Our Past Is Present December 21, 2018

December 21, 2018

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            “Peace, Progress and Prosperity” was the campaign slogan of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and describes the 1950s. Though the war in Europe was over, the decade began ominously with a conflict in Korea that would claim America’s attention for three years.  Back at home, the technological advances motivated by WW II were now being put to use to bring the good life to the people.

            The 1950s was the age of tract housing, big cars, felt skirts, ducktails, 3-D and the Yankee baseball team.  Perhaps the thing that changed the American scene the most was the box-like piece of equipment that found its way into the living rooms across the land.  With its metal antennas projecting from roofs of houses, and fuzzy pictures on the screen, the television was here to stay and it changed American life forever.

            The Yuletide Festival became solely a senior high production at that time with a big new high school, which was built in the 1950s on Eisenhower Street.  It was possible to move the production from the Municipal Building to the comfortable and fitting setting provided by the auditorium of the new school. 

            Though this annual event still drew devoted crowds, big television Christmas “specials” introduced a whole new genre of holiday entertainment.  During the 1950s traditional carols and classics were joined by such secular characters as “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”  Standards like “Let It Snow”, “Winter Wonderland” and “It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas” were heard on radio – similar to what we hear on “Reindeer Radio” on KJCK 1420 AM and 107.9 FM today.  And...thanks for reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.