In honor of curator Kay Rich's birthday Wednesday, Overland Trail Museum took a step back in time to 1956 as it resumed its monthly History Café program.
After a chorus of "Happy birthday" sung to Rich by the audience as they enjoyed some delicious birthday cake, she shared some trivia and trends from 1956 and the mid-50s, including a few things that were happening in Sterling at that time.
"As you know, mid-50s huge oil boom going on out here in Sterling, so the 1950s were booming out here," Rich said.
In 1956, Elvis Presley entered the music charts for the first time with Heart Break Hotel and if you went to the Starlite Drive-In, in Sterling, for a date night on Aug. 31, 1956, the movies playing were "Soldiers of Fortune" and "It Grows On Trees."
That year, the Sterling High School Tiger Yearbook was dedicated to favorite teacher Mr. Lee Barnett and the senior class treasurer was Paul Budin. Also, the SHS Columbine Band visited Washington D.C., New York City and Atlantic City.
Local businesses at that time included Sterling Livestock Commission, J&L Café and Royal Printing, with the first two still in existence today.
The average price of a home in 1956 was $10,000 to $12,000, the median family income was $3,319, the average price for a new car was $2,210 and a gallon of gas was 27 cents. Today, the median family income in Colorado is $60,000 to $70,000 and the average price of a home is $500,000 to $600,000.
Speaking of homes, Charmony was Sterling's newest subdivision having opened in 1953 or 1954. A three-bedroom home there sold for $10,800 with an FHA loan advertising $1,500 down and a monthly payment of $83.
Sock hops became very popular in 1956; they were so named because shoes had to be removed to protect the cafeteria and gymnasium floors.
The top girls and boys names that year were Mary, Debra, Linda, Deborah, Susan, Michael, James, Robert, David and John. In 2022, the top names are Olivia, Emma, Amelia, Ava, Sophia, Noah, William, Oliver, Elijah and Mateo.
The number one TV show in 1956 was "I Love Lucy," which ran for six seasons ending in 1957, and the SHS senior class play was The Stage Door. Also, the 1956 Miss America was Sharon Ritchie, from Denver and SHS homecoming queen was Barbara Neiberger.
On Sept. 13, 1956, IBM released the first computer with a hard drive – the IBM 305 RAMAC. It weighed one ton, measured 16 square feet and stored five megabytes of data. It allowed users to immediately retrieve the data that they needed without the use of punch cards. The development of the hard drive was a piece of revolutionary technology at that time and it greatly influenced the advancement of the computer that we know today.
Women's fashion included poodle skirts, classic shirt waist with a full skirt and belt, and slim mid-calf suits and while decorative sweaters and dresses were popular, they were not meant to be worn together; it was either a plain dress and a fancy sweater or the other way around.
The popular women's hairstyle was very short bangs and curls, while boys wore the classic crew cut.
Household decorations were fun and colorful. Midcentury décor is still very popular today; the architecture had a lot of angles and a lot of large un-paned windows. Most kitchens had a dinette with seating for six, which could be found in Sterling at Gambles, selling for $109.50. Today they are a collectable and sell for $800 to $2,000 to $3,000.
In 1956, ground steak was 69 cents a pound and ground beef was 33 cents a pound.
That year, Play-Doh was new, it had been reworked after first having been sold as wallpaper cleaner before it was discovered that kids like to play with it. The Southdale Shopping Center in Edina, Minnesota, opened stores for the first time during the holiday season, it was the world's first enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall. Also, the game of Yahtzee and the Price Is Right TV game show came out at that time.
In Sterling, there was a bit of a mystery going on when a new groom, Ronald Evanson, vanished on his honeymoon in San Francisco; he left the hotel suite at 3 a.m. needing to get some fresh air and didn't come back. He was later found semi-conscious in the Sierra Nevada Mountains after a trucker almost ran over him as he was lying on the highway. It wasn't until their second reunion that he finally recognized his bride.
It was believed he suffered some kind of emotional shock that brought on amnesia.
Another top area news story was a fire that destroyed Merino Grade School. The fire began just after the children were released for the day, flames could be seen all the way in Sterling and the building was a total loss.
In January 1956, Skateland opened in Sterling; a rock and roll review was advertised and in September, the last jalopy race of the season was being advertised at the Sterling Speed Bowl, on Highway 14 and tickets were $1. Community baseball was popular as well with the Sterling Oilers defeating the Sterling Merchants in a 7-1 win.
Enrollment in Sterling schools was significantly higher, with 2,694 total students attending the elementary schools, junior high and high school and the bookmobile was popular too. Top education stories included the building of the new SHS and at Northeastern Junior College there was the dedication of Walker Hall.
Many issues in the newspaper in 1956 are still seen in the news today, including drought, racial tension, violent crimes and even pandemics. There were several articles reminding people that polio was not over yet and there was also an article about Rosa Parks, who in January of 1955, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a White passenger and the following year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation on buses was unconstitutional.
In politics, Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully ran for reelection as president in 1956 with Richard Nixon as his running mate and there was a minimum wage boost for women working in retail trades, public housekeeping and beauty services
Country Tea tickets on sale now
In place of September's History Café, the museum will hold a Country Tea featuring Elsa Wolf as Minnie Pearl on Wednesday, Sept. 28. It will include a farm-to-table menu. Tickets are $15 each and are available now and you'll want to make your reservations soon, as tickets sell out fast.
The following month, History Café will resume again with a cemetery tour at the museum on Oct. 26.
But before those events, the museum will celebrate the grand opening of its new Print Shop and Media Center on Thursday, Sept. 8, from 5 to 7 p.m. The event is free and will include a hamburger dinner, a tour of the new building, a printing press demonstration, an appearance by Benjamin Franklin and children's activities.
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