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Volume 049-3 - July 1995 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
(1915) officers, Mrs. Nellie Michell, President; Mrs. Nellie Fisher, Vice President; Mrs. Nellie Norris, Secretary;
Mrs. Theresa Provis, Treasurer; Mesdames Peter Johnson,
Samuel Wolford, Henry Campbell, W. D. Harris, John
Glasson, Bennet Penhall and W. G. Thomas, Directors.
The Congregational Church was thanked on April 20,
1915, for allowing the Society to meet there for so many
years; at this time the women began to hold their meetings in
the Women’s Improvement Club, which stood just beyond
the parsonage of the Congregational Church, on Church
Street. Since the inception of Donation Day, the children had
brought their gifts to the building on School Street which
first housed the high school and then became Lincoln Elementary School in 1894, when the high school was relocated
to the Columbus School building on South Auburn Street.
The early “stick of wood and potato” has changed over the
years to any food item easily carried, but the tight quarters
made boxing and sorting difficult. The late Mrs. C. R. Clinch
had made mention of the damage to shins suffered by those
filling boxes.
After the parade, it became customary to have a short
program with speeches by local dignitaries and some of the
clergy, with the children singing Christmas songs. The spirits
of the children were high for they had been singing and
shouting school yells as they paraded from each one of their
schools down to East Main Street, where the march always
began. The lineup differed from year to year, but usually was
led by the Ladies Relief Society members who felt able to
march and who were followed by the youngest children with
the students from the high school bringing up the rear. For
many years the local band took part in the parade, and later
the school bands joined in.
The first mention of a street collection was in December
1920, when City Clerk Charles F. Lobecker and Billy Williams, the water collector, volunteered to make a collection
from the business houses and from the many people who
always lined the streets to watch the parade. Somewhat later
this was taken over by the two local police officers who used
their official bowler hats to take up the money donations.
When traffic conditions occupied the police officers, as the
number of cars and people increased in the downtown area,
red-shirted fireman continued the custom. But as the population increased, there were so many new people in the area
who had no knowledge of our local custom, it was thought
best to discontinue the street soliciting a few years ago.
The minutes of 1920 show that a woman was provided
with an artificial leg at a cost of $65, with ten dollars additional given for the trip to Sacramento to have it fitted. In
1921, money was given to the “tubercular fund.” A set of
teeth (cost $45) was provided for an older woman who had
been helped for several years. The Empire Mine made a
donation of $25 for Donation Day.
In March of 1911, there was no meeting of the society due
to the flu epidemic, and no program was held after the
20
Grass Valley’s Congregational Church, where the Ladies
Relief Society met until 1915, when they moved to the
Women’s Improvement Club next door to the parsonage.
All three buildings were demolished in the 1970s to make
room for the building now occupied by American Savings
Bank, 205 South Church Street. (Photo by Jim Morley.)
Donation Day parade. President Nellie Michell was to make
all other arrangements. In the following year, Hop Sing and
“Duck Egg” were given assistance—these were two very old
Chinese who had spent most of their lives in Grass Valley
and were well known and liked by the community. Bills for
food were paid at many small grocery stores each month. The
amounts were very small, but the ladies made an effort to see
that every store received a share of their funds.
The parade in 1924 was led by the Grass Valley Band,
members of the Board of Education, the clergy, the mayor
and other adults who marched with the school pupils and
their teachers. The minutes reflect both good times and bad;
in 1924 there was little unemployment and only 24 boxes
were needed on Donation Day. In 1925, a mother asked for @™
“waists” for her five boys—the garments we know as shirts
—and the Society agreed to buy the material if she would ~