Thanksgiving Ad for 1917 Frets over Loss of Neighborhood Stores

November 23rd, 1917

The full-page Thanksgiving Ad from 1917 is interesting in several ways.

If 1916's was gauzy, and the year before it was grim, this year's scene is nostalgic, domestic, and cozy. (And the one in 1914.)

The text betrays anxiety, however (yes, it's in CAPS):

BUY FROM YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STORE? YOU CAN BUY AS CHEAPLY AT ALL TIMES AND IN SOME INSTANCES MUCH CHEAPER. ANYWAY YOU WOULD NOT WANT YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD STORE TO MOVE. LETS TALK ABOUT THANKSGIVING. WE HAVE MANY GOOD THINGS TO EAT FOR LITTLE MONEY.

This is evidence for change in the neighborhood store. At least in these tiled full-page ads, it's is the first hint of national or regional chains, store consolidation, and larger auto-oriented stores with parking lots and deployed farther from the neighborhood. Previously there were ads supporting "home industry," construed as city or region, but not down to the micro-scale of "neighborhood store." I read this concern as a significant shift, the first tremor of the coming changes in retailing and suburban development.

There is also theme of war-time austerity, both voluntary and involuntary.

Marion Apartments on Commercial at Union
completed in 1916 (image via Discover Salem)

As far as the tiles themselves go, the first ad is for the Marion Apartment Grocery. That's the apartment block on the corner of Union and Commercial. Did you know it had a grocery store in it at one time? That was interesting to learn.

Other stores:

• The Highland Grocery, 746 Highland Avenue (right by the Hoover house)
• H. Doe & Son, "The Fairground Store"
• F. P. Harlan, 12th and Leslie
• Epley's
• B. E. Edwards, 19th and State
• Hunt's Market, 12th and Leslie
• Chas. Kreft, 16th and Center (16th doesn't exist any more)
• The Commercial Cider Works (It was well-known enough not to list an address, but previous ads from a couple years earlier list 1010 North Commercial Street)
• Ward K. Richardson, 2395 Front Street
• Cherry City Baking Co. (Broadway and Market)
• Jos. Domogolla, 605 N. Capitol

Cherry City Baking opening - January 25th, 1917

Before the Broadway Town Square project went up, on the corner where Salem Cinema is today the Cherry City Baking Company opened in 1917. Later it was the Eagles Lodge. (SHINE used to have a photo, but it's been scrubbed or lost.)

And two menus:

Two Thanksgiving Dinners
For War Times
Menu
Cream of Celery Soup
Crisp Crackers
Currant Jelly - Celery
Roast Duck with Meat Balls or
Stuffed Leg of Mutton
Mashed Potatoes
Scalloped Onions
Savory Dumplings
Lettuce Salad, Holiday Dressing
Hunter's Pudding
Coffee - Mints

Menu
Cream Onion Soup
Baked Oysters on the Half Shell
Ripe Olives - Celery
Cranberry Sauce
English Chicken Pie
Southern Candied Sauce
Potatoes
New Orleans Sphagetti [sic]
Lettuce and Grapefruit Salad
Butter-scotch Pie - Coffee

Maybe turkey was too extravagant for wartime - though the picture shows the hostess with an enormous bird on a platter. Was duck an inferior poultry at this time? New Orleans Spaghetti stands out. Do you know culinary history? Maybe there is more to say about the menu and likely recipes.