Throwback Thursday Tidbits – the Fabulous 50’s
By the start of the 1950’s, the Pella Christian High School board had approved the previously denied request for
a Home Ec class.
- A vital part of school life in the 1950’s was the short period of praise and worship that occurred at the midpoint of each school morning when all the students and teachers met in the gymnasium. A chapel period was
held each Thursday.
- The cheerleading squad of the 1949-1950 school year consisted of 4 girls and 1 boy.
- 14 freshman boys in 1950 went out for basketball. It was determined that this was too many boys to practice at
the same time as the first team (upper classman), so 7th period was set aside for Freshman Boys Basketball.
- In 1950, the very first regular secretary was hired. Before then, one of the faculty and some students handled
those duties.
- Senior class trips in the 1950’s typically consisted of a one day trip to a park such as Ledges State Park by
Boone or Keosauqua State Park by the Iowa/Missouri border. They would travel by car, leaving early in the
morning and returning late that evening. The day would include potluck lunches, hiking, wading, swimming,
playing games and roasting hot dogs. And, occasionally, a trip to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries…
- The first new chemistry room was completed in 1950.
- The school’s newspaper, The Echo, sold 260 subscriptions in 1950 for their monthly publication. In addition, the
staff exchanged 15 copies with other Christian High Schools.
- In the 1950’s, Latin was offered as the “foreign” language course. Taking 2 years of Latin allowed students to
fulfill part of their college entrance requirements. They also celebrated each year with a Latin Banquet.
- The 1950-1951 girls basketball team was the first team to bring our school the coveted Marion County
Tournament 1st Place Trophy.
- The 1951-1952 Eaglette basketball team, coached by Mr. Dick Bruinooge took a 22-0 record to the State
Tournament. They averaged 50 points a game while holding their opponents to 30 points.
- One of the classes required of freshman was “Social Problems”. According to the 1952 yearbook, this one
semester class said it helped freshman get oriented to the ways of high school living and taught them the rules
and customs that had to be observed while attending PCHS. It was designed to teach students manners, morals
and the way to acceptable Christian living.
- By 1952, the Junior class had begun selling “snacks” during lunch break and at basketball games to raise
money for the Junior Senior banquet and other class expenses.
- The 1952 graduating class of 28 was made up of 21 girls and only 7 boys (2 of them named “Marvin”).
- The baseball program began in the spring of 1952. Because they did not have football, they had a fall baseball
season as well as a spring season. They won the honor of being sectional champs in the spring of 1953.
- The Freshman class in 1953 was initiated into the school by the Seniors compelling them to “wear huge signs
and to feed the Seniors candy upon request.” Common Freshman initiations in the 1950’s lasted two days and
included the Freshman wearing large signs, carry books for the Seniors and giving the Seniors candy. The
Freshman class in 1957 had 81 students and they wore signs that read something like this: “81 little drips make
one big drop.”
- The cost for a yearbook in 1954 was $2.50. “Leftovers” sold for $1.00.
- The enrollment stood at 205 in 1955.
- The softball program began around 1956, with seasons in the fall as well as the spring.
- Senior photos at this time consisted of the entire class traveling together to a photo studio to have them taken.
- Mr. Michael T. Ruiter became principal in the fall of 1956 and the enrollment reached 235. In 1958, an
addition was added to the building which consisted of a large study hall, a chemistry-physics laboratory, music
room, teacher's lounge, library, and extra classroom.
School Song:
Loyal and true we pledge allegiance to you;
This is our motto: We Are One For All And All For Alma Mater.
Here’s to our school, long and high may she rule;
Forevermore you will find us always loyal and true.
IMAGINE
- From the end of WW II to the Marshall Plan, Korean War (read Police Action), Hula Hoops, Rock ‘n Roll,
Bobby Sox, Civil Rights & the Space Race; “There was a whole Lot of Shakin’ going on” in the Fabulous
Fifties.
HAPPENINGS AROUND THE WORLD
- With the end of World War II, comes the aggression of the USSR’s (Communist Russia) leader, Joseph
Stalin. Stalin breaks the Yalta Accords. Through murder, clandestine political takeovers of Eastern Block
countries and supporting Mao Tse Tung’s Communist Party of China; the threat of Communism grows into The
Cold War. Stalin hopes to starve Western European Countries and President Truman counters with the
Marshall Plan to feed the free world (aka non-Communist Countries). Because of the spread of communism &
recent US Atomic secrets being stolen by the Soviets, the fear of communism became a potent disease.
Communists were around every corner, according to Senator Joe McCarthy; whose senate committee became
the chief investigators in the Communist Witch Hunt.
- The hero of WW II General of the Army Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower is elected President in 1952 and shortly
afterwards the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) declares separation of race illegal in “Brown vs. Board of
Education”. This landmark Civil Rights case declares that the former doctrine of “Separate, but Equal” was
never equal & therefore illegal under the Constitution. One of Brown’s attorneys arguing the case before the
court is Thurgood Marshall; who later becomes the first colored or negro (the terms used then) Supreme Court
Justice in 1967. Rosa Parks becomes so outraged over the death of Emmitt Till that she refuses to sit in the
back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus. This sparks the “Montgomery Bus Boycott” and catapults the Rev.
Martin Luther King, Jr. into national prominence.
Popular Books:
Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkein • The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess • Fahrenheit 451 by Isaac Azimov
The Old Man & the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Cost comparisons:
1950 price
Annual Average Wage
$ 3,210.00
New Car
$ 1,510.00
Bread/per loaf
.18¢
Gallon of Gas
.30¢
McDonald’s Hamburger
.15¢
McDonald’s French Fry
.10¢
Coca-Cola
.10¢
Avg. Movie Ticket
.48¢
Date (Meal & Movie per person x 2)
$ 1.66
2014 price
$45,000.00
$31,352.00
$
1.98
$
3.80
$
1.00
$
1.19
$
1.00
$
8.15
$ 22.68