INCLUDED IN THIS SITE:
     The Village, Employment, Local Institutions, Community Life, Farm and Household Life

Erieville, NY during the 1930's

This page includes part 3 of an ethnography written by Larry J. Schmidt in 1977. 

Local Institutions

The most important local institutions were the church, the schools, the Grange and the Cornell Club.  The local church was Methodist.  It had originally been a baptist church, but was eventually acquired by the Methodists (1912).  There were two services on Sunday, the morning service at about 10 a.m. and the evening service at 7 p.m.  There was also a prayer meeting in the middle of the week.  It was common for many members of the congregation to attend all three services.  In general, religion was a greater force than it is currently, and created a strong bond between its members.

The church was quite active in general.  It had about sixty member families.  Even nonmember families took interest and participated in church activities.  A few families devoted a great deal of their energies to church affairs.  All members of these families were quite involved in religious activites.  Besides services, there was a choir, a women's auxiliary, a Sunday school, and a youth group.  The church sponsored a pot luck dinner about once a month (although not in the winter).  These were primarily social events.

The women's auxiliary, called the Ladies Aid Society, was quite active and usually held card parties once a month to raise funds.  These were held at member's houses, and were attended by 10 to 12 couples.  The women also made several quilts to be auctioned off at Christmas.

The Grange was also very active, having about 200 members including women.  Meetings were held twice a month.  Thirty to forty people would attend.  The meeting were to discuss business and farm related issues, but there was always refreshments and socializing after the meetings.  The annual installment of officers took place on New Years day and was an all day affair.  Both dinner and supper were served, followed by a dance in the evening.

In addition to the business meetings, the Grange sponsored dances about twice a month.  These were usually held on Friday night.  The Nelson Grange would sponsor a dance at their  hall the other two  Fridays of the month.  There were also dances at the local dance hall on Saturday nights, but these attracted an older and rougher crowd, including people from all over the area.  The Grange dances included many teenaged youth.  At about this time, silent movies were shown at the hall on Saturday afternoons for the children.  A local woman played piano for these movies.  On occasion, a travelling show would come to the Grange hall for several nights, to perform and to sell various items.

The Cornell Club was also very active.  Its membership was kept at 30 women and there usually was  a waiting list.  Meetings were formal, and the program included presentations by the members of an educational nature.  The club usually met once a month at a member's home, ten times a year.  Three women sponsored each meeting, the household wife and two other hostesses.

Another club for women was the Home Bureau.  This was an extention group, the local leaders being trained at Wampsville by the personnel from Cornell University.  It attracted younger women than the Cornell Club did.  It had 15 to 20 members and met every two weeks.  Housewives practiced canoing, quilting, cooking and various other household skills.  This group was discontinued not too many years after the early 30's.

Local schools were a major enterprise then.  There was the Union School in the Village which included grades 9 through 11.  There were also a number of country schools.  One was near where Brennans now live.  Another was on the hill east of town.  A third was west of the village on the other side of Welches.  There was also the Lyon's School and the Heather Hollow School.  Another was an Hardscrabble near Cliff Lyga's.  Finally, there was a school on the other side of Tuscarora Lake.

The country schools taught through 8th grade.  They were instituted to avoid the long winter drive into the village.  They were essentially neighborhood schools, each school being administered by trustees from the area served.  Each country school usually had a Christmas program and a picnic on the last day of school.

The Union School was administered by a Board of Education.  It also had a Christmas program and a picnic on the last day of school.  There was a graduation ceremony from grade 11, usually held in the Church.  A prize speaking contest took place just before commencement ceremonies.  There was no athletic program at the Union School at this time.  Country people from various neighborhoods would pay men to drive their kids to school.  In the winter this was done with horse and sleigh.

The last grade of high school was usually taken in Morrisville at this time.  Students were shuttled over and back by schoolbus.  The school system centralized with Cazenovia sometime in the mid-30's perhaps 1934.  From then on local people attended school in Cazenovia beyond grade 6.

To learn about Community Life in Erieville during the 1930's, click here.

History needs a "keeper" to allow it to be passed on to future generations.  Erieville is lucky to have such a person in its Postmaster, Donna.  This document came from her file of information related to the history of the village.