It is an evening in late January and I am looking out at one of the few snows we have had this winter. It has been rather mild, which will help make our utility costs at the museum more manageable. Like most people, I am beginning to look forward to spring and warmer weather. That will also mean work will start on the museum in order to allow us to open in April, probably after Easter. Once again, monetary help from the Martins Ferry Rotary Club will permit us to hire a guide to work each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the spring and summer months.

Since we finished our window project last year, the building is in good condition inside and out. Our most important project this year will be trying to find more room for our memorabilia and materials, especially our printed matter. These items are not the ones we exhibit in the museum, but those we have in files and in various storage locations. We must find more space for them, which will allow us to do a better job of organizing what we have in the museum. Hopefully, funding for this purpose will come from the Belmont County Tourism Council.

Once again, it is time for my annual moment of begging and groveling. You can help us in these important ways:

·        Renew your membership and encourage others to do the same. Remember, the dues will increase this year…. $10 for individuals and $15 for families or groups.

·        We will need people to serve on the board of directors for the Historical Society. This will require attendance at the monthly meetings, which are held on the fourth Thursday of each month. Can you spare one hour each month to help us?

·        We need help with the physical work and maintenance of the museum. Many necessary projects are going unfinished because we have little assistance to complete them.

·         We are looking for large items to display in various parts of the museum. For example, our kitchen area would look great with an ice box or some other similar object from the past. If you have any ideas, please call.

·        We are in the process of publishing the book Annie Tanks was working on before her death. Your support in purchasing this wonderful story of Martins Ferry will be appreciated.

Phyllis Majesky, former secretary for the MFAHS, came upon these articles, written by Annie Tanks, that somehow never made it into a previous newsletter. With spring approaching, it seems to be a good time to print them.

GAMES PEOPLE PLAYED

By Annie C. Tanks

          Finally March is upon us – March, when spring takes one step in and two steps out. On the black-topped play lot across the street from the high school, the other day, there were on the left three or four boys throwing a basketball at the hoop with very little success; on the right, a hockey team with the right cage goals, a puck of the right size, sticks and rollerblades. And off in the third corner, two boys with a ball and bat.

          Whatever happened to the games we played? “Shinny” has survived and returned in a much refined guise. It used to be played with a crushed tin can for a puck, a board or a crooked piece of wood for a stick, and on any handy surface from a vacant lot or a brick street to a frozen pond.

          Skating and sled-riding have been damaged by our mild winters. Skating has acquired a new popularity through its TV exposure, but the ice is in indoor rinks that charge admission. Hardly anyone buys a sled these days; a whole winter might go by without a chance to use it. Besides, who needs a sled? Anything that starts at the top of a slope ends up at the bottom, courtesy of the law of gravity, so a piece of cardboard or a plastic mat does very well.

          Boys always turned up with bats and balls in the spring and girls brought out their jump ropes. Why has jumping rope been left to prizefighters and physical fitness devotees? By the time the girls at recess went through “Sally Saucer”, “High Water”, “Red Pepper”, and half a dozen other variations, they had worked off the morning’s pent-up energy and were ready to settle to lessons again.

          And jacks. Mackey School had an old concrete pump platform, remnant of the days before water was brought into the school, and at recess two or three games went of at the same time, needing only a few square feet apiece. If knuckles got scraped on the concrete surface, that was a powerful incentive to improve the technique.

          So much play these days seem to involve brightly-colored plastic tows, abandoned at night in the front yard. What will their owners remember as fun, years hence?

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN MARTINS FERRY IN 1895

(From the Wheeling Intelligencer, March, 1895)

By Annie C. Tanks

MARCH 1       Parents of several children attending the First Ward School complained of some older boys congregating near the school and assaulting them while on their way home. Ray Thomas was attacked by several of them yesterday.

MARCH 2       Stone is arriving for the foundation of the Laughlin tinplate works. It comes from the quarry of John Boehm on the Avondale farm, and about 1000 perches will be required. This is something less than three times as much as will be used in the new high school building.

MARCH 5       Considerable damage was done to P. Wagener’s confectionery, in the Harrison building, by the bursting of a water-pipe.

MARCH 7       The new Oriental Court has elected these officers: grand orient, H. Long; vice-grand orient, Thomas L. Williams; grand herald, Joseph Theiss; grand high priest, John Krim; medical examiner, Fred Williams; inside sneezer, Thomas Smith; persuader, D. D. Parks; quill driver, William Salkeld.

MARCH 11     Two more decorating kilns will be put up at Union Glass Works.

MARCH 14     Electric car No. 23, on the Bellaire and Martin’s Ferry Line, collided with the one-horse wagon of Isaac Fleming, Martin’s Ferry, yesterday. The wagon was demolished and the car damaged somewhat. Riding with Mr. Fleming was his 9-year-old son who was knocked senseless. He had his face badly bruised. The father was more fortunate.

MARCH 16     The making out of the Democratic nomination papers proved very expensive to Lewis Rothermond. When he closed his grocery on Thursday evening he put $60 in bills in a paper bag and placed it in his hip pocket. He then went to the office of George W. Reece and W. B. Francis to make out the papers named. He threw the sack into the fire, having forgotten he had put the money in it. He missed the money shortly afterward and after making a search found it in the fire, but not intact. It was partially burned.

MARCH 20     A number of men was at work on the foundation for the high school building yesterday.

            The Treasury department sent a draft for $58 to Lewis Rothermond for money which was thrown into the stove by mistake and partially burned.

WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN MARTINS FERRY IN 1895 (CONT’D)

MARCH 22     A box social will be held by high school seniors at the Third Ward building this evening.

MARCH 23     Yesterday the Belmont Brewing Company received a Hall safe weighing 7000 pounds to take the place of one blown some time ago.

            About 30 couples attended a reception at St. Clair hall last night. It was a full dress affair and the most fashionable social event held in Martin’s Ferry for a long time. All voted it a success in every sense of the word. Several of the neighboring towns and cities were represented. Many beautiful costumes and bright faces and decorations of plants and flowers presented a scene never before surpassed in Martin’s Ferry. All went for a good time and they had it. Supper, an excellent one, lasted from 12 to 1 (?) and this, like dancing, was thoroughly enjoyed. Piano furnished by House and at it Prof. Charles Killimeyer presided. The music, numbering 20 selections, was all popular. The affair was given by Dr. J. L. Hervey, Ernest Smith, E. K. Hoge, and George W. Collins and reflected credit on them. Patronesses were: Mrs. H. W. Smith, Mrs. M. Sheets, Mrs. Dr. W. D. Shuttleworth, Mrs. J. E. Reynolds, Mrs. James Ralston and Miss Lizzie Rainey.

MARCH 25     Michael Bailey had his right arm broken in Hyne’s saloon on Saturday night while arm-wrestling with William Paxton.

MARCH 26     Yesterday Dr. W. B. McClure got the contract for attending the poor at Martin’s Ferry for one year at $150.

            Yesterday Ben Osborne, aged 12 years, was arrested for destroying property at the AME church.

MARCH 29     Members of the Board of Education and male teachers enjoyed a banquet at William Griffith’s ice cream parlor last night after the meeting. There were six courses.

MARCH 30     The splendid new building of Louis Scheehle, at the corner of Hanover and Second, is almost completed. Mr. Scheehle will commence moving into the store room next week. The room measures 35 feet by 66 feet and is 13 feet high, with metal ceiling, high window, office, elevator, electric light, gas and all the latest improvements. It will be finished next week. The store room is the largest of any retail store in this section and a model in every respect. The cellar is a large one and has a cement floor. The building is a substantial three-story brick, brick being furnished by Belmont Brick & Tile. The work was done by John Boehm and Louse Seabright, wood by Kerr Brothers, painting by John Hukill and metal railing by Wheeling Corrugating Co.

Annual dues for the year 2006 are due as of April 1st. The Martins Ferry Area Historical Society is a non-profit organization. Membership dues help support the upkeep of the Sedgwick House Museum and this newsletter. Please remember that this year dues are $10 for individuals, and $15 for families or groups.