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JULY 19-25, 2018
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NORTHAMPTON COMMUNITY DAYS
Looking by Back Ed Pany Life in the ‘20s and ‘30s
Northampton residents come out For Community Days fun By KERI LINDENMUTH The 38th Annual Northampton Community Days Fair was held by the Northampton Exchange Club from July 11 to July 15 at The Northampton Municipal Park Complex. The five-day event was filled with fair food favorites, rides for the entire family, musical performances on two stages, face paint-
ing, puppet shows, bingo by the Bath Lions Club, a beer tent, and more. Proceeds from the event benefited the Exchange Club’s community projects. In addition to flying high in the Paratrooper, spinning circles in the Teacups, and getting dizzy in the Scrambler, fair-goers could also try their luck at games of balloon darts, can knock downs,
and basketball. Performances included sets by the Balancing Art Quartet, Swing Time Dolls, Lucky 7, the Emil Shanta Band, Transmission NOW, Social Call, Flirtin’ with the Mob, and Flamin’ Dick and the Hot Rods. Meanwhile, a fireworks show lit up the fair’s final night.
2018 Scholarship winners..
Scholarships awarded at Moravian Hall Square
Submitted by LIZ BRANDL The residents of Moravian Hall Square are thrilled to an-
nounce that they have awarded five scholarships to student employees. Resident Marilyn Brew-
ster spearheads the effort to raise monies from individuals living at Continued on page 4
Life in the ‘20s and ‘30s in Northampton, Coplay, Cementon, Catasauqua and our neighboring communities involved many of our families working in the cement, steel and silk industries. In Northampton many residents were employed at the Atlas Portland Cement Co. When Bill Heberling was a young man, his father told him “to dress up because he was going for a job.” They walked out to the Atlas and sat in the employment office. Bath, Coplay, Whitehall and Lehigh Cement were hiring in 1922. Mr. Preston Everett looked at young Heberling and said, “If you’re as good as your father, we’ll give you a job.” He started in the Atlas Bag Factory, the present Northampton Banquet Center. His job was to tie cloth cement bags. The boys tied 6,000 bags a day at the rate of 50 cents per thousand bags. Their goal was to earn three dollars a day, quite a payday. Some days the boys delayed eating so they could meet the quota. In those days the cement plant paid in cash. At Atlas, thousands of employees were paid from a pay car, a railroad car that moved through the plant. Employees would line up at the car, show their brass checks with a number and receive payment in a brown envelope. Most boys took the money home and gave the cash to their parents. If your parents gave you two dollars you were a millionaire. Boys were hired at age 14. The workweek was six 9-hour days with one day at the Central Building, which was called a Continuation School. There English and American history was taught to the students. Many young men were sons of immigrant parents. The ‘20s were a prosperous era in the United States, but lifestyles changed drastically with the ad-
vent of the Great Depression. Massive unemployment saw millions of able-bodied young men and women on the unemployment rolls. The WPA Works Progress Administration attempted to provide jobs for Americans. Mr. Heberling’s father worked for the agency. Most jobs were manual labor. His crew constructed the cement rock walls around the Atlas quarry on Route 329. Mr. Heberling had been earning $110 a month at the Atlas, which he called “big money.” His son worked part time in a shoe facContinued on page 7
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