Findlay's Fabulous '50s

The newest exhibit at the Hancock Historical Museum may have you reminiscing about hula hoops, saddle shoes and cruising to the drive-in. "Findlay in the Fabulous Fifties" looks at some of the highlights of the 1950s both across the nation and locally like big cars, poodle skirts and, of course, Elvis. "I think an exhibit like this evokes a lot of nostalgia, whether you lived through it or not," said Joy Bennett, museum curator/archivist. Bennett said the idea for the exhibit came up when she realized that the 1950s census would be released in April 2022. (According to United State Census Bureau website, the U.S. government will not release personally identifiably information about an individual to any other individual or agency until 72 years after it was collected for the decennial census.) "So that's big for genealogists and historical researchers, because you can find out where people lived and who their families are, what their occupations are, that sort of thing," Bennett said. The '50s also evoke "fun" remembrances for people, she said. "I mean, they're not 100% fun. There were definitely highs and lows. But the fashion and the music — I think we kind of idealized them, too, a bit," she said. Bennett got a helping hand from Katy Mundy and Madison Crow, two graduate students in the masters of rhetoric and writing program at the University of Findlay. Chris Denecker, a professor of English and director of the Center for Teaching and Program Excellence, wondered if the women could do an independent study at the museum since a course they had signed up for had been canceled. Bennett said she was happy to have the help. "They did the broader research while I did the more specific Findlay research," she said, adding that the students concentrated on topics like the Korean War, civil rights movement, suburbia and women's roles, while she focused on how those topics affected Findlay. "I wanted to make sure it wasn't all sugarcoated. I wanted to make sure that we covered some of the conflicts — especially because Findlay flooded three times in 1950s. So that's a Findlay-specific issue that we were dealing with at the very beginning and the very end and right in the middle of the decade," she said. The 1950s also saw businesses and shops crop up along Findlay's Main Street. During the decade, Bennett said, the city was home to five department stores, nine women's specialty stores, five menswear stores, nine hardware stores, nine furniture stores, 14 appliance stores, 11 supermarkets, nine jewelers and 11 new car dealerships. "People would hop on the train and come to Findlay on these special days to do all their shopping," she said. As for entertainment, there were four movie theaters downtown and two drive-in theaters. Riverside Park was filled with amusement rides and concessions. "When someone told me about that, I thought, 'Oh, there's no way,'" Bennett said. "But there's pictures of the park back then and people remember it." Bennett said one of the most difficult parts of creating the exhibit was finding memorabilia. But the memories are still there, said Bennett, who bases her impressions of the decade on the TV sitcoms that she watched like "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Happy Days." "I love the idea of those shows, even though I know it's probably not how I imagine it. But I guess that's the benefit of nostalgia. You can focus on your imagination," she said. The exhibit, which is located on the second floor of the Hull House in the rotating exhibit gallery, will remain up through at least the end of 2022.