Vexed in Park Slope: Thanksgivings of Yore Edition!

 New York Public Library Digital Gallery

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! In honor of the holiday, I've dug up some very FIPS-esque happenings from Thanksgivings of Park Slopes past. So take a moment and try to imagine a time when, instead of worrying about overcrowded airports, appeasing in-laws and finding a big enough organic turkey, you could focus on what really mattered -- not getting typhoid. 

Park Slope Thanksgiving Anecdote #1 (Sad)

Before you head outside with the "ole' pig skin" this Thursday, give a thought to young Walter Rhue: a 16 year-old who, in 1896, lost his life after a post-Thanksgiving dinner football game in Prospect Park. Walter set off from his home at 720 Carroll Street (between 6th and 7th) after promising his parents he would just watch. 

Within a matter of minutes though, Walter was on the field. It's not clear how the reporter knew this but, according to the Times: "When he left home, the boy really had no intention of playing (. . .) but when he reached the grounds his passion for the game overcame him." He pleaded to be let onto the field and took over as right half back. No more then five minutes and one tackle later, Rhue was dead. An autopsy concluded that Rhue died from ruptured blood vessels after a number of other players "fell upon" him.  

Park Slope Thanksgiving Anecdote #2 (Happy!) 

Think Manhattanites get all the choice Thanksgiving department store branded entertainment? Not the case! At least from 1934-1937 it wasn't. In those years you could head up to Prospect Park after Thanksgiving dinner and catch a massive circus sponsored by the Hearn Department Store. 20,000 people turned out for the show in 1935, and who can blame them! Check out the lineup: a pair of trained baby elephants (Tulsa and Judy), a pony brigade, two performing chimps, clowns, tumblers, contortionists, a circus band AND the last surviving Barnum clown, "Uncle Bob" Sherwood. This really puts the 200 people I battled for a seat at Secret Science Club last month in perspective.

Park Slope Thanksgiving Anecdote #3 (Are-you-fucking-kidding-me-that's-so-ridiculously-typical arghhhhhh!)

This is my favorite. In 1953, the Department of Sanitation decided that the Wednesday before and the Friday immediately following Thanksgiving was the perfect time to introduce alternate side parking to Park Slope.

Yep, until 1953 it was just park-wherever-you-want-leave-it-there-as-long-as-you-need parking anarchy in our neighborhood. That is, until advances in street cleaning technology -- specifically, newfangled "flushers and mechanical brooms" --  came along and changed all that. Of course, alternate side parking was suspended the Thursday of the holiday - which I'm sure only served to clarify things for people. The policy was so clear, in fact, that the city was forced to tow and impound 137 (!!!) cars from around the Slope. Owners had to get themselves over to Hamilton and 16th St and fork over 31 bucks (about $209 today) to get their cars back.

So there you have it! A highly abbreviated history of Thanksgiving in Park Slope. And just in case you're wondering what the back of the above post card said, here you are: