few of these cars were ever rebuilt and operated again.
Carsie continued that during the “Great Depression”, the radio had not yet arrived on the scene for many and most youngsters had no means of transportation. Young people came up with many ways to fill their time with pleasure. One was “square dancing” and another was just getting together. Parties were held in the homes on Saturday nights with many games being played such as “spinning the bottle” or singing groups. One thing lacking was money. The best thing that came out of it was that young people enjoyed being together and that didn’t require money to have a good time.
Carsie continued that youngsters of today have been “denied the privilege of being denied” meaning that they have been given all that they wanted. When the people of the depression days ask blessing at the dinner table, they really mean thanks in that they remember when the table was not so full.
The year 1933 had come to an end but those who lived in that period remember that the Nazis opened the first concentration camp, enforced a ban on Jewish merchants, and sent Jews to prison camps. In America, FDR took the dollar off the gold standard. J.P. Morgan, the world’s richest man, paid no income tax in 1931 or 1932. Roosevelt’s big spending made millions of jobs. Globe flier Wiley Post brought publicity and credibility to air travel.
The bookselves in the Coats Museum Research Library are packed full of local and family histories and much more. Tommy Coats of Coats Cabinets, the great- great- grandson Tom Coats (the town’s founder), will start on the Exhibit Hall’s display cases in a few days. John and Doris Johnson Nolan have given the museum a piano and a collection of Civil War and WWII books-what a wonderful gift to the museum. A special thank you goes to Jutta Turlington, Lynda and Robie Butler for their contributions to the Coats Museum Building Fund to honor the memory of Dina Fann. Thank you goes to H.L. Sorrell for your memorial gift to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of M.P. Lee.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY RECORD IN OCTOBER 05, 1912.
In 1933, more than 90 percent of the banks operating in North Carolina had applied for National Deposit Insurance Corporation membership, or would have their deposits insured automatically because of the Federal Reserve, or because they are national banks. There were 277 banks in N.C. (Harnett County News November 23, 1933). Was there a bank in Coats in 1933? Read on.
On Friday, December 1, Coats School would have a program that would review the work of the students for the current year. Harnett County, according to the U.S. Census Department in Washington, D.C. , reported 24,983 bales of cotton ginned from the 1933 crop prior to November 14, 1933. This data as compared to the same time period in 1932 showed a gain of 2,373 bales in the year of 1933.
The same edition of the December 7, 1933 of the Harnett County News reported that J.B. Ennis of Coats Grove Township had been renamed Chairman of the Harnett County Board of Commissioners and H. M. O’Quinn as vice chairman. The county tax collector George L. Cannady disclosed that property owners and other taxpayers of Harnett County had paid $280,000 of the $375.145.52 due for the 1932 tax year. Since 1932 was regarded as a “hard year”, this payment disclosure was proclaimed as splendid.
Without looking at your vehicle’s license plate, how many of you can tell me what color it is? New license plates were placed on sale on December 1, 1933. The 1933 tags were blue and white. If the colors were hard to distinguish the numbers, they had to be returned for ones not faded. The folks who graduated from Coats High School would like the plates for 1934—they were black and gold. Did the schools have school colors in 1934? I do know that A.C. Grimes, Ralph Gregory, J.S. Cobb, G.C. Kennedy, and Erastus Ennis were to report to Lillington for Superior Court jury duty (Harnett County News December 7, 1933).
The December 8, 1933 Coats Town Board meeting minutes recorded that the contract with CPL was to continue with the reduction of streetlights. The board was asking for the time in days regarding streets, cemetery, and the building of a jailhouse and town hall. The proper authorities were to receive this extension time frame. Do you recall reading about any of these items in earlier meeting of the town board? Dry-cleaning, pressing, and laundry services had to pay a privilege tax of $10.Where were those business operated in Coats and wonder how much money was generated from the tax.
Who has heard of the Gregory School in Grove Township? Did it ever have another name? Where was it located or did it have two sites? I do know that the Harnett County Board of Education met with H.W. Prince as chair and they voted to sell the Gregory School property to Mr. D.S. Langdon of Angier, Route 2 for the sum of $ 400.00 in cash (Harnett County News December 14, 1933).
Let’s revisit an item mentioned in last week’s column about midwives. Statistics showed that one-third of all children born in Harnett County were in the presence of midwives, without the assistance of a doctor. The paper also recorded that it was time to display those 1934 automobile license tags. If a strange man had approached a car in the yard, he might have been looking to remove those old car tags (Harnett County News December 28, 1933). Is that scary?
One has to wonder what it was like to live in the early thirties of the 1900’s. Carsie Denning, Sr. recalled to this writer that prior to the “Great Depression”, most farmers in the area had Model “T” Fords or one of the many other makes of cars that could be purchased for much less than five hundred dollars. When the Depression started in 1929, hard times followed for almost everyone. Most could not afford license plates or gasoline. They parked their cars, and mules and wagons became the common sight along the dirt roads. Wagons were good for hauling produce to market but cumbersome for people’s transportation. Cars were jacked up and the front axle and wheels or the rear axle was used to make a cart that could be pulled by a mule or horse. If the springs were used, it made a super deluxe cart. Some makers padded the seat and painted the wood for a cheap means of travel for business or pleasure. The cart was kept under the shelter where the car had once stayed, but the car was relocated to the back of the barn to keep it out of sight. Very few of these cars were ever rebuilt and operated again.
Carsie continued that during the “Great Depression”, the radio had not yet arrived on the scene for many and most youngsters had no means of transportation. Young people came up with many ways to fill their time with pleasure. One was “square dancing” and another was just getting together. Parties were held in the homes on Saturday nights with many games being played such as “spinning the bottle” or singing groups. One thing lacking was money. The best thing that came out of it was that young people enjoyed being together and that didn’t require money to have a good time.
Carsie continued that youngsters of today have been “denied the privilege of being denied” meaning that they have been given all that they wanted. When the people of the depression days ask blessing at the dinner table, they really mean thanks in that they remember when the table was not so full.
The year 1933 had come to an end but those who lived in that period remember that the Nazis opened the first concentration camp, enforced a ban on Jewish merchants, and sent Jews to prison camps. In America, FDR took the dollar off the gold standard. J.P. Morgan, the world’s richest man, paid no income tax in 1931 or 1932. Roosevelt’s big spending made millions of jobs. Globe flier Wiley Post brought publicity and credibility to air travel.
The bookselves in the Coats Museum Research Library are packed full of local and family histories and much more. Tommy Coats of Coats Cabinets, the great- great- grandson Tom Coats (the town’s founder), will start on the Exhibit Hall’s display cases in a few days. John and Doris Johnson Nolan have given the museum a piano and a collection of Civil War and WWII books-what a wonderful gift to the museum. A special thank you goes to Jutta Turlington, Lynda and Robie Butler for their contributions to the Coats Museum Building Fund to honor the memory of Dina Fann. Thank you goes to H.L. Sorrell for your memorial gift to the Coats Museum Endowment to honor the memory of M.P. Lee.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COATS MUSEUM NEWS WAS PUBLISHED IN THE DAILY RECORD IN OCTOBER 05, 1912.
