December in Dixon -- 100 Years Ago!

Every year I visit at the library’s Dixon Tribune archives to learn what was happening in Dixon 100 years ago during the holiday season. Here are some of 1913’s highlights.

A Christmas Eve dance sponsored by the Christmas Club was held at the dance pavilion. The event “was a merry party which danced around a large evergreen tree, brilliantly lit by vari-colored electric bulbs. Nearly 80 couples were in attendance. … Streamers (from the tree) fell away to all parts of the room, making a gay canopy for the merrymakers. … The music was furnished by the Dixon Band, Julius Weyand, leader.” Previously, women had decorated the pavilion, but this year men did all the work.

Around 50 folks who didn’t dance gathered at the J.A. Kerr home and its welcoming fireplace. Music, games and refreshments were offered until two a.m.

Locally, the Silvey sisters bought out Parker’s Ice Cream Parlor. This would be the family that old Silveyville was named after.

Apparently, some of the stores had drawings during the Christmas season to drum up business. At the Beckley and Grove store, a winner walked away with a watch. Men’s suits sold there for between $12 and $27.

The Tribune was featuring a long-running serial novel titled The Whip. Don’t read too much into the title; the story was more like an aristocratic soap opera.

A recall effort was being mounted to remove the county supervisor representing Dixon, W.S. Godfrey, because of his frequent intoxication.

Baptist church ladies held a bazaar, raising $180 for gifts to kids. There were many booths and the walls were decorated with green boughs.

The home of Mr. F. Lowell burned after he’d spent much money improving it. He had hidden some money in the bathroom, near where the fire began, and apparently was unable to save it. On the plus side, the home was insured.

The Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church filled Dixon’s opera house with the sounds of children’s voices. Some of the songs were “I’m Going Back to Sacramento Valley” and “Dixon, You’re A Good Old Town.”

Hazel Hyde was married in the Tremont Church east of Dixon. “The bride resembled a stately lily in her soft white gown of crepe de Chene,” exclaimed the Tribune. Hyde was a teacher and her groom attended the Farm School in Davis.

Santa Claus visited Fischer’s Store on a Saturday afternoon and had small presents to pass out to children. Parents could also find toys for sale there, including horns, pop guns, aeroplanes, balls, boats, doll dishes, horse reins, toy banks and tiny pianos.

Not far away, recently arrived Edison records were for sale at Kirlby’s store. The first Edison phonographs played back sound from etched cylinders; but these new models used flat disks (which later evolved into LP records).

The Baptist Church organized a 20-lad Boy Scout troop.

The most dire news that December concerned the killing of Thomas Moore by Charles Benson in the countryside near Dixon. Benson claimed self-defense, but newspaper coverage increasingly disputed that scenario. In those days, murderers could be hung.

The Tribune said that a nearby town annually decorated a municipal Christmas tree. Said the editor, “It is an idea that will grow.”

A bag of mail for Dixon carelessly thrown from a passing train went under the train’s wheels and was torn open, damaging the mail inside. Some locals were expecting $100 bills as Christmas presents in the mail. In those days, that was a lot of money. Another problem cropped up when there weren’t enough sacks at the post office to hold outgoing parcels.

Even 100 years ago, the abbreviation Xmas was used.

50 Odd Fellows from the Sacramento lodge visited Dixon to help initiate eight candidates. Dixon’s lodge had over 100 members. Supper was served by the lodge’s auxiliary, the Rebekahs.

Plans for a new Catholic church building in Dixon were announced.

“California Dry in 2014” is the motto for prohibitionists trying to make California alcohol-free.

Speaking of dryness, the Tribune reported “We have been getting the rains which have broken the two years drought and started the fields to abundant production.” A severe wind storm hit, accompanied by five inches of rain in two days. Putah Creek overflowed, and nearby roads were under two feet of water. Ranches near Maine Prairie were also underwater.

Two electric railroads, the Sacramento Valley line and the Northern Electric line, proposed laying tracks into or through Dixon. Near Dixon, a contractor using mules to grade land for tracks had to suspend work due to the rains.

W.H. Timm advertised meat cuts: “Our meats, although best, are lowly priced.”

At the Baptist Church, a Christmas service featured a duo singing Upon the Housetop. Other singers offered I Put My Dolly in Her Bed and Little Town of Bethlehem. Recitations included A Letter to Santa and Three Bad Boys.

An ad for Rexall products claimed their Olive Oil Emulsion with Hypophosphites was an excellent nerve tonic.

Over at the Eames grocery, nuts and fruits, freshly preserved and dried, were available along with fancy crackers and plum puddings.

A bloodied man was found along the railroad tracks in Dixon. It was said that he tried to board a freight train in the hobo sense. His friend easily jumped on, but this man didn’t quite make it, and his friend kept holding onto his arm, dragging him along for some distance before they gave up.

Mr. and Mrs. P.M. Allen entertained guests at a dinner party in their home on Adams Street. Decorations were huge clusters of poinsettias “tastefully placed on the table and around the room.”

The Presbyterian church’s sermon talked about “Christmas Meditations” while an evening service dwelled on “The Salvation of Society.” A Christmas cantata and Christmas tree celebration helped round out holiday events.

W.J. McElwaine locally picked some huge lemons.

A mysterious thief struck again at the Amiel Peters farm, making off with 200 chickens.

Benica High School protested the officiating at a girls’ basketball game, claiming that local referees were coaching the Dixon team.

In closing, the Tribune had this to say about Christmas: “No other birthday is so beautifully celebrated. No other holiday so abounds with graciousness. Old calloused hearts quiver with a new feeling. The grimaces of grouch are chased away. … Even the non-believer gets a glow.”