Ulyss and Pearl Caine Holliman and their Descendants

The Golden Summers of the 1930s, Part IV
by H. Bishop Holliman 2011

"In the summer of 1933, the Robert Dalys, The Rev. Stewart Button and the Model A Ford all got together, left Irondale, Alabama and went to the Century of Progress (the World's fair ) in Chicago!  Can you imagine anything more unusual than that!!!  They left daughter Mary, now two years old, with Robert's sister, Lena and other Daly folks, on their farm, up above where Mary and E.C. Herrin live now (near the new Shades Valley High School in east Irondale).

Right, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell and her sister-in-law Ida Holliman in front of the Daly house in Irondale, a new home built by Robert Daly in the early 1930s.  The lawn on which Loudelle and Ida are standing was the shared lawn with the Ulyss Holliman home at 2300 3rd Avenue. Dozens of family photos were taken from the 1930s to 1990s at this site.

In addition, they took Loudelle with them!  I guess they were gone a week.  They must have been on the road a night each way, going and coming.  I am sure Robert paid all the expenses for gas and overnight lodging.  Maybe Mr. Button paid his hotel bill.  Loudelle would not have had any money, and she lost a week's wages because there was no vacation time nor sick leave for hardly any one at that time, and surely not for ten cent store clerks.  But this was Loudelle's time to travel with the Dalys!

To say that your relatives had gone to the World's Fair elevated in little Irondale, Alabama our prestige no end - even more so than riding in the rumble seat of the Packard!  None of us knew of anyone else who had gone to Chicago, and certainly not to the Fair. It gave us a lot to talk about.  Vena and Robert always brought souvenirs back to Virginia, Ralph and me, but I can't recall now what they brought this time.  Loudelle picked up lots of pamphlets with coupons to order stuff, and I got on many mailing lists.  Below, Vena Holliman Daly in 1934.

An interesting side bar - to add luster to this 1933 safari, the next summer, 1934, the noted gangster, John Dillenger, was shot and killed by FBI agents outside a Chicago theater.  The four from Irondale like to claim that the hotel where they stayed the summer before was just a few blocks from where the Enemy No. One was gunned down!  That gave them something to talk about (aside from being asked several times if they saw Sally Rand)!"

More exciting Irondale adventures in next post....