Nov. 26, 2014 – Our Old Book Case =============================================================== Photo caption: The Immaculate Conception High School was dedicated on Thanksgiving Day, 1933
at the corner of Anthony and Wayne Streets, Celina, during the Great Depression. OUR OLD BOOK CASE By Joyce L. Alig, President, Mercer County Historical Society On Thanksgiving Day, 1933, the Immaculate Conception Parish dedicated a new high school building, at
Anthony and Wayne Streets, Celina. This history is found in the 1978 “Mercer County History” book. The Immaculate Conception Parish was organized in 1864; they are celebrating their 150th Anniversary
this year. Their first Parish Church was dedicated December 8, 1865, at the end of the historic year of the
Civil War. In 1900 work began on the present Church and was completed three years later in 1903. The
Class of 1972 was the last class to be graduated from the I.C. High School, as the cost of maintaining a
High School was prohibitive. However, the I.C. Elementary School continues to serve its Parish. The history states that the High School building cost $72,000.00, which must have been a fortune during
the Great Depression of the 1930’s. That must have been a grand achievement for I.C. Parish to fund a
new building for the I.C. High School, during the 1930’s. What else was happening in the 1930’s? Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929, was the date of the Crash of the Stock Market which set off the Great
Depression. The 1930’s Depression was felt across the country, as well as here in Mercer County, from
all of the stories I have heard, when I was growing up. On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star Spangled Banner,” the
National Anthem. Whenever that Anthem is played, everyone stops in respect for our Flag and for which
it stands. Later that year, on December 24, the first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was decorated. On June 17, 1932, nearly 10,000 desperate World War I Veterans, who had not yet received their War
Bonus over a dozen years after that War was over, marched on the Capitol at Washington D.C. when the
U.S. Senate was voting on the Bill, which had already been passed by the House. At that time, the War
Bonus was $1.25 per day for overseas service and $1.00 for stateside service. But, on June 27, 1932 the
Senate vote defeated the bill, 62 to 18. The Veterans’ War Bonus was not paid until 1945! How many
Mercer County World War I Veterans had to wait for their War Bonus until 1945? Another event was planned, which was supposed to “brighten the gloom of the Depression,” at Chicago
to mark its 100th Birthday, with the opening of the World’s Fair on May 17, 1933. The Fair Planners
looked to the stars, for light. The star Arcturas, one of the closest stars, was 40 light years away. (One
light year equals about 6,000,000,000,000 miles, the distance light travels in a year.) The world’s largest
refracting telescope at Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin, caught the ray of Arcturas starlight and focused
it on a photoelectric cell which transformed its energy into the current needed to throw the switch at the
Fairgrounds. As the crowd watched, a white beam shot out from a search light atop the Hall of Science.
As the light touched one Exposition building after another, the crowd was thrown into a brilliant light. Who remembers the 1933 dedication of the I.C. High School building? Who remembers the Great
Depression here in Mercer County? Did anyone in Mercer County attend the World’s Fair at Chicago in
1933? Please send your stories so they can be preserved at the Mercer County Historical Museum. [The Mercer County Historical Society President Joyce Alig, may be contacted at 3054 Burk-St. Henry
Road, Saint Henry, OH 45883, or [email protected] or 419-678-2614.]