Historical Note
story comes from how we often confide in strangers our deepest secrets. We share more than we might otherwise online, on airplanes, and in other places with people who we likely will never meet again. Yet we might have a hard time sharing with people we see on a more frequent basis. It’s a fascinating phenomenon. If you’d like to read more, I recommend the article by Lydia Denworth and Brian Waves, “The Paradox of Confiding in (near) Strangers,” Psychology Today, September 28, 2017.
In the 1930s, the central part of Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan shoreline still boasted an abundant fishing trade. By then, the boats had motors, yet the waters had little regulation. With the start of the Depression, the work the labor unions had done prior to WWI was being undone as work became scarcer and workers became more transient. I tried to create as likely a fictional town as I could based on the various factors at play during that time.
An interesting fact about Memorial Day in 1930 is that the day was set on a date, not a day, so that year, Memorial Day landed on a Friday. It was originally a time to remember those who served and sacrificed during the Civil War. However after WWI, the holiday began to morph in name (from Decoration Day to Memorial Day) as well as to include those who fought in the Great War.
In the early 1900s, organizations like the YMCA took it upon themselves to teach life-saving techniques to women. With women competing in the Olympics, more opportunities for female swimming opened up. The Women’s Athletic Club in Chicago is still around today.
The University of Illinois, as well as several other universities in and around Chicago, were pioneers in welcoming women into their programs. Before 1930, women attended U of I to graduate with degrees in scientific and mathematical fields. Psychology and rhetoric were also degrees offered during that time. Today, U of I’s Communication Department, which absorbed the Rhetoric Department, is one of the top departments in its field.
One last historical note. As far as I could ascertain, there wasn’t a tornado outbreak in Eastern Wisconsin in May of 1930. However, storms at that time were not often recorded. There was a damaging tornado that went through the area in 1921, and I used creative license to take some of the recorded destruction from that event for my story.