An Evening for the Books

The Victoria Hotel in Gary, Indiana, circa 1910. Image courtesy of the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society.

The Victoria Hotel was the venue for a dance on the evening of October 2, 1917, sponsored by the staff of the Gary public library. Its purpose was to raise money for a library fund to benefit soldiers and sailors. Bessie Banks of Hobart had been on the Gary library staff for three years, and she probably urged her Hobart friends to attend.

A dozen young people from the Hobart-Ainsworth area came to dance the night away, including our own Will Wollenberg, Jr. With his musical and athletic talents, Will Jr. was probably a good dancer. Frank Ferguson, George Barnes, William and Howard Krull, and Ralph Banks went with him. Perhaps those six paired up with the half dozen young Hobart ladies who also attended — Harriet Morris, Bessie Banks, Vera Barnes, Maude Scholl, Myrtle Wild and Florence Pio. (Myrtle Wild and Howard Krull married about three months later.)

I don't know what it says about Will Jr.'s military ambitions that in September he accepted a position with the American Trust and Savings Bank in Hobart. Had he given up on his West Point hopes? — or was he just trying to make a little money while waiting for that nomination to come through?

Anyway, by mid-October Will had left the bank, hired by his own father to "look after coal yards" in Chicago. Back in March 1915 Will Sr. had expanded his business operations to include coal sales, having built some storage sheds at Ainsworth, so perhaps Will Jr. was to act as a purchasing agent; or perhaps Will Sr. actually owned coal yards in Chicago.


Sources:
♦ "Krull-Wild." Hobart News 17 Jan. 1918.
♦ "Local and Personal." Hobart News 13 Sept. 1917; 4 Oct. 1917.
♦ "Many Changes of Employes Taking Place in Hobart." Hobart News 18 Oct. 1917.
♦ "Miss Bessie Banks Resigns From Gary Library Staff." Hobart News 10 Jan. 1918.
♦ "Personal and Local Mention." Hobart News 11 Mar. 1915.