Dorothy Harris Smith

Find a Grave entry: Dorothy Smith, a well-known former resident of Syracuse, died in Sarasota. FL, Sunday, Sept 12, 1976, at age 95. She lived and worked in Syracuse for several years, moved to Florida three years ago to be with her daughter, Mrs. Andy (Sue) Anderson. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum on January 21,1881, in Henry, IL, she married Melvin Smith of Syracuse who preceded her in death. Mrs. Smith was a home economist for AB Stove Company, traveling all over the country to present cooking demonstrations. She also owned a delicatessen in uptown Syracuse and then managed a tea room on North Harrison Street. Her daughter Sue is her only survivor; two sons preceded her in death. Funeral services and cremation were held in Florida.

Robert Lawthom’s (sp.?) lived in the house I bought first – up the hill (N. Harrison) from Auer’s (filling) station – I came here in 1928. Didn’t remember how big the town was at that time. Her father and mother were in Chicago at that time and she was supporting them; was on the road with Landers, Frary and Clark, makers of Universal Electric Appliances out of New Britain, CT. I was 4 years in Michigan. I knew this builder here (Blanche Hayes – sp.? – uncle) – he built W.E. Long’s first house, Mary Bushong’s house, quite a few houses on the lake on the north shore. His name was Carlton Abbott (sp.?), everybody called him Abby. He bought the house on the corner of Carroll and Harris (lot 29 in Strombeck & Weaver addition, Syracuse; faces Carroll – possibly where Martha Ruch – sp.? – lives, just down from Ellie’s) for $75 ($175 for delinquent taxes). I came in a funny little branch railroad that ran between Battle Creek and Goshen – thinks it belonged to Michigan Central. It ran up and down collecting freight. It only had one funny little passenger car. *See more on this part of Dorothy’s life below.

Dorothy didn’t live here until way into the 1930s. The train (B and O) ran east and west. Always somebody had to take Dorothy in a car to catch transportation. They had taxis here – different men. Katherine Rothenberger’s father had a taxi for a while. The Interurban ran from Milford up to Kalamazoo. Dorothy was born in Illinois and was married in Omaha, NB. Lived there quite a while, lost her husband (his last name must have been Harris) and two sons. Then went on the road. Her parents were St. Louis people, but moved to Chicago.

Started cooking demonstrations with eastern firm in 1926. Universal made waffle irons, percolators, toasters were the tops from 1832 when they began – may be out of business now. They had just started making electric stoves so Dorothy worked for Universal selling stoves to the light and power companies in Michigan – conducting these schools all over Michigan. In 1930, Dorothy went with the AB Stove Co. in Battle Creek, MI. After 4 years with Universal, she wanted to be nearer people here in the Middle West. She went to the AB Stove Co.’s sales manager. He said, “What is it that you want Mrs. Harris?” She said, “I want to work for you because you need me.” She worked for them for 8 years until they went out of business. Dorothy had always been interested in food – from 1921-1923, Dorothy was the manager of the Gamet (sp.?) club in New York City – right down on 58th St. between Fifth and Sixth Ave. She’d never worked before. The club was all actresses; the secretary and Dorothy sometimes served lunches and always dinner to these people. Dorothy got a chef that had been with Bob Evans on a battleship. They’d serve about 100 – 125. The Gamet Club (a women’s club) rented a house – it was beautiful, all the walls were lined with velvet or satin, had a music room, a conservatory. *said something about Sue going to high school there – later I figured out that Sue was her daughter. Dorothy lived there in house – cleaning woman came in the morning; a colored man took care of the fires – no soft coal used in New York then and the air was clear because they used hard coal. They (government) rented the apartments to the Gamet Club for $700/month because owner was taken as a German spy. Saw all the shows, went places, never afraid to go, liberal education. The women wanted “the blood to follow the knife” –wanted rare meat all the time! Each of the man’s children had had a living room, a bedroom and a bath (2 on the second floor; 3 on the third floor) so the gal who rented those got big rent for those. Those people came and went – no cooking in those apts. Met a lot of interesting people – met Gertrude Hoffman and her husband; he had the orchestra at the Zigfield Follies, and she was quite a famous dancer on the vaudeville stage. They saw every show; knew a Midwestern dentist there who was a bachelor without any ties who knew the place; they spent a lot of their weekends up in Rye, (NY) on the (Long Island) Sound. From there, Dorothy went to Peoria, IL; ran the Woman’s City Club – a man whose wife had died started this club for the business women in memory of his wife. They had parlors, no one stayed overnight, Dorothy had charge of the kitchen; she and her secretary ran the club. Their dues were only $10. Served luncheons and dinners every day except Sun. Dorothy lived in a hotel. Sue was working in Chicago – lived at the Alegan (sp.?) club.

 A woman at the electric company there in Peoria brought a lady, Edith (something), to lunch who was with Landesburry (sp.?) Clark in Michigan doing the work that I eventually would do. This lady said she wanted to meet the person who ran this club and was brought out into the kitchen to meet Dorothy. She was a charming person from England who was holding a cooking school in Peoria for the light company. She came back a couple of times and eventually said she’d like to hire Dorothy to work for us– she’d take her with her 3 months and show her how to demonstrate an electric range before a group – she’d be on the road all the time. This lady visited Dorothy in Syracuse, but is now gone. At first her job was to show a man how to sell (a range) from a woman’s point of view. They had big schools – as many as 2,000 women at a time. Dorothy said she could sell anything from a platform – always had fun. After she went with AB Stove Co., different utility companies would send their women to her to be trained how to demonstrate– she was not a home economics graduate. She made up her own menus, they always meant something –like “New Clothes for Old Ones” showing the latest dishes. She never talked down to her audience; she was talking to these young girls that had graduated from home economics schools. She had a wonderful time! One time in Orlando, FL, she was working with the newspaper; all around the armory there were booths; went out to see a lady who raised water lilies that slipped down in the water and talked to the lilies – this lady had a booth in the armory; emcee said, “Mrs. ??? has day blooming lilies, night blooming lilies and all kinds of bloomers,” and Dorothy followed up with, “Why Mr. ???” and after the silence, the audience howled (in those days all the ladies wore bloomers) – that broke the ice!

Always would try anything – just like food. Talks about trying unsuccessfully to find some different kinds of foods locally. Dorothy asked Rosalyn Jones (interviewer) if she knew what a “mustgo” was – it’s a little dish that sits in the refrigerator and must go out! Dorothy could take any leftover and make something. Taxi company in Syracuse – Mr. Rensberger, Mr. Rothenberger, Joe Hughes’ brother started one when he came back from the war – his station was right beside Byland Jewelry, in front of that restaurant. Each one never lasted very long. Hughes was last one – he became ill and couldn’t drive it anymore.  Taxi would take Dorothy to a bus that would go to factory in Michigan.

Dorothy left the road in the 1930s and came to Syracuse to live – her father had died then and she lived with her mother. In 1944, Dorothy took position at Wawasee Golf Club for 2 years (belonged to Frank Remy, managed by Guy Rarig) – Guy had to do something away from course so Dorothy and another man were there taking care of it. Then when Harold Gray (from Nappanee), Lyle Wilt (from Nappanee) and Edgar Wilde (house on lake, but didn’t live here) (don’t know whether these are spelled right) bought the land and started Maxwelton, Dorothy went working with them. Ed Gray was only 18, but he and Dorothy ran the whole thing for the summer; then they got Tom Merritt for the pro. She was there 3 years; prepared lunches at the Women’s meeting and take them out there. Dorothy was the only one who lived in the county so she had to get the beer license. Getting the required 30 property owners to sign for her (a woman) being responsible was hard (at that time). Dorothy thinks Bart Cox did one of the nicest things I’ve ever known a (news)paper could do. While WWII was still on in 1944, the Business and Professional Women (club) worked with the newspaper to get the name of every serviceman who had been in the service or who was still in the service and dug up little stories about each one. He printed a special edition that went to every one of our servicemen all over the world. Dorothy remembered that Laucks Xanders was thrilled in Australia when he found someone who was real near him – hadn’t any idea there was anyone near. They just loved it! Those copies sold for 5 cents. It would be wonderful if someone could find one of those – Rosalyn was going to look at the library.

Dorothy came from Battle Creek, Michigan. A family friend, Carlton Abbott, was building houses here. Dorothy came here on a Sat. morning in May, 1928, and he took her to breakfast at The Sign of the Kettle (where the Legion used to be on Huntington St.; 2025 – Revolving Closet) run by Mrs. Leacock.  Mr. Abbott got a lawyer, Mr. Colwell, and another lawyer and 2 or 3 other real estate men and they all looked at houses. Finally, they looked at one on N. Harrison St. on the top of the hill owned by a man named Eisenberger (sp.?) which was for sale for $1,600. Dorothy bought it and paid for it in installments of $20 a month. She brought her mother and father down here. The house had a summer kitchen and a pump in it – that was all the water we had. We had a “chick sales” (outhouse) in the backyard. A heating stove and a funny little two-burner stove to heat hot water. My mother and father had always lived in the city, and they knew nothing about having a fire in the house. They’d always had steam heat in the city, and hot water and never saw where it came from. They set the house on fire 3 different times. In Feb., 1929, it burned down – well, practically all. That night late, Dorothy (working in Springfield, OH) got a telegram from Mr. Colwell who kind of saw after her parents while she traveled for work. The telegram said: “Your house and contents have burned down. Don’t worry.” He had rented the Hoopingarner house and moved her family right in, and they rented for $25 a month. Mr. Abbott rebuilt her house, and she lived there until 1944. When I went to work at the Wawasee Golf Club, there was a small, white house right beside it (been torn down by time of the interview), and she and her mother lived there. Mother passed away when they lived there. Eventually Dorothy bought her house at 131 W. Pearl (has an upstairs) and has lived there ever since. Dorothy thinks it was a laundry at one time – there’s a great space of cement pavement in backyard and a small shed with a pump in it and thinks that was for laundry. A Searfoss man (thinks it was Robert’s brother) and his wife owned it before Dorothy. It’s the last one on the block. Dorothy belonged to the clubs here – many years with the Business and Professional Women’s Club. This is a happy house – has a great deal of company.

Bart Cox had The Syracuse Journal. Dorothy worked for him. He had it in the Pickwick Block – on the ground floor – the last one up the hill on Huntington St. Dorothy stood in the front while he was printing, etc. She proofread sometimes. He and his son were alone here. Dorothy’s mother would get their dinner for them. He had a marvelous son, Bob, who was killed in an accident – his wife was 4 months pregnant with a grandson. The grandson, a handsome lad, has been here – his mother remarried, and they live in Florida. Dorothy’s favorite memory of the paper was the servicemen edition. Bart wrote a very nice paper; he was a good editor; we didn’t get any letters then like now. Told a story about a lady being lifted over the snowbank by a snowmobiler.

Greiger’ s Grocery Store was where Byron Connolly is now. Bachman’s had a store at the corner of what is now the Pickwick Place. First newspaper was down in that block. Where Greer’s jewelry store is now, was Klink’s Meat Market. There was a drugstore. The post office was where the license bureau is (next to Bob Reed, I imagine). There was a furniture store across the street, next to the drug store. The bank was there and the Star Store. There was a variety store where the National 5 and 10 was – he was an insurance man and his wife was the business woman. Thornburg’s (Mr. Green had drug store first and was gone by time Dorothy came; then a Mr. Mann had it – his daughter, Nellie Mann Laughlin, worked for Thornburg’s for years; then Thornburgh had it; now auto parts) was next to Dr. Fosbrink’s office. Then a brother and sister had a candy shop; then there was the hotel on the corner. A man’s wife ran the restaurant downstairs to send her husband through law school. She did all the cooking; stools along the counter, little booths – if you wanted toast, she just slid the toaster over to you, and you made your own! When Dorothy bought her place, she was here so little that the town didn’t mean much to her. The Wednesday Afternoon Club always had their annual sale at the grammar school. The Town Board met in the basement of the grammar school. Dorothy tells an interesting story about the BPW walking into the meeting to get their man on the Town Board. There was a literary club and an art club. BPW gave money for lights at the Little League park; used to have shows; minstrel shows for 2 or 3 years; card parties; did a lot of nice things for community.