The Great Depression Years

After the stock market crash of 1929, the long Great Depression begins and it has an impact on the WGAWP.  Club annual membership dues are reduced to $5.  The low point of the period seems to be 1933-1935 when only 11 events were held.  The number of clubs participating also reaches a low point in 1934 with 34 clubs.  In 1930 there were 41 clubs and the club membership rebounds to 39 by the end of the decade.

In 1934 the organization introduces an individual membership fee of $3 called the Handicap Fee.  309 members pay the fee and it is our first record of individual membership numbers.  Membership hits a high point of 462 by 1939.

In 1935 the WGAWP joins the PA State Women’s Golf Association and pays a fee of $38.  The fee rises to $39 by 1939.

In 1936 events were split into Class A and Class B based on handicap and the Lehman Cup was introduced.  Towards the end of the decade between 15 and 19 events are held annually. 

Team competition continues and Oakmont remains dominant with 5 wins through the decade.  Allegheny is first to break the streak with a Team win in 1932.  Stanton Heights wins twice and Pittsburgh Field Club and Wanango each have one Team Championship in the 1930’s.

Open days start sometime in the 1930’s as expenses for Open Day cards are itemized in 1936.

Starting in 1938 administration of the organization became burdensome enough that our first employee, M. Boschert, was hired and paid $50/month for six months.

Clubs joining in the 1930's:

• Blairmont (1930)
• Kane (1930)
• Titusville (1931)
• Aliquippa (1932)
• St. Mary's (1932)
• Castle Shannon (1934)
• Churchill Valley (1935)

In today's dollars:

• The $38 PA State membership fee in 1935 is equivalent to $747.49 in todays dollars.
• The $3 handicap fee in 1934 is equivalent to $60.33 in todays dollars.
• The $50 monthly salary in 1938 is equivalent to $955.64 in todays dollars.

Betty Abernethy, as a young woman, began playing golf at Pittsburgh Field Club and then Oakmont.  Nettie Price saw her on the course and became her mentor.  Betty began playing competitive golf with the WGAWP in the 1920's and became the premier WGAWP player in the 1930's with the following accomplishments:

• 1930 - Runner Up Championship at Westmoreland
• 1931 - Lost in semi-finals of Championship at Pgh Field Club
• 1933 - Medalist in Qualifier of Championship at Allegheny
• 1935 - Medalist in Qualifier and won Championship at Westmoreland
• 1937 - Won Championship at Edgewood and won PA State Championship at Berkshire Country Club
• 1938 - Won Championship at Fox Chapel
• Led Oakmont Team to 7 Team Championships between 1931 to 1938.

Such strong performance in the Championship competitions make Betty Abernethy the overwhelming selection of "Player of the Decade" for the 1930's.

To read more about her performance and her rivals Boggs and Kuhn, click the link below.

• In 1930 KDKA announced the erection of a powerful transmitter at Saxonburg.
• On August 27, 1930 Sara Soffel was sworn in as judge of County Court, the first woman jurist in Pennsylvania.
• On September 10, 1932, the George Westinghouse Bridge was dedicated, the link in relocated Lincoln Highway over Turtle Creek.
• On April 7, 1933 the The Post-Gazette reported: "With a whoop of joy, thousands of parched Pittsburgh throats greeted the end of the Great Dry Era at 12:01 o’clock this morning." Large crowds milled about outside Pittsburgh breweries waiting for first legalized 3.2 beer.
• September 1933, Arnold Palmer gets his first set of golf clubs at age 4.
• September 20, 1933, Modern professional football began in Pittsburgh when the Pittsburgh Pirates, under ownership of Arthur J. Rooney, lost, 23 to 2, to the New York Giants before 25,000 at Forbes Field.
• On November 7, 1933 Pittsburghers voted out the "blue laws" and voted in Sunday baseball and other sports.
• In January 1935, Andrew Mellon announced that he would give his art collection to the federal government to be housed in a gallery in Washington, D.C.
• March 17, 1936, St. Patrick's Day, the rivers rose to 34 feet at the Point, and for the first time in 23 years water flowed over the city’s low-level streets.
• On June 27, 1936 a newly completed Allegheny General Hospital was dedicated.
• June 2, 1937, The Stephen C. Foster Memorial adjoining the Cathedral of Learning was dedicated.
• On October 21, 1937, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, presented its first concert as a major orchestra with Otto Klemperer as guest conductor.
• December 8, 1937 Pittsburgh became the center of national steel production when United States Steel decided to move its management headquarters to Pittsburgh.
• On January 20, 1938 Fallingwater, Edgar Kaufmann’s country home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was viewed by interested visitors.
• January 1938, a plan for creating a historic memorial park in Pittsburgh, covering a 36-acre area at the Point and including proposed restoration of Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne on their original sites, was before the National Park Service in Washington.
• November 20, 1938, Heinz Chapel was dedicated on the Pitt campus as the gift of the Heinz family. 
• October 24, 1939, Buhl Planetarium, built at a cost of $1,100,000 and containing a giant projector, was dedicated with 400 scientists as guests at the first sky show.

• In 1931 “The Star Spangled Banner” is officially named the US National Anthem.
• In 1931 the Empire State Building is completed.
• In 1931 Al Capone is convicted of tax evasion.
• In 1933 the 21st Amendment is passed, repealing the 18th Amendment and ending prohibition of Alcohol. 
• In 1934, Disney introduces the character Donald Duck in “The Little Wise Hen”.
• In 1935 the Social Security Act is signed into law.
• In 1935 Legendary player Babe Ruth retires from baseball after hitting his 714th homerun.
• In 1936 Jesse Owens wins 4 gold medals at the Berlin Olympics.
• In 1937 Amelia Earhart disappears over the Pacific Ocean during a circumnavigation flight.
• In 1938 Orson Wells’s radio adaptation of “The War of the Worlds” is broadcast.
• In 1938 the very first “Superman” comic is issued by Action Comics.
• In 1939 “The Wizard of Oz” premiers.
• In 1939 Germany attacks Poland starting World War II.