Halloween is right around the corner and today’s story features a one hundred-and ten-year-old celebration. Held on October 30, 1915, over three-hundred people attended a Halloween party at the Y.M.C.A. building in downtown Springfield.
Hosted annually by the Young Men’s Christian Association, the Halloween party offered guests refreshments, games, and spooky entertainment. Party-goers could visit the resident witch and learn their fortune, or they could explore haunted rooms and listen to ghost stories.
A photograph of the party was taken by Pansy Knight and shows a group of Tabernacle Presbyterian Church members dressed as cowboys, doctors, and nurses. After the party ended, the resident witch was revealed to be the church’s pastor Reverend Grayson Tucker.
Pansy Knight’s scrapbook is part of the Knight Family Collection. Events like the Halloween party are documented in her scrapbook, along with photographs, newspaper articles, and ephemera from local organizations in Springfield.
To explore this collection and more, visit the Springfield Research Center inside MSU’s Meyer Library or find us online at SHSMO.org.