GLEANER HISTORY: The transformative 1920s
Gleaner reports and photos illustrate how much life has changed in the past century. First-hand accounts bring history alive. That was how Judy Gager of Greenville, Michigan, felt when she recently noticed a story about the early years of Wheatfield Arbor (MI). Written by Alice M. (Gillett) Brown, it detailed Gleaner arbor activities, especially during the 1920s. Judy recognized the significance of Alice Brown’s history. Judy helps care for the Oakfield Township Museum, which occupies an old Gleaner hall. “There are so many similarities I can picture between her memories and things I have imagined took place in our Gleaner hall,” said Judy, who received the Historic Society of Michigan’s 2023 State History Award for Distinguished Volunteer Service. “I am sure others would conjure up similar memories and stories.” The 1920s saw huge transformations in American life, making it seem more distant than just 10 decades ago. Most rural Americans began the decade relying on horses and dirt roads. Long-distance travel usually involved trains. Average U.S. lifespan was about 54 years. Wheatfield Arbor’s hall was located at the corner of Meridian and Commercial radio was just beginning, most farms did Lamb roads in Ingham County, Michigan. It was shown in 1926. not have electric lights, and most families used ice boxes instead of refrigerators. “When I first began going with my parents I remember Forty years ago, Alice Brown (born in 1915, died in 1994) wrote a history of her arbor. Members recalled how ladies went into the corn fields in snow and cold to gather corn donated by farmers to help fund the building. The land was donated where a cheese factory had burned down. Construction was completed over the course of several years.
24 \ Winter 2024 \ Forum Magazine
there was no inside wall board on the walls,” Alice recalled. “The two-by-fours were showing on the inside which meant it was hard to heat. There were three stoves to build fires in, which did take some doing. You froze stiff until they got going. Each arrival would pull up a chair in a circle around one stove in one corner, and the youngsters around the other in another corner. We had
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