100 years ago in Kansas, November 5 – 10, 1917.

November 5, 1917

  • A sugar shortage caused Topeka bakeries to quit making pies, cakes and cookies.

November 7, 1917

  • Camp Funston had 30 cases of spinal meningitis, with six deaths.
  • Junction City’s waterworks capacity was doubled.  The town had been included in the sanitary zone surrounding Fort Riley.
  • Mother – daughter canning clubs had put up 424,000 quarts of fruit and vegetables; 128 clubs in the state had 8,094 members.
  • Kansas joined the national movement for meatless Tuesdays and wheatless Wednesdays.

November 9, 1917

  • Alta Vista was rationing coal and sugar.  Sugar sales were limited to 25 cents worth per family.

November 10, 1917

  • Rye bread, brown bread, nut bread and oatmeal gems were being served at the Pittsburg Manual cafeteria on wheatless days.  Pie crust was made from a rye flour and corn starch.

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.