"House for Sale - $2100.00" "Job Opening: salary $15 per week; only Catholics need apply." We'd never see ads like these in our newspapers today, but they were actually ads in the newspapers that Parma resident Joe Reinschmidt uncovered in the walls of his home recently. The three papers, dated from December 1895 to April 1896, were in good condition considering they're 108 years old. Reinschmidt isn't sure if the newspapers were meant to be a time capsule, or, as he suspects, if the builder simply ran out of paper to line the walls and shoved them in to finish the job. Joe Reinschmidt's parents bought the old farmhouse in 1929 and he grew up there. Now he and his wife live there and are slowly renovating it. "My father put cedar shingles on the house back in 1939," Reinschmidt recalled, "When I tore off his shingles I went further. That's where they were." The papers, The Buffalo Evening News, The Post Express and the Union and Advertiser were yellowed and frail but completely legible. The Post Express was a Rochester evening paper from 1859 through 1923. The cost was two cents per issue. The Union and Advertiser was started in 1826. After numerous name changes and mergers, it eventually became the Rochester Times Union. The TU closed its door in the late 1990s. The price in 1896 was also two cents. The Buffalo Press cost two cents but warned that if it was purchased on the train the cost was four cents. National news items made up the headlines for all three front pages. Inside was a hodge podge of information. Classifieds were mingled in with obituaries and news stories. Announcements from weddings to obituaries and everything in between was spread throughout in no particular order. One article from California read in part: "Leader of large train robbery gang slit his own throat while in jail. He'll probably die." A restaurant meal was 15 cents and a night of lodging could be had for anywhere between 15 cents and 50 cents. The R.J. Moore Shoe Store on W. Main Street in Rochester ran an ad for a good pair of women's shoes for $2.77 but lower end models could be bought for .75 cents. The Rochester Savings Bank boasted of being in business since 1831 and held $16 million in resources with 34,188 accounts. A large portion of the stock market was Railroad shares which sold for $77 each. A share of Wells Fargo closed at $100 on March 14, 1896. Warnings against the cold tells us their winters were much the same as we're experiencing today. The experts of the time advised increasing the fat in your diet to get you through the harsh winter. A daily dose of cod liver oil was touted as a means of keeping your insides warm. The opinions of residents were as outspoken back then as today. One strongly worded opinion was written against joining the Town of Gates with the City of Rochester. A group called the "Westenders" were vehemently opposed and the scathing article seemed to be one of many that had been going back and forth. Along with the newspapers, Reinschmidt also found two paper flour sacks; another reminder that Rochester was once known as the "Flour City." One of the mills was located in Fairport and used "roller mills" for their process. The second was from a mill agent called M.E. Woodbury who at that time had nine stores in Rochester, one in Buffalo, and one in Batavia. Both bags were yellowed with age but in good condition. Reinschmidt is not certain what he'll do with the papers. For right now, he's enjoying carefully leafing through them. |
