Thanksgiving in Orange hasn’t changed much for more than a century as families and friends will be eating a turkey dinner. As Jackson Grocery Co. in 1908 advertised, “A Thanksgiving dinner will not be complete without a fat turkey, celery, cranberry sauce, olives and pickles.” Well, maybe the pickles aren’t as popular. In those days, the pickles, though could be any kind of pickled vegetable or fruit. The pickles were probably put up in jars by aunts or grandmothers.
Fruitcakes were big in 1908. Grocers like Jackson, Johnson’s on Green Avenue and Ford & Seastrunk touted their ingredients for fruitcake. Jackson said you needed “choice ingredients” like citron, raisins, currents (sic) shelled pecans, almonds and spices. Johnson’s also had “nuts of all kinds.” Some families today might describe their dining room table on Thanksgiving with those words.
A turkey back 107 years ago in Orange cost 15 cents. The advertisement didn’t mention whether it was for the whole turkey or by the pound. On the inflation calculator, the 15 cents would be like $3.50 today.
W.E. McCorquodale Plumbing and Tinning had a practical suggestion for the holiday. “Have your plumbing done before Thanksgiving so your residence will be in perfect repair.” He would be advertising to people living in the city of Orange. The rural folks didn’t have plumbing, and some inside the city didn’t, either.
Aronson & Brothers Grocers also reminded their customers that crockery will break. They offered a selection of Queensland dishes.
Jumping ahead a couple of decades to 1929, the Aggies and the Longhorns football game was popular. Fans would skip their traditional dinner to take a special Southern Pacific passenger train to College Station for the game. The train left the Orange depot at 5:50 a.m. with a scheduled arrival for the game at 11:30 a.m. The train was set to leave College Station at 6:10 p.m. A round-trip ticket was $4.05, or the equivalent of $56.33 today.
The Retail Merchant Association in Orange announced all the stores would be closed for the holiday.
The Orange Laundry Co. would clean all the linens for the formal Thanksgiving dinner. Ads for electric ranges were more popular than the price of turkey. Piggly Wiggly had three ounces of stuffed olives for 9 cents ($1.25 today) and Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce for 19 cents a can ($2.64 today). The ABC store had fresh cranberries for 19 cents a pound and had “well bleached celery.” ABC also sold pre-baked pies with 35 cents ($4.87 today) for either a mince or pumpkin pie. A devil’s food layer cake cost a whopping 50 cents ($6.95).
Clarence Saunders Market did not advertise prices but took orders until 9 on Wednesday morning for a fresh turkey. The store had oysters in “sealtight” cans along with fresh catfish, redfish and speckled trout. The market prepared customers for “Something New—Real Tropical Chili Pepper in vinegar. Used as an appetizer for those who like highly seasoned foods.”
And for people who wanted to escape relatives but didn’t make it to the football game, they could stroll down to the Strand Theater on Front Street to watch the “all talking comedy” starring Richard Dix in “The Love Doctor.”
Less than a decade later, once again the Orange Retail Merchants were closing for Thanksgiving, except for hotels, restaurants and drug stores. The community had lots to be thankful for that year. The rice threshing season was almost complete and the WPA (Works Progress Administration) had approved the project to install a floor in the Orangefield gymnasium. The federal government was contributing $1,162 and $729 was a local contribution (a total of almost $35,000 today). The Great Depression was still around and the floor job was supposed to have 24 workers.
The Orange Leader reported turkey was averaging 24 cents ($4.05 today) a pound at the local stores. The Orange Volunteer Fire Department was preparing for Christmas. The firemen were taking old toys to be repaired as gifts for needy children.
The Great Depression ended with World War II and the industry that grew up for the war effort. By 1947, the war had ended and families were prospering.
Turkeys were sold by sex of the bird. The toms were bigger but the tender hens usually cost a bit more. Weingarten’s sold toms for 57 cents a pound ($6.08 today) and hens for 61 cents a pound ($6.51 today). The company touted “The finest birds that ever strutted across a Texas farmyard from Cuero, the turkey center of the nation.”
Childers Super Market and Cafe, 1303 Green Avenue, had fresh dressed toms for 55 cents a pound and hens at 62 cents a pound. A tom weighed 12 to 14 pounds which would make a 12 pound turkey in today’s money cost $70.44. If the turkeys would be expensive, the coffee was cheaper. Childers had a special on one pound of Maxwell House coffee for 45 cents. Today that would be $4.80 for a whole pound, not 12 ounces.
Playland in downtown offered a special “Big Dance” on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. The dance featured Cliff Brunner and His Boys.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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