Braved Blizzard to Attend Dance

Thirty Below Zero Did Not Daunt Wm. Kirkpatrick and Steve Talcott, Then Boys

From the Winchester Star, January 18, 1918 

The severe cold weather the past week, when the mercury descended to 22 degrees below zero, was an incentive to some of our older inhabitants to grow reminiscent and to recall with interest times long ago, when the winters, as a usual thing, were decidedly more severe than any of recent years.

Jefferson County Courthouse, 1867-1960

W.F. Kirkpatrick recited a story of some 40 years ago, when he, in company with S.A. Talcott, rode in a buggy from Oskaloosa to Winchester in the biting cold. At that time it was the custom to occasionally give dances in the second story of the court house in Oskaloosa, which was practically a new building then. These dances always were well attended by young people from far and near, and were a source of much enjoyment to all of the participants. No orchestra was available in those days, of course, the faithful old fiddle being the only dependence for music by which to dance.

William Kirkpatrick and Steve Talcott were only boys then, and they enjoyed attending these social hops so much that the most severe blizzard tended not to temper their ardor for the sport. It was on a New Year’s eve that they braved a blizzard to attend one of these dances in the county court house. The storm was raging “after the ball,” but the boys were not daunted by its fury and took up their journey homeward in a temperature of 30 degrees below zero. They finally reached their destination, about daybreak next morning, but narrowly escaped freezing to death as a result of their 10-mile ride in the stinging cold.

This story appeared in “Yesteryears” in October 2011.