What it would be like living in Murdock 50 years ago?
by Teri Bowman
As I thought about what it would be like living in Murdock 50 years ago, “The good ol’ days” came to mind. I thought about different scenes for each of the different seasons of the year; winter, spring, summer, and fall. I thought more about what it was like in the country rather than actually living in the town of Murdock. I pictured spring… somewhat like it is now. The green grass coming through. The first flowers of the season-daffodils, tulips, crocus emerging after a long winter’s nap. Little buds forming on the trees that soon will become leaves to cover the old brown sticks that have looked so dead all winter.
I thought about what families would be doing during this vibrant time of the year. I imagined a very early morning rise to get the chores done-feed the chickens, gather the eggs, milk the cows, feed all the livestock-pigs, cows, mules, horses, etc., cut the wood for the wood burner. After a half days work was done, the dinner bell was rung around 6:30 am. The men would come in for a good hearty breakfast that ma had been cookin’ up.
Then back to work with their lunch in hand. Out to the fields they’d go to prepare the land for planting. I don’t know what all that involves, but I know that it is more than meets the eye. Back at the house, the girls would do the mending and washing, churn the butter, do the cooking and cleaning, and tend to the children. Get the ones who were old enough off to the schoolhouse making sure they had their lunch pail and books. Tied together with old twine of course. No Nike book bags at that time.
I imagined the houses to have wooden floors with a rug or two, but definitely not carpet. More or less only a couple rooms in the house with perhaps a loft up top for an extra bedroom. Furniture consisted of only a bed and armoire, which acted as their dresser and closet combined. No shelves for all their hundreds of toys and games. Maybe a single doll or wooden truck would also occupy the room. The bath facilities were outdoors as well as the restroom. I’ve heard if a family had more than a ‘one seater’ they were really said to be ‘up town’. I personally couldn’t imagine WHY there would be more than one seat…
I pictured the women to wear long dresses with an apron. Maybe a bonnet if they were going outdoors. High top shoes. Probably only one pair. Many women today couldn’t even fathom having only one pair of shoes. I suppose the men would have a wool or flannel shirt under their suspenders to hold up their trousers. Trouser legs tucked into their mud covered boots.
Lots of hard work has been done before the dinner bell rang. Once again, the family would gather around the table to fellowship and have a good hearty meal together. The girls, possibly including grandma, would all share with the clean up as the boys went out to put away the animals for the night.
I thought that Sunday would be a day of worshipping God, some fun, and fellowship. Maybe a picnic taken to the neighbors. Homemade fresh apple pie for dessert and a game of baseball for entertainment. When family and friends got together, they would actually communicate and laugh, talk and listen. Their minds were not on all the thousand things they needed to do in the next week. They knew how to work hard, but they also knew how to rest. They had their priorities in order.
Summer came and school let out. Lots of work to do in the garden as the vegetables grew. Fruit picking for canning was a team effort. The men very busy in the fields trying to grow a good crop, maintaining machinery and fences. Fighting off the varmints, bugs, and critters from damaging or destroying the growth that was emerging from the ground. I bet there was a lot of praying going on over those fields and the hard work that had been put into them.
As fall came, I expected the work load was from way before sun up to late into the evening as they labored hard to get the harvest in from the fields. I don’t think that has changed much. I think the largest part of people most likely worked as a farmer or somewhere close by. I think the work was quite a bit different than where technology has taken us these days.
As we were snowed in for four days with this last winter storm, I thought about how people felt and lived 50 years ago. How they survived with their breezy houses in below freezing conditions. How they managed to get along in houses much smaller than we have with perhaps more people in them. I figured they probably used their imagination a lot more than we have to. They almost certainly came up with all sorts of ways to amuse themselves… shovels as sleds, ice skating on frozen ponds in their one pair of shoes, snowball fights, and snow forts. And if it were really cold, I bet they could come up with some fun indoors playing marbles or checkers or a fiddle. My daughter even mentioned something about how glad she was that we have indoor plumbing! J
Then spring would come back ‘round again, but it didn’t become monotonous to them. I bet it was always an adventure. New blooms appearing, new calves being born… new life to live each and every day. I bet they had a real appreciation for the ‘finer’ things in life like family and friends and relationships.
I spoke with Reuben Luetchens about what Murdock was like 50 years ago. He has lived here all of his life except for the four years he was in the Navy. Reuben tells the story best:
“I was born a mile east of where we now live. My brother lives on that place now. Mark and Nancy's boys are the sixth generation of the Luetchens family. Our lives revolved around family, church, and school. At church, we had Sunday Morning and evening services, prayer meeting on Wednesday evening and choir practice another evening.
At school the girls played volleyball and the boys played basketball and track in spring. So there was much less sports. There was a senior class play and a junior class at school which included everyone in class. Those were big nights at school and reserved seats were sold.
In the summer time there were movies on main street on Wednesday evening sometimes.
There was a big billboard north of the bank in Murdock with the names of those in the military during WW II, and then those who were killed. Elmwood, Weeping Water, and Louisville all had movie theaters which we got to go to once in awhile. We also had lots of family gatherings, usually on Sunday
Most of the people were farmers, farming 160 acres. Most everyone had some milk cows some hogs and some chickens. The milk was separated and the cream along with the eggs were taken to town and sold, and the money used to by groceries. There were two grocery stores in Murdock for a long time.
In the winter we did a lot of sledding, even on the road, there was not much traffic and the roads were not cleaned so well which gave a better ice pack for a lot longer.
My folks remodeled our kitchen in 1947, took out the pantry, put in cupboards and a sink etc. But the cob and wood cook stove stayed. That was the heat for the kitchen and in the dinning room was a heating stove. No heat upstairs where we slept.”
After talking with Reuben, sounds like what I pictured Murdock to be 50 years ago was pretty accurate. He did omit that he had to walk to school in a blizzard up hill both ways in April!
Pictured (one close up and one far shot) are some of the items that use to be used as part of every day life.
In the back is a black dress and hat with a white glove. To the right of that is a white dress and hat. These were probably not their everyday dresses. They would store their clothes in the armoire, which is to the right. A little baby shoe is pictured sitting on top of the spinning wheel.
The heat and cooking source would have been the black and silver wood burner that Reuben mentioned. The spinning wheel spun wool into thread and then material to sew with.
Toys included baby dolls, a stroller, or blocks (next to the doll on the edge of the stroller).
Kerosene lamps (floor) were used as light after the sun went down. The ink jar and quill pen (L side of lamp) might have been used to journal or write a letter to a distant friend. No carpet was used, but there were rugs to help keep the floor warmer and softer. The rugs were cleaned by taking them outdoors and beating them with the rug beater. (leaning against the handle of the doll stroller).
Generally, a brush and mirror would be found on the dresser or night stand. Possibly a broach (inside jewelry bowl) for the Sunday attire. She may style her hair using the metal curling iron that would be heated by the fire (leaning against the water bowl). A water pitcher and wash bowl was used to freshen up in the morning or wash their hands and face before meals or bedtime.
Cooking utensils were similar as those used today-a rolling pin, egg beater with the red handle (floor) that was also used as a mixer, potato masher (floor), etc. The butter churn, butter shaper and mold (on top of spinning wheel) are no longer in use today, but back then they were used on a regular basis. We still use canning jars today, but most of them are clear instead of the common blue color back then. Canning was a common means of food inventory.
The men wouldn’t use an electric razor. They’d pull out their mustache cup and brush, along with their straight edge razor to shave.
And last but not least, was the laundry washing stick they used to stir the laundry with after it had been scrubbed on the wash board. Thank goodness for Whirlpool!
