Seasons Greetings: The way we made merry in 1959

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December 17, 2009

In 1959, America had many reasons to be thankful. While we were in engaged in the Cold War, there were at least was no shots being fired. President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Khrushchev were talking and sharing stories about their grandchildren.

Alaska and Hawaii had just been made the 49th and 50th state. In time they would become the home states of Barack Obama (born 1961) and Sarah Palin (born 1964). For the most part the red states of 1959 are the blue states of 2009 and vice versa. In 1959 Sen. John Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon were starting to think seriously of running for president.

Economically we were doing fine. The unemployment rate was a manageable 5.6 percent, and inflation was running at about 1 percent annually.

While the average worker was earning $5,000 a year, this was not true of everybody. All I earned was $10 a day as a runner for Topper Hamblett's auctions in Derry. My dad took home about $75 a week as foreman at the Chase Mill in Derry Village. A newly hired typist at the Harris Stamp Co. on Oak Street was paid`$42 a week.

Prices in 1959 were, of course, much lower then today. You could buy a new house for $12,000. A first-class stamp was 4 cents. A ticket to our Plaza Cinema was a buck or less.

The big movie that year was "Some Like it Hot." Popular TV shows included "Bonanza" and "Rawhide." The year's No. 1 song was "Volare" by Domenico Modugno. Sadly, 1959 will also be remembered as the year "The Music Died" because Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper were killed in a plane crash.

In December 1959, Derry Auto Sales on Crystal Avenue was advertising new Ramblers at $1,795. Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon. A 3-minute telephone call from Derry to California was $1.75 if it was made after 6 p.m. or on Sundays.

There were some initial complaints when Derry's property taxes went up 6 percent until Salem's selectmen announced they were going to recommend a 32 percent tax increase.

In December, Derry received $164,000 from the federal government to help improve the town's sewer system. In 1959, Derry's population was about 7,000. The building boom wouldn't start for three more years, when I-93 would open. Within 10 years our population would double.

In Derry, a Christmas turkey could be purchased at Broadway's First National grocery store for 49 cents a pound. For those who wanted to give Mom a holiday break, the Oxen Yoke Restaurant was advertising "All You Can Eat From Soup To Nuts" for $2.50.The Chanticleer Restaurant on Manchester Road was offering a filet mignon dinner on New Year's Eve for $7.

In Derry, our biggest employers were two shoe factories: the Chelmsford on South Avenue and KlevBros on Manchester Road. In November the Knapp Shoe Company announced it would build a 656,000-square-foot factory at Ross' Corner in Derry. This would create hundreds of new jobs. and the area would experience nearly full employment for a decade.

In 1959, the shopping malls had not yet come to Derry. Broadway was the shopping center for most people in Derry, Londonderry, Chester and Sandown. For two weeks before Christmas the Broadway stores remained opened every night until 9 p.m. Newberry's Department Store sold 50 Christmas cards for 77 cents and Christmas LP's and 2-pound boxes of assorted chocolates for 99 cents. Shoppers lined up on the sidewalk in front of Newberry's to pay a dime to give their children a ride on the store's mechanical horse and motorcycle. It was reported the kiddies preferred the horse by a ratio of 10-1.

The local businessmen's association sponsored a holiday parade that year, but the promised marching bands and floats never materialized. Santa, however, did march bravely alone down Broadway escorted only by a single fire engine. Afterward Santa was enthroned at Newberry's, where he held court for the next couple weeks. In the store, the jolly old elf was kept busy listening to youngsters whispering their Christmas wishes in his ear. Santa's beard was yanked more than a few times, and one time he had his chin "pulled down to his shoe top. The old gentleman's only reaction was a restrained 'Ouch!'"

The biggest single Christmas event was the holiday music festival of the Hood School. A 300- voice chorus made up of middle school children from Derry, Londonderry, Chester, Windham and Auburn was under the direction of Frances Kelley. The anticipated crowd were so large that the event had to be moved to the auditorium at Grinnell School. On the stage, the ninth -graders presented living tableaux of holiday songs such as "We Three Kings" and "Silent Night." There was less church-state separation in those days.

As I reflect back on Derry a half century ago, I guess 1959 was indeed a pretty good year. I hope that maybe 50 years from now we can look back and say the same thing about 2009.

Happy holidays from the Heritage Commission. Make it your New Year's resolution to visit the Derry Museum of History during 2010.

Rick Holmes' columns on local history appear regularly in the Derry News. He is the author of many books on the history of Derry and the surrounding areas and is curator of the Derry Museum of History, located in the lower level of the Adams Memorial Building in downtown Derry.