Preparing for Thanksgiving in 1917
Lewiston-Auburn residents could purchase some prepared foods for their holiday dinners 86 years ago, including mince pies for 18 cents each.
By Luann Yetter
Special to the Sun Journal

“The usual light-hearted rejoicing of the harvest time has given place to a serious mood before unknown to this generation of Americans,” Maine Gov. Carl Milliken observed in his Thanksgiving proclamation of 1917.

Eight months before, the United States had entered the Great War. Many of Maine’s young men were fighting in French trenches when Milliken observed, “At this season of family reunions, thousands of homes are oppressed by dread of what the near future may hold for absent loved ones.”

With a world at war, Milliken was thankful “for present security from the indescribable horror and devastation of hostile invasion.”

F.E. Tainter & Co. on Lisbon Street in Lewiston made a Thanksgiving proclamation of its own: “Hear Ye the Victrola.” In a very modern take on the traditional celebration, Tainter’s pre-holiday ad in the Lewiston Evening Journal suggested, “When relatives and old friends gather ’round the festive board of your home, start the Victrola.” Prices for this early record player ranged from a modest $15 to an extravagant $325.

More traditional Thanksgiving shoppers could purchase turkey for 38 cents a pound and cranberries for 25 cents for two pounds. Hosts could also buy some prepared foods, for instance mince pies for 18 cents each and wine cakes for 12 cents each.

Some comic relief from the war-torn times was offered in the Lewiston Evening Journal during the Thanksgiving season when an article appeared about a wild turkey hunt that took place in Auburn. Atwood’s Market on Turner Street featured live wild turkeys for the holiday, but three of them managed to escape sending the neighborhood into an uproar.

One neighbor managed to nab a wayward turkey out of a tree and proceeded to take it home with him. Word got back to store owner Mr. Timberlake, however. The culprit was persuaded to return the bird, receiving a cigar for his gesture.

Meanwhile, local resident W.R. Huston didn’t waste time in getting out his hunting rifle and taking aim at a turkey atop a tall smokestack.

“The crack of the shot echoed through the quiet street; a puff of white smoke melted into the fast-falling snow flakes, and the turkey dropped like a plummet,” observed the correspondent. “It was one of the cleanest shots ever made.”