h is t o r y by Tom Holton and the Dublin Historical Society
The Dublin High School Journalism class collected stories from Dublin village residents in 1984 and 1985 then published them in four volumes of the “Shanachie A magazine of Dublin culture and history.” “Shanachie” is an Irish word for “storyteller.” The students collected stories that are treasures of Dublin history. One day we will have them scanned and available for the public to read. This story is excerpted from a longer one written by student Sheila
English. Published in the spring, 1985 magazine. (The story is published with permission.) Several points for explanation: “today” is 1985; “sixty years ago” is 1925. The Ohio Theater, on State Street in Columbus, was a new movie theater in 1928 showing movies which for the first time had a soundtrack. Hayden Falls Barbeque was an establishment on Riverside Drive at the east end of the former Hayden Run Road bridge.
Fun in Old Dublin
Watching outdoor movies, swimming at the Old Rock and box socials By Sheila English
Have you ever wondered what it was like to be a teenager sixty years ago (this would have been in 1925) in the small town of Dublin, Ohio? How did the teenagers back then spend their time? What did they do for entertainment without television, telephones, and their own cars? According to lifelong Dublin residents Polly Richards, Madge Shriver, and Lester Leppert, teenagers kept quite busy with entertainment, schoolwork, and chores. A night out to a teenager today definitely wasn’t a night out to a teenager sixty years ago. Nowadays going to see the latest movie or going to a party is considered to be fun, but in 1928, a trip to the Ohio Theater and a coke and grilled cheese at Hayden Falls Barbeque was spectacular. 32 • August/September 2021
“You really dressed up in your best clothes. It was really nice to go,” said Madge Shriver about the Ohio Theater. Lester Leppert’s Ford convertible was the main attraction in1928. Madge Shriver said that she and her friends always tried to get a ride in it. The Ford convertible was the fourth one from Plain City and it only cost $620. According to Polly Richards, box socials were very popular too. “The women, mostly teenagers, would fix up a box. They would put a lunch inside of it, like fried chicken, cake, homemade bread, and homemade pickles. Then, they would wrap it up real pretty.
The girls would take it up to the old schoolhouse and put the boxes on a table and they (townspeople) would auction them off. The men would buy the boxes. Whoever’s box the man got, that girl would have to eat with him. Then they would dance afterwards.” The box socials were used to raise money for such projects as baseballs, bats, and uniforms for the adult baseball team which played on Sundays. Square dancing and movies…also filled weekend nights. When there was nothing else to do, a group of teenagers would get together at a friend’s house and make popcorn or taffy. www.dublinlifemagazine.com
