Those Depression Years part 2

The Ranks of the unemployed grew rapidly as the depression intensified.Soon government projects were underway. For the young boy graduate, there was the civilian conservation corps (ccc) a conservation project. the pay was $30.00 per month, $15.00 of which went home to his parents.For women,there was the Sewing Room.This was located in the block east of the Bank in an upstairs room. Several women worked here making dress, shirts, children s clothing and bed clothes.These were given to these who needed them. Another project with which I am not familiar was binding library books for schools. I think this was done by young people at the court house.  Roads were surfaced with shale from the old mines. This, was a red substance that packed down hard and made an all weather road. It was especially used on the mail routes. People who lived along these roads were asked to donate money and the rest  was furnished by the government. Creek gravel was used in areas where it was available. The first of these gravel roads was built east of town with gravel from the Philbrick Hills. It took quite a long time to surface these roads because there were no large earth moving machines used. This was one way to WPA and PWA projects were started. They built gymnasiums, athletic fields and band stands. The Rich Hill City Band Stand, the Rich Hill High School Gymnasium and Athletic Field were built by thesprojects. Most of this work was well done and still stands in good condition today still there were many unemployed who formed long lines at City Hall on Commodity Day. They were given government surplus products. I recall seeing people carrying large sacks of grapefruit,onions and cabbage. They also received prunes, raisins,rice, flour and powdered milk.At certain times turkeys and hams were also given. There was another group of unemployed who were traveling from town to town. Since these people had  no money they rode under the train cars or in empty boxcars. When the train stopped they got off and spent the night in town. Harve Campbell was our city marshall. He was a large  man with an equally large heart. During cold weather he would unlock the jail and let the travelers sleep in there out of the cold.
  "Bud" J. D., Anderson had a grocery store on North Sixth Street. He would open up early each morning so working men could buy something for their lunch buckets. At this same time the men at the jail were awakening and getting ready to hop another freight train for another day's journey. Before leaving town they would go to the store and ask for bread, coffee and tobacco. Bud would never turn them down on the bread and coffee, but he refused  tobacco. I am sure other merchants had the same experiences.

  On one very cold night, the travelers at the jail had gathered enough food to make a stew. Mr.Peter-man, a butcher had given them a nice piece of meat and vegetables came from the merchants. They  had no stove on which to cook. The marshall's wife  had just purchased a kerosene stove from Sears. Feeling for these men, he sent them to his daughter's home to get the stove. The daughter not  knowing what to do stood in amazement. When they  knowing what to do stood in amazement. When they  knowing what to do stood in amazement. When they told her that her father had sent them for the stove  she gave it to them. They took the stove to the jail, cooked the stew and the next morning cleaned the stove and returned it before leaving to catch a train for another town.

 Almost daily some of these traveling unemployed would go into the residential area and ask the housewives for a sandwich and coffee. Sometimes they  would offer to do some work for the handout. When  given the handout, they would often sit on the porch,under a tree, or on a well rock and eat it: Sometimes they put it in their pocket and saved it for another meal. They never left scraps of paper or litter.

People who had jobs were not always secure because someone would underbid for their job. 

There was hot much market for farm produce, so sometimes the farmer went from house to house selling roasting ears, potatoes, apples, watermelons,and even fish. Some farmers borrowed money to buy land when the price of grain was good. when the prices fell,they were unable to make payments and lost their land. there were suicides caused by debts people were unable to pay.

  

Those Depression Years By Mary Griffen Part 1

Wagon Wheels Jan.13,1977
Those of us who lived through the 1930's will remember the depression in the light of our own experiences.
During the 1920's unemployment had been on the rise.The war ended, many soldiers returned to no jobs, and the demand for American agricultural products was diminishing as European nations went back into production.

  The real blow came to Rich Hill on August 27, 1930, when our two banks failed to open at 9:00 a.m. The same pattern followed here as elsewhere across the nation. It was heart breaking for the elderly, who lost the savings they had hoped to use in their nonproductive years. Businesses were hard hit and many working men lost  their jobs.

At this time all the buildings in the business district were occupied. There were two feed and poultry houses, two lumber yards, an elevator, four barber shops, with two or three chairs and a shoe shine boy, a bakery, a cleaning and tailoring shop, shoe repair shop, harness shop, two hardware stores, two men's clothing stores, two drug stores with soda fountains, two jewelry stores, two dry-good stores, insurance offices, two medical doctors, two osteopaths, two dentists, a lawyer, a photograph studio, variety store, six or more grocery stores, a hotel, a theatre, restaurants, a telephone exchange, two local newspapers, a milinery shop, a hatchery, a blacksmith, garages, filling stations, two funeral homes, an implement shop, two butcher shops.and two second hand stores.
A familiar sound at 7:00 and 4:00 P.M. was the mine whistle. The mines furnished energy for the light and water plant, the Krieger-Klumpp Ice Plant,the local residences in addition to shipping some coal out on the railroad. The coal sold for $3.50 to $4.00 per ton.It was delivered by horse and wagon the men shoveled the coal into the coal houses. Men who worked in the mines were paid $2.50 per day in 1931.Most unskilled labor was $1.00 per day and carpenters received $.50 per hour.
The men who worked at the city power and light plant had year around employment.The Kreiger-Klumpp Ice Plant employed men three 8 hour shifts from May through October. Ice was delivered daily by an ice wagon with a little platform on the back for the man to stand on. People placed a card in the window to tell the ice man how much ice he was to put in their ice box. A twenty-five pound block of ice cost 15c. The large blocks of ice were scored and the ice man cut the size you ordered. Children would follow the ice wagon and Mr. Kreiger would give them chips of ice that broke off when he cut it. The men who worked at the Ice Plant would blow a whistle at 6:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m., and 10:00 p.m. when they were going off their shift. After the plant closed in October, deliveries were made only to the business district. The ice plant continued in opera­tion through the depression and until refrigerators were available about the time of World War II.
  My father was sexton at the cemetery and worked for $30.00 a month May through October. For the remainder of the year, he was paid for grave digging a box grave. If the family of the deceased was unable to pay, friends could get a permit from the City Hall to dig the grave for nothing. During the winter months my father would trim trees or do whatever he could get to do. My mother would sew for people and often got as little as 50c for making a dress and $2.00 for a coat. My parents managed to pay the bills and make payments on the place on this small income. We must remember that the water bill was $1.00 per month and if you couldn't afford $1.50 a month for electricity, you used a kerosene lamp. There were not many electric appliances. Washing was done on, the board, water was heated in the wash boiler and poor but we were fortunate; my father had a job.

1981 Rich Hill Yearbook Tiger

Football State Champions 1999

Rich Hill Mining Review December 2 1999

It was a dream that stared in the hot August sun for a small group of Rich Hill High School football players and their three coaches.
That dream became reality at 2;08 P.M. Friday, November 26,1999.
The 1999 Rich hill Football Tigers had just won the Missouri Class 1A state title.They had won the 1999 Show Me Bowl, the 32nd MSHSAA Football Champion.And the title trophy was headed their way.
That dream stared on the practice field near Rich Hill High School with nobady watching but those three coaches.
Now,Clear across the state at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis,in front of a huge crowd of family,friends and fans, the 1A Champion title was theirs.
It had been a wild and wonderful ride that took in 14 straight Rich Hill victories,two,in crucial games by a slim one point margin.
As it should be, the championship game was a thriller with Rich Hill coming from behind to beat the Santa Fe Chiefs 15-7.
Thanksgiving plans were altered for many Rich Hillians, that turkey left in the freezer for a future dinner date.By bus and by car a growing crowed of fans made their way to St. Louis.And,in the end,they found a few more things to be thankful for.The Championship title for sure.A group of dedicated,hard working achieving young people even more so.And for certain memories to last a lifetime.

Dorcy Manchester

This is a Picture of Dorsey Manchester

Rich Hill Mo. Whiskey Jug

This Jug is on sale on E-bay Check it out

Rich Hill is a town in Bates County, Missouri.

Rich Hill is a town in Bates County, Missouri. The population was 1,461 at the 2000 census. Rich Hill is known as the “Town That Coal Built” The purpose of this Blog is to give some history of the town through old newspaper articles, history books, and other history sources