Thanksgiving at the Schoolhouse
Community ties remain strong as the Valley View schoolhouse hosts a holiday feast, soldiers' fundraiser, and prayer during a season of drought.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Thanksgiving Day the Valley View Sunday School met at the school house with well-filled baskets. Long tables were soon made ready and laid with white linen and plates for all present. Mrs. J. Hardt brought her oil stove, which supplied hot potatoes, dressing, gravy, scalloped corn, mince pie, and coffee to the already groaning table. With Miss Allie Smith at the organ, the Sunday school sang an invitation song. A. T. Smith offered a Thanksgiving prayer. An interesting feature of the day was the packing of a box of eatables for Clyde Smith, who is at camp. A collection was taken for the soldiers' library to the amount of $7.35. After an absence of eight months or more, the rain was doubly welcome and gladdened the heart of the husbandman, who had begun to feel a little glum.
“A collection was taken for the soldiers' library to the amount of $7.35.”
Community potlucks in schoolhouses served as the social backbone of early Kennewick, mirroring today’s efforts to keep schools as vital centers for neighborhood connection and civic support.
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