Harry Bulkeley: Time traveling back to 1976 in Galesburg
During our January de-clutter, I discovered a time machine on my dresser. It came in the form of a January 1976 “Progress” edition of The Register-Mail. It was supposed to be a look ahead to the new year but it really was a portal for me to travel back 46 years to a very different time in our hometown. There were names, faces and businesses that brought back memories for me. Perhaps they will for you, too.
On the first page was a picture of the brand-new Sandburg Mall. Both Bill Meier, the mall manager and Carolyn Goltermann, the director of the Galesburg Downtown Village, were convinced that the two entities should be a great complement to one another. They were optimistically planning joint activities to attract customers to both locations. The mall planned to present a trained chimpanzee and the Monmouth College Children's Theater in the upcoming year.
Downtown merchants at Frankel's, Fleck's, LaBelle, Gerwig's, Leslie's and Virginia Eary's all said 1975 had been a great year for women's clothing. At the mall, Maurice's and Brooks Fashions said their business was "pretty good." All three downtown department stores, Carson's, O.T.s and Kline's, reported good sales. The men's stores like Schubach's, Stern and Field, Pants Plus, Continental Clothing, Male's and Wilder's all did well while Just Pants at the mall was "looking for greener days ahead."
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To its credit, the article didn’t try to paper over the realities of the Galesburg business climate. The year 1975 saw a recession that affected the local as well as the national economy. The Admiral division of Rockwell International was hoping to “hang tough” after a rough year which saw employment go from 4,000 down to 2,800. They were continuing to produce freezers, refrigerators, dehumidifiers, air conditioners and microwaves. Butler Manufacturing reported that last year had seen a drop in profits. Hugh Dutell, Gates plant manager, said that when new car sales went down in 1975, so did the sale of rubber hose. Gale Products manager Mart Dosing said for his company, “the idea was to stay alive in ‘75.” Gale’s 2,100 employees made lawn mowers and outboard motor components.
Layoffs at the factories hurt the entertainment scene in Galesburg. The Village Pump, where a disc jockey sat in the seat of an antique car to spin Top 40 hits, was hoping the crowds would come back after a murder in the parking lot. The Red Coach Lounge at the Holiday Inn said its business was up thanks to the mall. Likewise, The Viking Room at the new Sheraton Hotel had had a very good year. Paul Peck said The Huddle had seen the three biggest weekends he’d ever had.
In light of recent events, it was ironic and painful that the article on local health care began “Galesburg residents are lucky” to have two hospitals. Cottage had added 100 beds in 1973 and St. Mary’s opened a new building in late 1974.
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I noticed a need for a list entitled “The More Things Change.” Knox Professor Henry Houser observed that ”the emergency room is taking the place of the family physician.” Also under that heading of “The More Things Change,” a story was headlined “1975 Food Prices Eat Up Area Families’ Budgets.”
One item that caught my eye was the index to the section. It listed all the articles and the authors. I counted at least 10 reporters on The Register-Mail’s staff including Charles Abbott, Lou Ann Engler and a cub reporter named Andrea Ferretti. They were in addition to the business editor and several staff writers.
There was a lot of transportation news outside the window of my time machine. Galesburg was the smallest city in the country to have more than seven passenger trains a day. If you didn’t want to take the train, Ozark had two round-trip flights a day to Chicago. (The flights to St. Louis had been dropped in September of 1975.) For those who would rather drive, Weaver-Yemm had a 1975 Monza for $2,376.
The time machine reminded me how far technology has come. Before the days of ATMs or depositing a check by taking a picture with your phone, “The Bank of” (what everyone called the Bank of Galesburg) was advertising its Midnight Teller. Customers could drive up and make deposits or cash checks or make loan payments any time up until midnight. One of my friends fresh out of college and without a girlfriend was the midnight teller for a while.
My time machine was yellowing and cracking at the folds but it transported me back to the Galesburg where we settled right out of school. The people back then could not have envisioned what has happened to small town America in the past 50 years. Despite noting the economic downturn of the year before, nothing in that special edition foresaw anything but a small speed bump on the Progress Highway. As I turned the dials on my machine to head back to the present day, I was reminded of the word nostalgia, which comes from two Greek words. “Nostos” for homecoming and “algos” for pain.
Harry Bulkeley is a retired Knox County judge and a local historian.
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This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Harry Bulkeley: Time traveling back to 1976 in Galesburg
