1950

Pastor Olney E. Cook, conducting services. Pastor Cook later had these reminiscences of his ministry:(1)

During that time a Sunday School was organized starting with one pupil but began to grow until we had forty. A junior choir was also started and our Christmas Pageants were enjoyed by many people. Our missionary society was one of the highlights of my ministry in Woodstock, and I always found the members to be very helpful and to be interested in the church work.

The congregation voted to investigate the cost of having a water outlet installed for the proposed new parsonage on the east side of the church lot while a construction company was working on the water system for the village of Woodstock. As church historian Mark Anderson explains(2):

The [Woodstock] hamlet area's [subsurface] water sources had become polluted by waste water produced by an increasing density of population. Although the [town's] voters had approved the construction of a water supply system [in a central water district], they would not approve the construction of a sewer system. As a result, pollution of surface waters in the hamlet area would become increasingly serious, with a negative impact on the church property [for example, the old parsonage, across Mill Hill Road, relied on a cistern], until a sewer system would finally be installed [30 years later].

At a special meeting, the congregation discussed whether, "in view of world conditions," they should keep the parsonage (the present-day Catskill Art and Office Supply store) on the market (it had been on the market for 16 months); they decided to keep trying to sell it but for not less than $15,000 ($118,500 in 2006 dollars).

The congregation also voted to start a fund for building a Fellowship Hall behind the church. According to Anderson(3):

By 1950, the growth in the community and the congregation had made it increasingly clear that additional space was needed for the Sunday School, for office space, and for meetings. The congregation decided to build a parish hall as well as a new parsonage, and funds were started to raise money for both projects.

The congregation voted to let the council pay for lawn mowing and janitorial work. They also voted to let the council consider paying organist Lydia Russell, 71 (who had been playing at services as official organist for the preceding 19 years and as assistant organist for 7 years before that), for her "faithful service."

The congregation voted to approve the benevolence payment to the Synod of $100 per year ($790 per year in 2006 dollars). They also voted to purchase an additional 12 hymnals.

At Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, PA, a woman was an influential teacher of sociology.

• ← Preceding year on the church
• Next year on the church →

This is a placeholder for information on our region during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(2)

• ← Preceding year on the region
• Next year on the region →

Harry S Truman (Democrat) was President. The 81st Congress was in session. (The midterm elections that year would elect the 82nd Congress.) A dollar in that year would be worth $7.90 in 2006 for most consumable products.

Some 59.0% of Americans 17 years and older were high school graduates; this number was nearly a fifth again as many as a decade earlier. During this year, about 1,199,700 Americans graduated from high school (actually a slight drop from a decade earlier), 432,058 from college (nearly two and a half times as many as a decade earlier). The median school years completed by Americans overall was 9.3 years, an increase of about 8 months from a decade earlier.

Some 54% of all Americans lived in cities of 2,500 or more. (This was only a 3% increase from three decades earlier.)

There were 2 reported lynchings in the United States during this year; 1 of the victims was black, 1 of them white. (Apparently what terrible things that happened to Native Americans or to Asians did not get counted.)

This is a placeholder for information on the United States during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(3)

• ← Preceding year on the U.S.
• Next year on the U.S. →

This is a placeholder for information on the world at large during this year. The information will come soon. The footnote at the end of this sentence is also a placeholder; please don't click it.(4)

• ← Preceding year on the world
• Next year on the world →