Why Celebrate Christmas of 1939?

Our goal is to lead up to our 100th anniversary in 2028. Following the timeline that the Vincent family lived in the Lodge allows us to recognize the years of 1928 to 1942. Having a focus on each year that they lived here will help us develop our story of how world events affected life and work at the Packard Proving Grounds.

2024 = 1939
2025 = 1940
2026 = 1941
2027 = 1942
2028 = 1928

A 1939 Christmas at Packard Proving Grounds

Decorated for Christmas Lodge Tours

The lodge was beautifully designed by Albert Kahn for the purpose of housing the Packard Proving Grounds superintendent, Charles Vincent, his wife and three daughters. The Vincent family moved into the home in August of 1927. The Packard Proving Grounds became fully operational in 1928. The Vincent’s lived in the home until 1942 having to leave when Chrysler leased the grounds to prove tanks and other military vehicles for the war. Even though Packard moved back into the grounds after the war the Vincent family never returned.

Your tour guides during this Christmas event will be,“Lucile Vincent”, and “Raymond G. Heinrich” who lived and worked on the grounds as the chief mechanic.

Shiny Brite ornaments started to be manufactured in the United States in 1937 due to the fear of war with Germany where most ornaments, including Shiny Brite’s, were being made. 

Hitler’s rise to power, along with the British blockade, stopped the import of European ornaments to the U.S. in 1939.

In December 1939, the first machine-made batch was shipped to Woolworth’s Five-and-Ten-Cent Stores, where they sold for two to ten cents apiece. These glass ornaments were a common sight on Christmas trees in 1939. We are extremely grateful to be given some of these special collectible ornaments from the area’s only Christmas museum that hosts the Christmas Tree Walk in Armada each year. They also own the wonderful Thumbprint News newspaper and the fun and truly unique Fox Fire Fixin’s restaurant in Marine City.

Don’t miss this rare chance to see the lodge all lit up and aglow for Christmas. Due to capacity limits, only a limited number of people can register for our unique and wonderful  ‘Twas a Night Before Christmas 1939 event, scheduled on December 20, 5 – 9 p.m..

You can order your tickets online at https://packardprovinggrounds.org/event/twas-a-night-before-christmas-1939/.

Santa

Our ‘Twas a Night Before Christmas 1939 will begin with Santa being driven into the Proving Grounds in the back of our convertible 1937 Packard at 5 p.m. when our gates open. (weather permitting). 

Santa will be seated under a lighted garland arch inside of the Repair Garage where he can meet our visitors. Each child will receive a traditional candy cane.

The decorations near Santa will include a 1938 Packard next to Christmas trees that are decorated by the students of St. Lawrence School,  and Beacon Tree Elementary. They are making traditional paper chains out of newspaper and aluminum foiled star ornaments just like kids did during the year 1939.

Each child that comes to this event is welcome to make their own mini-newspaper chain and decorate an ornament to take home to decorate their Christmas tree at home.

Everyone is also welcome to enjoy a cup of cocoa, eat a cookie, and write a letter to give to Santa.

Cookies

The cookie we will feature at our Christmas event will be America’s most beloved Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ruth Jones Wakefield owned a tourist lodge in Whitman, Massachusetts called The Toll House Inn. She cooked for her guests using her own recipes. Her new Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe was supposedly conceived of as she returned from a vacation in Egypt. Her guests at her Toll House Inn raved about her new creation.

In 1931 she published her recipe in her cookbook titled Ruth Wakefield’s, Toll House: Tried and True Recipes. Her original recipe was made before chocolate chips were invented. Note how she described in the recipe to “cut (the chocolate) in pieces the size of a pea”.

TOLL HOUSE CHOCOLATE COOKIES

from the famous New England Inn

Cream
1 cup butter, add
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar and
2 eggs beaten whole. Dissolve
1 tsp. soda in
1 tsp. hot water, and mix alternately with
2¼ cups flour sifted with
1 tsp. salt. Lastly add
1 cup chopped nuts and
2 Economy size bars (7 oz. ea.) Nestlé’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate which have been cut in pieces the size of a pea. Flavor with
1 tsp. vanilla and drop by half teaspoons on a greased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375° oven.

Makes 100 cookies.

NOTE: Do not melt chocolate. Cut along scores – pieces are the proper size. Chocolate cuts easily at room temperature. Shortening may be substituted for butter.

In 1939 Nestle’ purchased this recipe from Ruth Wakefield and created a chocolate baking bar that could easily be broken into 160 tiny bits. This bar soon evolved to become chocolate chips. During the war, when sugar was rationed, Nestle’ promoted the recipe with the suggestion of using honey.

Storytelling with Mrs. Claus: The Most Famous Reindeer of all

Mrs. Claus will be joining Santa at the Packard Proving Grounds and telling children about the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that had just premiered in 1939.

Montgomery Ward shopping store asked their catalog writer, Robert L. May, to create a character for their annual Christmas coloring book. His inspiration came from the story of the “Ugly Duckling” and his personal experiences as a child.

The Spirit of Christmas must have influenced Montgomery Ward in 1947 to graciously give the rights of the poem and character to Robert May. This was their way of helping him during a difficult time. Sadly, Robert May was struggling financially to pay off the lingering debt from his late first wife’s medical bills all while trying to raise a growing family with his second wife. 

His songwriting brother-in-law helped turn the story of Rudolph into a song. Gene Autry made it a classic hit that sold more than 25 million copies.

Cartoons

We will also show a number of Christmas cartoons that would have been featured in theaters in 1939. One cartoon worth noting is “Peace on Earth” which was released in December of 1939 when Great Britain was at war with Germany. This tale is told by an old squirrel who witnessed the horrors that humans caused with war which led to their distinction. This prophetic tale taught the lesson of “Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men” when the world needed to listen. It was the first cartoon nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, it was nominated for an Oscar, and was one of Mel Blanc’s first voice works for MGM. 

Radio

Although 1939 was the year that the television first was introduced at the New York’s World Fair it took some time for it to enter into most people’s homes.

The radio was the center of attention for news and home entertainment. Everyone would find a comfortable chair and sit around the radio to enjoy special radio programs such as the one we will be playing in the Lodge Garage. Before you enter the lit up and decorated Lodge for a Christmas-time tour you are welcome to sit around the radio to hear “A Christmas Carol” directed by Orson Welles and starring Lionel Barrymore. Coloring sheets will be out for the kids to color while they listen to this classic tale.

What Was Going On in the World and with Packard in 1939?

1939 marked the 40th anniversary of when the very first Packard vehicle was completed on November 9, 1899.

This anniversary was noted not to have been celebrated by Packard stating that they were focused on marketing its 1940 models.

Packard offered a variety of body styles for its 1939 models that included the One-Twenty and the Packard Twelve.

The one-Twenty was available in a variety of body styles that included two and four-door sedans, convertibles, and Club Coupes. The price ranged from $980 – $1,095.

1939 marked the last year for the Packard Twelve. Only 280 of these luxury cars, that had a V12 engine, were made in 14 different models.

Packard Motor Car Company introduced several new features to its cars in 1939.

  • Econo-Drive: An overdrive that could reduce engine speed by 27.8% and was available at speeds over 30 mph. 
  • Fifth shock absorber: A transverse shock absorber was added to the 120 Packard. 
  • Column shifting: This feature replaced the floor shifter and was referred to as the Handishift. 
  • Air conditioning: Packard introduced with “weather conditioner”.

1939 was James Alvan Macauley Sr’s. last year as president of Packard Motor Car Company.  He had been president since 1916 seeing the company through WWI and the difficulties of the Great Depression.

Macauley was known to be a modest, quiet, and soft-spoken man. His insistence on mechanical perfections helped make Packard world-renowned. He was also the first to undertake leveling out the employment curve and put production on a yearly, rather than seasonal, basis. This set Packard as an example for others.

The East Grand Boulevard bridge at the Packard Plant in Detroit was under construction in 1939. 

September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, marked the beginning of the European War. Packard began preparations to support their allies answering FDR’s call for America’s support. 

Preparations included demolishing the old salvage building at the north end of the property to make room for an 189,000 square-foot Aircraft Engine Test, Teardown, and Reassembly building.

New to the World in 1939

Nylon stockings made their debut in Wilmington, Delaware. Wallace Hume Carothers, the chemist who invented the synthetic material in 1935, worked for the DuPont company

Grapes of Wrath is the best book of the year in 1939

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians record the New Year’s Eve standard, ‘Auld Lang Syne’ for the first time

The 1939 New York World’s Fair opened. ‘Dawn of a New Day’ and ‘the World of Tomorrow.

The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) debuted television at the New York World’s Fair on April 20, 1939. The first regular television broadcast schedule began on May 1, 1939 on NBC.

The pressure cooker was introduced by National Presto Industries at the New York World’s Fair.

The Andrew Sisters recorded the song ‘Beer Barrel Polka.’

Julius S. Kahn had the first U.S. patent issued for a disposable whipped cream aerosol container. The patent was titled “An Apparatus for Mixing a Liquid with a Gas” and was specifically concerned with making whipped cream, using an ordinary soda bottle.

Pan American Airways flew the first trans-Atlantic passenger service, from New York to Lisbon, Portugal.

Next Year Packard Proving Ground Celebrates Celebrates 1940

We will look forward to seeing you here for ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas 1939 on December 20th and hope you will also join us in 2025 as we celebrate the year 1940.