CHURCHES: While we were looking through the Era from February
1934 to read about that winter of extreme discontent, we noticed a
listing of local churches back then, many of which are no more – or
have since adopted new names or moved to other locations. Some, of
course, remain unchanged to this day. Here’s the list:

Salvation Army (then at 21 Kennedy St.). The Copeland A.M.E.
Church at Mechanic and Bank streets. The Home Spiritualist Church
at 22 Chamber St. The Grace Lutheran Church (then at 33 Congress
St.). First Church of the Nazarene. The East Bradford Free
Methodist Church. The First Free Methodist on Boylston Street.

The Derrick City Methodist Episcopal Church. The West Branch
United Brethren (now United Methodist). The Bradford Gospel Church
(The Church of the Old Time Gospel) at 52 Mechanic St. The Company
of Jehovah’s Witnesses at 60 Burnside Ave. The Evangel Tabernacle
at 134 Main St. The Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The Mount Jewett Methodist Episcopal. The Hazel Hurst Methodist
Episcopal. The United Brethren Church at Degolia. The Coleville
U.B. Church. The Sawyer U.B. Church. The Tuna and Limestone Free
Methodist. The Duke Center Free Methodist. The Eldred Methodist
Episcopal Church.

TOO COLD TO FORGET: Before we leave 1934, one of our readers
commented on Jim Piscitelli’s RTS clipping featuring Roy Alexis’
reminiscences about that cold winter long ago. The reader, only 12
years old at the time, lived on a farm and remembers the morning
when it was 42 degrees below zero.

“I helped my grandfather and father carry water from a spring
that was a half a mile from the house,” the reader said. “We had to
chop a hole in the ice at the creek 200 feet away so the cows could
drink, but the creek completely froze over an hour later.

“My grandfather ran a milk route, so we had to tow his 1931
Chevy for a half a mile with a team of horses just to get the car
to start, since the rear wheels kept slipping on the ice,” he adds.
“My grandfather and father stayed up all night taking turns feeding
the three wood stoves in the farmhouse just to keep the house warm.
We burned almost 100 cords of wood that whole winter.”

GAS PRICES: Benny Pessia tells us that gas in sunny California
is $2.69 for regular unleaded, while Roxanne Cooper reports it’s
only $1.87 in Blacksburg, S.C.