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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, October 24, 1999, pg. 17 With this coming weekend being Halloween, we will soon see schoolchildren in all sorts of costumes roaming the streets of Albion during the evening for "Trick or Treat." We shall also hear of "Harvest Festivals" conducted by some area churches as an alternative to the former. Some children may even bring their "Trick or Treat" candy to the "Harvest Festival" afterwards. How would you distinguish between the unholy candy and the holy sanctified candy? I’ll leave that answer to that to the theologians. "Dress Up Day" has been held at various times in the Albion Public Schools, where children dress up in various costumes. Usually held sometime in the spring, we are featuring it this week in our Historical Notebook because we have a real treat...er, historical photograph for you. Pictured is the Albion High School Class of 1926 posing in front of the Methodist Church on E. Erie St. on their "dress up" day. This photograph came from the album of Carrie (Snyder) Ott (1877-1959), whose son Clifford S. Ott (1909-1987) was a class member. Special thanks to Clifford C. Ott of Cleves, Ohio for supplying us with this photograph. In the second row far left, the boy with the safari hat and striped shirt is Stanley Penzotti (1908-1974). It is interesting to view all the various outfits the kids wore this day to school. One has a native Polish outfit, several are wearing a navy outfit; another came with "black face," another with a black eye. There is even a dunce cap in the crowd. The "cowboy" in the top row far left is wearing a belt with a gun in it. And the boy in the second row far left behind Stanley Penzotti--he has a gun, too, in his left hand, with a brick in his right. My, how times have changed. Postscript from November 7, 1999 pg. 3: "On October 24 we featured a "dress up day" photograph of high school students in the 1920s, dressed in costumes. One of our readers, Mrs. Lena (Kaiser) Ruff immediately recognized it as the Albion High School Class of 1926 of which she is an alumni and is in the photograph. Lena was able to identify practically everyone in the photo for yours truly. The Class of 1926 was the last AHS class to graduate at the Methodist Church on E. Erie St. The following year a new auditorium was built and graduation ceremonies were held at the Central School/Washington Gardner High School facility thereafter." This internet version features identifications of those in the photograph by number, with a "key" drawing. Photo front row left to right, beginning with the boy standing with his head pointed to viewer’s left: 1. Floyd Dutton (standing), 2. Hazel Curl (standing), 3. Dan Dewey, 4. Fred Nass, 5. unidentified, 6. Josephine Greenman, 7. Dean Herriff, 8. John Fillmore dressed as a girl, 9. E. Lauraine Brownell, 10. Margareta Radtke as man with cane; 11. Lester Dunn, and 12. Glen Sebastian as lady with purse. Second row: 13. boy with brick in hand unidentified, 14. Stanley Penzotti, 15. Mary Seaton as man with hat, 16. Beulah Davenport with polka-dot scarf, 17. Ila I. Thuma with dolls, 18. Stella Oderkirk, 19. Maxine Teller with long tie, 20. Jessie Minkler with doll, 21. Gladys Jeffers with dunce cap, 22. Bernice White, 23. (up) Lena Kaiser-Ruff with 4 large white dots on dress, 24. Josephine Groby, 25. (up) Elvira Parsons with white cap, 26. (down) Lucy Hicks with ethnic-looking dress, 27. (up) Irene Osmun-Ray, with 28. Margaret Wilson behind her wearing a cap, 29. unidentified to the right of Irene Ray, 30. Louis Frederick with big tie; 31. Harry Hoaglin behind Louis with slanted cap, 32. Clarence Hammond, 33. unidentified with hand on shoulder of next: 34. Keith Allen. Third Row: 35. Harry Morse with tilted cap, 36. unidentified girl with white hat, 37. Clara Rogers with moustache & cap, 38. unidentified girl with white cap, 39. Feroda Butzer with fur around neck, 40. (down) unidentified, 41. behind her is Virginia Sheldon, 42. (up) unidentified in sailor outfit, 43. (down) Alberta Wochholz in sailor outfit; 44. (up behind) unidentified, 45. Winifred Cole dressed as man with black eye, 46. Floyd Densmore as girl, 47. (up) Wilma Lewis dressed in white, 48. Jewell Morgan, 49. Julia McKim, 50. Josephine Gale with black hat, 51. unidentified, 52. unidentified. Top row: 53. Richard Hardt, 54. Harold Bussing, 55. William Wilson, 56. Forrest Dickerson Nowlin dressed as a girl with long scarf hanging down, 57. Elaine Nagle with arm raised, 58. Marvin Pahl as woman with white dress & hat, 59. Esther Hoaglin, 60. Norman Ludlow with pipe in mouth, 61. Allen Scherer, 62. Emmett Gordon, 63. Helen Lines with black top hat.  Dress-Up Day 1926
Key to Dress-Up Day Photograph All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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