Halloween Parties 1898 — Westerville Historical Society

If you are planning a Halloween party, there are staple foods that “go with” the holiday. The centerpiece of any party is food, and there are certain foods that say, “Halloween.” Traditionally, parties offered cider and doughnuts, candied or caramel apples, nuts, candy corn, or caramel corn. The prepackaged, high-sugar, bite-sized “treats” given out on Beggar’s Night in our time came much later.

The November, 1898 issue of the Otterbein Aegis gave extensive coverage of the previous month’s Halloween hijinks. Halloween was still a relatively “new” holiday, stitching together vague memories of a Celtic past, All Saints Day, and a newly commercialized and industrialized holiday for young people. Like every holiday, it depended on youth having a good time, preferably with food and ever so slightly contrariness.

The three upper classes had celebrations. Apparently the Freshmen were too disoriented from their first two months of college to stage parties. Halloween was on a Monday in 1898, and sixteen Sophomores walked to the “beautiful home of Mrs. Rolley.” The select group was dazzled by decorations of autumn leaves, greenery, and a carved pumpkin atop a bookshelf. Another hollow pumpkin contained snacks of parched corn. The dinner menu included mush and milk, white bread and brown, apple butter, veal loaf, gingerbread, and, of course, pumpkin pie. After the meal, the girls entertained themselves by telling ghost stories “weird and gruesome,” then marching back into the village giving college “yells.”

Ghost stories featured at the Juniors party as well. Held at the home of “Mrs. Andrus,” the party was a bit lower keyed than the Sophomores. Refreshments were served, chat was prominent, and Halloween “tricks” were played. The party was hosted by Anise Richer, Marie Kemp, and Mabel Shank. “At a proper hour” the party disbanded.

The Seniors went all out. The lower classes watched carefully for ideas for their turn in following years. The party began at the Administration Building (now Towers Hall), where a committee had, by fair means or foul, obtained the janitor’s keys. The committee then marched over to “the home of the Misses Scott,” where they met more classmates. “There a very costly class banner was unfurled,” and after some songs and more “yells,” the entire party moved to the darkened Association Building (on the lot where Roush Hall now sits). It took a few minutes, but soon the building was a light with fires in its many fireplaces.

Near midnight, the supper began: The Aegis listed the menu:

Olives
Pickles
Lettuce sandwiches Wafers
Potato chips
Clubhouse cheese
Chicken croquettes
Tongue sandwiches
Epigram of veal* Grapes
Bananas
Oranges
Ice cream Cake

The party ended with toasts given. Departing partygoers saluted the banner, which had been raised on the college flagpole.

Halloween is full of images, mostly short-lived. Pumpkins, autumn leaves, corn stalks were all used in 1898, and are still very much in evidence in our time. College yells and tongue sandwiches, not so much. Pumpkins do not last, neither do fall decorations. The dark, and the little shivers it sometimes brings, are among our best Halloween souvenirs.

I wonder what became of the banner?