It was a week before Halloween, 1926. Deitch’s department store on Market Square was having its Thrift Days sale; Jersey dress for $1.98, children’s union suits for 69 cents, blankets from $1 to $6.98, hats for $1.69. The most expensive item advertised was new winter coats for $14.95. While that feels remarkably cheap, in today’s dollars those coats would cost about $285. With the spooky season imminent, Deitch’s was giving away novelty Halloween hats with every purchase of at least $1.
The youth of Second Presbyterian Church had a Halloween Party planned for Oct. 30 (the 31st fell on Sunday that year), to be held in the attic of the church’s Sunday school annex. Area kids and university students were invited to attend. S.H. George & Sons on Gay Street was having a fabulous sale on “disguises” and other holiday items such as cutouts, fun makers, pumpkins, funny hats and Jack o’lanterns. In the 1920s, “fun makers” were noise makers, horns, cardboard squeakers, rattles and such, things I more associate with the New Year’s Eve.
The double arches of the T.E. Burns Company on the north end of Market Square invited Halloween revelers to stop in for good deals of groceries and fall flavored goodies; red wing apple cider, ginger bread and doughnuts, and, of course, pumpkins. They also advertised a “Toddy” on sale for 39 or 60 cents depending on the size of the can. It could be served hot or cold, and reported to be a “delicious, healthful drink.” A reminder, it was still the age of prohibition in 1926.
The Whittle Springs Hotel, north of the city and practically to Fountain City, was held a special Halloween Dance night on All Hallow’s Eve-Eve on the 30th from 9 PM until midnight. Costumes or street clothes were acceptable attire, but the dancing WOULD be chaperoned.
Reports following that weekend’s festivities indicate that the Halloween celebrations in Knoxville remained quite sober and well behaved all the way around. Hundreds of local men, women and children, gathered downtown in their Halloween finery as well as in neighborhoods drifting out from the city center. A handful of drunk and disorderlies arrived at the city jail, but not much more than the usual to be rounded up on a Saturday night. Downtown traffic was heavy, but the Police department kept things moving.
An interesting note to Halloween celebrations at the time: Tennessee passed a law in 1868 forbidding the wearing of masks in public. Halloween revelers had to get create with makeup in order to create their characters for the holiday. The law had nothing to do with being a masquerade party pooper. It was signed into law by Governor William Gannaway Brownlow to target the Ku Klux Klan.
Happy Halloween!
Sources: The Knoxville Journal digital archives
Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.
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