Oklahoma City had been through a lot that Thanksgiving.
In October, the Spanish Flu had hit the city hard. Ultimately, over 7,000 Oklahomans would die, and the city was not spared.
In October, the Spanish Flu had hit the city hard. Ultimately, over 7,000 Oklahomans would die, and the city was not spared.
Meanwhile, many of the city’s young men had spent the year overseas, fighting for their country. Just two weeks earlier, the Great War had been won, and the resulting euphoria had briefly washed away the pain of October’s pandemic.
On that Thanksgiving Day, November 28th, 1918, the city’s residents found time for gratitude and celebration.
Over lunch, Mayor Overholser delivered a Thanksgiving address to 200 of the city’s “newsies,” the young boys who sold newspapers on street corners.
(Perhaps the Mayor should have been more careful in general. He was still suffering from his own bout of the Flu, and on Christmas Eve, he resigned office in order to focus on his recovery. At the meeting where he resigned, the council named the city’s lake after him.)
Bedlam football was played that afternoon at Oklahoma City’s fairgrounds, which were then located where Douglass High School is today. OU won 27-0.
Special Thanksgiving church services were held. The Oklahoma teachers association brought teachers to town for its annual meeting. A Shriners parade was staged. Military airplanes circled the city. A dance for soldiers was held at the Model T Assembly Plant on Main Street.
(Alas, despite this apparent relaxation of precautions, the Flu was not yet done with Oklahoma City. New cases in the city would spike by 50 percent two weeks after Thanksgiving, spurring another round of business restrictions.)
Despite the dual suffering of the war and the pandemic, @TheOklahoman_ wrote that this “undoubtedly was the greatest Thanksgiving day which Oklahoma City has ever witnessed” and that “a deeper spiritual feeling, a more profound feeling of thankfulness was everywhere in evidence.”
In 2020, the residents of OKC are still an optimistic people. We are grateful today for our blessings, & despite it all, we know what they are & we know that they are many. Among those blessings is the ability to improve upon those things for which we are perhaps not so grateful.
In this challenging year - especially in this challenging year - I wish for you the happiest of Thanksgivings.
#1OKC
#1OKC
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