Hastings Tribune.com

Hastings men have fond memories of Depression
JOHN HUTHMACHER
johnh@hastingstribune.com
Like the rest of America, residents of Adams County faced hard times during the turbulent 1930s Depression era.
But as the theme of this year’s Chautauqua event — “Bright Dreams, Hard Times, America in the 1930s” implies — there was ample good will and optimism on the home front to pull most of them through the hardest of times.
Hastings businessman Bob Foote spent his childhood growing up near Hastings College in the 1930s. His father, Bob, opened a Shell service station near the Knights of Columbus building on Second Street in 1930. His family, which included his mother, Garnet, and older siblings Richard and Rachel, resided in a home in the 600 block of East Sixth Street.
To Foote, the 1930s era left him with more of a sense of appreciation for what he and his family did have than what they didn’t have. Of course, it helped that his father’s service station business was an up-and-coming enterprise that continued to prosper in spite of the slumping economy.
“Even though times were tough, there were things like service stations catching on because cars were really becoming a factor in the ’30s,” Foote said. “I don’t think the Depression really affected Dad’s business or a lot of people in the automotive business because cars were becoming more plentiful and gas was 19 cents a gallon. All in all, Dad picked a good business to get into.”
Eventually, the senior Foote started other successful business enterprises, including a retreading business for passenger and light truck vehicles. The business flourished and eventually grew to include branches in Kearney, Lincoln, Fremont and Norfolk.
As Foote remembers it, the 1930s were “pretty simple” for his father, who spent much time involved in the local Masonic Temple and Shriner organizations.
“He had so many neat friends because there weren’t the distractions,” he said. “In those days you had a little more time to spend in organizations.”
Bob Allen, president of Allen’s Supermarket, spent his grade school years growing up in a home on 31st Street in Lincoln during the Depression. The youngest of three siblings, he remembers the 1930s as a time when radio broadcasts captured the nation’s imagination.
“There was no TV, so you listened to radio,” Allen said. “I remember I was home sick for two or three days and I listened to that Ma Perkins and all those shows on the radio. Radio was big-time.”