Amelia Earhart Visits Parkersburg

Aviatrix Amelia Earhart was the Taylor Swift of the 1920s and 30s. It was not music but her accomplishments in flying and her charm that made her so famous. She visited Parkersburg, WV, to give a speech at Parkersburg High School on October 30, 1936. That was just months before she and co-pilot Fred Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, in the Pacific Ocean on her around-the-world flight attempt.

The Parkersburg Sentinel headline announced “Amelia Earhart, First Lady of Aviation, Here Tonight.” Tickets were $1.00 for adults, $.25 for students. The article also assured readers that cars parked at the high school for the event “will have adequate police protection from Halloween revelers.”

Earhart visited Stewart Air Park in Parkersburg which was on the site now occupied by Grand Central Mall. “You really have a wonderful field,” she told owner Wayde Stewart and Chief Pilot Jay Sodowski. “You and your board of commerce should be complimented on pioneering aviation in Parkersburg. The future has great possibilities.” She declared that the field was one of the finest she had seen for a city of comparable size.

Photo of Amelia Earhart during her 1936 visit to Parkersburg’s Stewart Airpark with owner Wayde Stewart (left) and Chief Pilot Jay Sodowsky. From Artcraft Studios, Parkersburg, WV

However, Stewart Air Park had a turf runway which she pointed out was a limitation, “All transportation line stops are fields equipped with hard-surfaced runways. Year-round service must be available for the large (planes) and such is not possible on a turf field. If Parkersburg desires (commercial service) …, it would be advisable to secure…. adequate runways.”

She expressed interest in an aircraft design of Jay Sodowski. She encouraged him to submit the design to the U. S. Department of Commerce with her recommendation.

She was driving her personal automobile on that lecture tour. Next stop was Fairmont WV. I was surprised that with her celebrity status she lectured at smaller towns. She also visited Glenville State College and Bluefield WV on other trips.

Earhart had many firsts as a female pilot: first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean - landed in an Irish farmer’s field, first to fly coast to coast in the U.S., woman’s high altitude record of 14,000 ft. in 1922, and many more. Hundreds of books, movies, and tributes have been made about her life and accomplishments.

Amelia Earhart was married to publisher George P. Putnam. Together they maintained a masterful publicity effort, featuring books she wrote, speaking tours, and celebrity endorsements. There was a line of clothing in her name, with her initials “AE” as the logo, patterned after her signature “active living” and flying outfits. Earhart was coached to smile with her mouth closed to cover what was described as a tooth-gapped grin. Nothing was overlooked. She was a celebrity phenom in an era before 24-hour news and social media. Amelia promoted women’s causes and was a charter member and first President of “The Ninety Nines,” an organization of female pilots.

Stewart Air Park, known early on as “Parkersburg Municipal Airport,” was a busy airport facility for over 30 years. Its location was described as “Maplewood” in one publication. Students ran a food concession there. Hundreds learned to fly at the field. An air ambulance service was started in 1947 by Shaver and Co. Funeral Home. There was a pilot training school during World War II. It also was the primary training center for South American pilots who volunteered for war service. The facility became less relevant after the Wood County Airport was built with paved runways in 1946. Stewart Air Park closed in the early 1970’s when the mall was built.

Automobiles in 1908 Were an Adventure

 This photo and caption reproduced below were authored by Hotel Lafayette owner, local historian, and accomplished photographer S. Durward Hoag. This was one of his entertaining Marietta Times columns “Round and Round Below the Railroad Tracks” from the 1960s and 1970s. Spelling and punctuation are from the article.

 

ROUND AND ROUND DELVES INTO MARIETTA’S EARLY AUTOMOTIVE HISTORY; DISCOVERS ENACTMENT OF “NO. 1 RULE OF THE HIGHWAY”!

     This photo was taken on Newport Pike in the fall of 1908. The cast of characters and the automobile are easily identified by YE EDITOR after a number of years studying vintage photographs of early 1900 local scenes and Mariettans. LEFT is Mr.and Mrs. L. L. PEDDINGHAUS and in the rear seat are Mr. and Mrs. WM G. YOUNG. The automobile is a 1908 No. 34 RAMBLER, Brewster Green (color) and equipped with Dunlop tires. This is the 4th Rambler purchased by Mr. Peddinghaus who lived at 428 Fourth Street. The car license number is No. 28 - the first such tags issued by the State of Ohio and this particular plate does not have a year date on it.

     On the RIGHT is a POPE TOLEDO automobile, owned by Mr. and Mrs. TOM SHEETS  who lived in the big white home at Third and Sacra Via now occupied by the Marietta City School Board. Occupying the front seat with Mrs. Sheets is the Sheets’ family dog TOWSER. In back are the HAMILTON  sisters who resided on Fifth Street. Worth mentioning is the fact that the SHEETS automobile won FIRST PRIZE for being beautifully decorated in the 1908 Fourth of July parade. Maybe the two pretty Hamilton Sisters in the rear seat might have influenced the judges’ decision.

     But back to “RULE NO. 1” on the highway in 1908 (which) was “Stop and help your unfortunate neighbor.” For you see, TOM SHEETS has the hood raised on his POPE TOLEDO (vehicle on the right in the photo) and is tinkering aplenty. It looks like friend PEDDINGHAUS is about to jump down and assist - or maybe is chiding TOM a little. Or, on second thought…..this man LEW PEDDINGHAUS besides being an expert jeweler, was also a remarkable photographer with an uncanny sense of proportion and drama. He also had a cagey device, little known in 1908 - an automatic timer. He might just have set up his tripod, focused his camera, and engineered this dramatic scene for the record in the tried-and-true manner of Hollywoodian experts….

     This was the day of right-hand steering wheels, acetylene headlights, air bulb horns, and when you had a (flat tire), you got out your kit and tire pump and you worked and you pumped and pumped and pumped. Many thanks to HAROLD BARTMESS, 129 Muskingum Drive who unearthed the photograph of the good old old days, nearly 60 years ago.

Note: Mr. Peddinghaus’s jewelry business was sold in 1918 to Walter A. Baker, your author’s grandfather, and his cousin Henry Baker. The store became Baker & Baker Jewelers, operated today by Larry Hall and his family.