From "Odebolt Forever", Odebolt's Quasquicentennial history book compiled by a committee chaired by Carol Auen, Spring, 2002. Based on the memories of Elaine Raasch, as told to Mary Schroeder and Carol Auen. Permission was obtained from Elaine Raasch and the authors to publish this document.
Elaine Dannenberg was born in 1915 in a home located in the Odebolt countryside. In 1915, being born at home was not unusual. It's not certain who the doctor was, but it was a blessing the buggy could make the trip during the month of December. Vi Wunschel's mother helped in the home.
Elaine was the daughter of Edward B. Dannenberg and Catherine (Currie) Dannenberg. Her father was of German descent and her mother of Scottish lineage. This caused a bit of a stir with the German grandmother, but eventually the differences were accepted. There were biased feelings between the various nationalities at that time, evidenced by the areas settled by each. The Germans tended to settle north of town in Richland Township, the Swedes south of town in Wheeler Township, the Irish around Arthur, and the Scotch near Schaller.
Elaine's maternal grandparents lived across the road from where Richard Rohlf now lives, and the house still exists, having been built by her Grandma Currie and her husband. The house featured wooden floors since no one had linoleum in those days, although scrubbing them with skim milk produced a waxy look.
Her Grandpa and Grandma Dannenberg pioneered north of town where Curt Raasch presently lives. The first building to be raised when they came from Germany was a barn for the livestock, being built in December. It was told to Elaine's husband, Elwin, that nails were heated over a bonfire. Above the barn was the family's dwelling.
Elaine was one of five children. Her sisters, Helen (Noyd) and Lois (Linden) are deceased, as well as a brother, Bob. Her sister Ruth (Boney) lives in Lake View.
Elaine attended country school as a child. There was a school building located every two miles. No hot lunches were served at school, and they either walked to school or went by horse and buggy when the weather was bad. The teachers were also more strict in those days.
Childhood recollections abound for Elaine. Chores included filling the cob box with cobs to be used for heat. Every house in town had an outhouse and a hen house and everyone raised a garden. Meals were always hot and included a full meal, both at noon and night. When Elaine was six years old, the streets were being paved in Odebolt. The work was done by black men driving little trucks with open cabs, and as she sat on her Grandma Currie's porch watching, she was warned, "Don't you dare leave this porch!" There were hitching posts downtown, and a livery barn was located across from where the elevator office is now. A lot of "hanky panky" went on at the livery barn! It eventually burned down.
There was also a memorable fire in February of 1907, before Elaine was born, on Second Street in the area of the present Harvey Keller barbershop. A few days after the fire, several men went to clean up debris. A wall fell and three men were killed, including Ed Johnson's brother, Chuck Hanson's grandfather, and Bill Krusenstjerna's grandfather.
Elaine's father was a farmer, raising cattle and hogs and farming 320 acres of land. The family also raised ducks and hens to sell. They hired a married man who lived across the way to help on the farm until the depression years. Then a single man was hired and he lived in the house with the family. Her mother was a seamstress, not only for her family, but for the neighbors as well. In those days, the inside of your coat was as nice as the outside, so when it turned shiny, the coat was simply turned inside out and worn. Once, her mother sent to Sears and Roebuck for a fox fur collar and made a beautiful coat with it. The ladies she sewed for did not pay her, but they would come to her house and wash cupboards.
As a child, Elaine was aware of what the family could and could not afford, so she learned early not to wish for what she couldn't have. Her family had their money in the Farmer's Savings Bank when it closed, and she can remember sitting on the ground in the yard with her mother by her side, her mother crying because all their money was gone. Elaine was wearing her black cotton stockings like everybody else wore, and she wore long-legged underwear beneath them. She had a hole in her stocking and thought she would never get any new stockings now, but didn't say a word. She went into the house, got a needle and thread, and went to the basement to sew up that black stocking. When she went to bed that night, imagine her surprise as she found she had sewn it to her underwear!
In spite of the difficulties, holidays were happy times. Christmas was spent at home with the immediate family. On Christmas morning, the children were surprised by a beautifully decorated tree, adorned with strings of popcorn and cranberries. As Elaine and her brother and sisters got older, they always wondered how their mother had managed to get all that done in one night and why they hadn't smelled the popcorn ahead of time. Her mother would make either a goose or a duck and delicious dressing for dinner. The wonderful aroma filled the children with anticipation.
Birthdays were a much simpler event, although when Elaine was ten years old, she received a special birthstone ring. Birthday cakes were a simple loaf cake.
Going to church provided comforting memories of filling the bobsled with straw and then riding under a big army blanket to stay warm. Her father would drive, wearing his fur mitts and cap, and as they reached to top of the hill, they could see the lighted gas lights of the church. In the summertime, there was an ice cream social in the grove, and at Christmas, there was a natural Christmas tree with candles on it. A man sat beside it with a bucket of water, just in case!
Stories of gypsies in the Odebolt area are a part of Elaine's memory. Mainie Ahrenholtz lived north of town. The gypsies stopped at her house, and her mother was generous with them, giving them food. Mainie's family then left for church, passing a hayrack filled with the gypsy families heading west. Unfortunately, when they returned home from church, they found the gypsies had returned in their absence and cleaned out their cupboards and hen house.
The "Pest house" was located north of town. It was a quarantine home for those with small pox or other contagious diseases. Elaine was always afraid to drive by, for fear of catching the dreaded illness.
Elaine completed country school and came to Odebolt for her high school years. Not everyone attended high school; some dropped out. Most of the kids would come to town on Monday mornings and stay with someone during the week to attend school, because they didn't have cars to drive back and forth. Elaine and her sister, Ruth, would drive their "struggle buggy", as their car was nicknamed, and would fill the car with other kids since there were no school buses. Elaine's father had a second-hand Chevy and her Grandma Currie liked it so well that she bought one just like it. She spent her winters in Florida, and she would leave the car with them to be put up on blocks for storage while she was gone. As soon as her train would leave, Elaine's father would take it off the cement blocks and they would drive it, too. Whichever car could be kept in running order was the car they would drive to school.
In contrast to her upbringing, the Adams family drove Pierce Arrows, or rather the chauffeur did, with Granny Adams always sitting in the back. They had upstairs maids and downstairs maids. There were ballgames at the bunkhouse on Sundays, but they were to stay away from the ranch because there were drifters there. The ranch workers would come into town to a disreputable place called the "Boys' Place." It's believed that someone was killed once in front of that place!
Dates consisted of an evening at Briggle's Cafe on Main Street. No one had much money to spend, but if you had a nickel to spare, you could hear the player piano or have a bag of popcorn or an ice cream. Playing cars was also a popular pastime.
Frank Mattes, Emmett Buehler, the Down boys, the Gunderson boys, Budix Reynolds, and Coonie Rex were on the All Stars football team and would play on Sunday afternoons. Home games were played where the nursing home now stands. They were very good, playing all over the area, and it was a popular Sunday excursion for many.
In 1933, she graduated with a class of thirty students. There was no yearbook that year. The Senior Prom was to have the theme of "Hard Times," something the students knew well during the depression years. Decorations included brown wrapping paper on the tables and kerosene lamps. The highlight of the evening was choosing a person who was dressed most in keeping with the theme of "Hard Times," which Elaine won. They were not allowed to dance. In order to have one new dress for class day, baccalaureate, and commencement, Elaine and her mother backed the "struggle buggy" up to the hen house, loaded the hens into a gunnysack, and took them to be sold. Then they took the money to Storm Lake and bought a dress.
After high school, Elaine taught country school. Her salary was $45.00 a month, and she paid $15.00 a month to board with the George Lundells.
Elaine and Elwin Raasch were married when she was twenty-three and he was twenty-four, the average age for marriages at the time. They were married in the parsonage in a simple ceremony, with just a best man and a bridesmaid. White wedding gowns were not worn back then. After the wedding, they went back to the house for a reception with their families. Big weddings didn't take place until after World War II, and most couldn't afford to have a professional photograph taken. Elaine and her husband had one taken later some time after they were married.
Elwin and Elaine would buy only the groceries that the cream and eggs would pay for that week. All the stores were open on Saturday nigh until midnight, and the entire family would go to town. There were dances about Bob Lindquist's store, the Opera House. At that time, Bert Pearson played his accordion and his girlfriend played the piano.
Passenger trains, including a dining care, came through Odebolt twice a day, traveling west in the morning and east in the evening. People could go to Sioux City shopping in the morning and return the same evening. There was a dray wagon at the station for the trunks, and a lady from the newspaper would be waiting to get the news of who had come to town and who had left. Odebolt also had bus service at one time. The bus stopped at Smith Brothers Cafe, which was located next to the present Dixie's Treasures, then at the hotel, and later at the gas station.
Elaine has seen many changes in the Odebolt community since 1915, but she continues to share in the pride of being an Odebolt resident.
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