By Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD
Special to NKyTribune
There was much to be thankful for in 1945.
On May 8th of that year, World War II in the European theater came to an official end. Americans celebrated VE Day (“Victory in Europe”), cautiously anticipating that full victory in the Asian theater would come soon. Three months later, in August 1945, VJ Day (Victory in Japan) arrived.
With World War II over and Americans soldiers returning home, celebrations blossomed on Thanksgiving Day in 1945 in Northern Kentucky.
The somber mood of the prior four years was replaced with gratitude for the work of Americans everywhere, both at home and abroad, in bringing an end to the most devastating world war in human history.
Pre-Thanksgiving festivals abounded. The Sisters of Notre Dame of Covington expected up to “15,000 visitors” at their annual Kermess. The four-day event (November 7–10), held in a “tented village” in the courtyard of Notre Dame Academy at 39 West Fifth Street in Covington, featured “valuable prizes having appeal to young and old.” Turkey dinners were available on Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and a “seafood menu” was offered on Friday in accordance with the Catholic Church’s then year-round meatless Fridays. Guests included Bishop William T. Mulloy and Senator A.B. “Happy” Chandler (“Valuable Prizes Ready for Kermess,” “Kentucky Post,” November 5, 1945, p. 7; “Thanksgiving Kermess Committee,” “Kentucky Post,” November 9, 1945, p. 12).
In Covington’s West End, the Irish Americans of St. Patrick Catholic Church on Philadelphia Street held their annual pre-Thanksgiving Festival, Tuesday, November 13th through Thursday, the 15th. Prizes included turkeys and war bonds (“Install Booths for Festival,” “Kentucky Post,” November 10, 1945, p. 3).
Immediately following the St. Patrick event, on Friday and Saturday, November 16–17, the German Americans of St. Joseph Parish in Covington’s Helentown presented their annual Thanksgiving Festival in the parish school at Bush and Scott Streets. Prizes included live turkeys. On Friday night, the parish featured a traditional Fish Fry (“Festival Head,” “Kentucky Post,” November 9, 1945, p. 6; advertisement, “Kentucky Post,” November 15, 1945, p. 3).
Meanwhile, St. Elizabeth Hospital in Covington celebrated the world centennial of the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis, as well as the sisters’ 85th anniversary working on behalf of the ill and poor in Northern Kentucky. Bishop William T. Mulloy offered a public Pontifical Mass at 10 AM on Thanksgiving Day (November 22nd) at Covington’s cathedral to honor the anniversaries (“Thanksgiving Day Will Mark 2 Parochial Celebrations Here,” “Kentucky Post,” November 13, 1945, p. 1).
Protestants throughout Northern Kentucky planned special Thanksgiving services. The Kenton County Ministerial Association collaborated to hold seven worship services, four in Covington (including Latonia), and one each in Park Hills, Ludlow and Erlanger. In Bellevue, combined congregational services were hosted by St. John Evangelical and Reformed Church. In Newport, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church scheduled a worship hour on Wednesday, and Rev. Harold W. Barkhau preached at St. John’s Evangelical Church at Park and Nelson Place on Thanksgiving Day. In Cold Spring, Asbury Methodist Church offered an 8 a.m. Thanksgiving Day service (“Association Sets Thanks Services,” “Kentucky Post,” November 16, 1945, p. 2;”Special Services,” “Kentucky Post,” November 20, 1945, p. 2; “Church Services,” “Kentucky post,” November 20, 1945, p. 1).
On Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd, the “Kentucky Post” featured a front-page article spotlighting the turkey farm of Miss Margaret M. Madden on “Madison Pike, north of Independence.” There, she raised 1,000 plump and juicy White Holland turkeys for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. By March each year, she readied for the hens to lay eggs. Madden placed these in her 1,000-egg incubator to hatch. Once hatched, the turkeys were placed in “electrically-operated ‘battery’ brooders” for 8-10 weeks. Then, she transferred them to above-ground fenced roosts, where she gave them her secret “special feed formula” (“Miss Madden Specializes in Raising White Hollands,” “Kentucky Post,” November 22, 1945, p. 1).
The editorial staff of the “Kentucky Post” summarized best the overwhelming spirit of gratitude on that Thanksgiving Day of 1945.
“Northern Kentuckians have much for which to be thankful on this first peacetime Thanksgiving Day since 1941. Foes have been vanished, the roar of battle has ceased and shiploads of our loved ones are coming home as rapidly as the military forces can muster them out.”
To the fighting forces who were “wondering when and if there would be another Thanksgiving at home,” the editors proclaimed, “Today the reunion is a reality for them” (“Much for Which To be Thankful,” “Kentucky Post,” November 22, 1945, p. 4).
Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD is Editor of the “Our Rich History” weekly series and Professor of History at Northern Kentucky University (NKU). To browse more than ten years of past columns, click here. Tenkotte also serves as Director of the ORVILLE Project (Ohio River Valley Innovation Library and Learning Engagement). For more information see https://orvillelearning.org/. He can be contacted at tenkottep@nku.edu.
