A remarkable sun-filled April day dawned.
The sky was filled with color amid the golden ball coming over the horizon. Green shoots could be seen all over Clara’s garden. Time for an oatmeal breakfast and then leave for the workday.
The lovely Clara worked for the All-Steel Equipment Company in Aurora in 1912, the very year the company was founded. They manufactured custom metal objects, including electrical equipment. Later, they would produce kitchen cabinets and refrigerated food lockers.
Clara began her job directly after graduation from West Aurora High School and worked as a stenographer. She was often placing calls all over Illinois and enjoyed the camaraderie of her fellow workers. They joked about the latest scandals in Washington, D.C. and about gas prices. They shared their brown bag lunches brought from home. Usually an egg salad sandwich or left-over ham. And, of course, home-make cookies or pie.
Very few had telephones in their homes because they were too expensive at that time. It would be three years later that the first coast-to-coast and international calls could be made. A telegram was the best way to send a long-distance message. Local newspapers gave all the details of people and events. In 1846, The Beacon-News began publishing in Aurora under the auspices of the Chicago Tribune enterprises.
In 1667 Robert Hooke invented a string telephone that converted sounds over an extended mechanical vibration. It was to be termed an acoustic or non-electrical invention. In 1753 Charles Morrison had the idea that electricity could be used to transmit messages with different wires for each letter. In 1854 Charles Bourseul wrote a memorandum on the principles of the telephone which was printed in Paris in August 1854.
Alexander Graham Bell was a Scottish-born scientist who is credited with inventing and patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in 1885. Both his mother and his wife were deaf and they profoundly influenced his life’s work. Bell was awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone on March 7, 1876.
Clara typed daily letters to suppliers and customers. Stamps were two cents at that time and the use of zip codes was 50 years away. She loved to dress in the latest fashions and bought her clothes from Aurora department stores, including Sencenbaugh’s on Broadway Street. The department store opened in 1867 and closed in 1969, almost 100 years in business. Clara found fuller skirts in soft floaty fabrics were the rage then.
Her family did possess a radio so she listened to the popular music of 1912. It was in 1897 that Macroni was awarded a patent for radio transmission with British patent No. 12,039 and in 1909 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in physics. Some of the popular songs of 1912 included “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling,” “On Moonlight Bay,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” and “I Love You Truly.” Clara and her beaux, Charles, were planning a September wedding.
The morning sun had given way to clouds and an early sparkling night sky. Clara finished her letters for that day and covered her typewriter with its case. She locked her desk and turned out the lights. Charles would be picking her up in his 1911 Ford Model T car and they would enjoy a walk around Phillips Park before their dinner at a friend’s home.
Inventions in 1912 included the zipper, the electric blanket, and Belgian chocolate. A French Gower telephone of 1912 would be on display at the Musee des Arts et Metiers in Paris. It was to happen the following week, April 15, 1912 that the Titanic, on its maiden voyage with 2,200 passengers and crew, struck an iceberg and would be destroyed with 1,500 people losing their lives.