World War I drastically changes Pontiac
The new St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church was dedicated in 1917 and
the entire village celebrated, never realizing that within the next few
years major changes would take place that would transform Pontiac and
change the lives of many who lived there.
The War To End All Wars
In 1917, the United States entered World War I and nothing was ever the
same again. Like other communities in the state, Warwick bought war
bonds, staged patriotic parades, and in general took part in the
patriotic zeal to make this "the war to end all wars" and to "make the
world safe for democracy."
Boom Times
While Warwick’s young men were serving in Europe, the textile industry
boomed in Pontiac, Apponaug, and Natick as war contracts brought the
factories in the Pawtuxet Valley to full production. The average weekly
take-home pay for textile workers at the end of the war was $14. Not
all workers received the same wages, however. Those with skills
received the handsome salaries and often discrimination played a role
in the awarding of salaries. The Italian immigrants, latecomers to the
Valley, averaged less, more than half getting only $10.00 per week.
At the beginning of the 1920s decade, both the church and the village
fared well. The handsome church, built by the Kingston Building Co.
firm of Providence and beautifully designed by O. Z. Cervin, an
architect from Rock Island, Illinois, was tastefully appointed. The
exterior of the church was painted white, while inside; the pews,
pulpit, altar and woodwork were of dark oak. The stained glass memorial
windows complemented the simple Gothic style and the church presented a
pleasant and harmonious addition to the village.
More Knight generosity
The Knights, enjoying the prosperity brought about by the war,
responded generously in helping the church on a number of occasions. In
1915, Webster Knight and Prescott Knight had promised a tract of land,
adjacent to the church, to the congregations of Natick and Pontiac to
be used as a burial ground. In 1920, they donated $2000 toward the
construction costs of additions and improvements.
The members of the congregation continued with their efforts to raise
money for the church. In 1921, Pastor Karl Johansson was able to
report, "The spirit of giving has been very great, and money has come
in from various directions, so that the congregation has been able to
pay all its debts, between seven and eight thousand dollars, which
indeed is a great cause for us all to rejoice." It was also in 1921
that the cemetery was dedicated. It was called the Swedish Lutheran
Cemetery and later the St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery.
A time for changes
While the church rejoiced in their bounty, it was becoming obvious that
very little in Pontiac was ever the same after World War I. Veterans
returned home disillusioned and cynical at the failure of Versailles to
provide a perfect world, but they also were determined to exercise
their rights as citizens. Veterans of all ethnic groups now had a
common bond and united to vie for mutual benefits and to defeat "native
American" movements.
Women received the right to vote in the state in 1917 and, in 1919, the
Prohibition Amendment was introduced. Warwick, which had long sponsored
temperance movements, was now divided as large numbers of immigrant
workers in the mill villages opposed the concept.
Bad times for the mill workers
While Pontiac was attempting to adjust to the changes, adverse
conditions battered the area. In 1918 1919, a very severe winter in
which trolley lines were tied up and people were isolated was followed
by an influenza epidemic, which especially affected those in the mill
villages.
Everyone in Pontiac was shocked and disturbed when it was learned that
the Knights had sold their firm to the Consolidated Textile Corporation
of New York. The era of paternalism was rapidly coming to a close and,
within a short time, Pontiac would be torn by a devastating strike.
Thanks in a large part to the generosity of the Knight family, the St.
Paul Lutheran Church was able to establish a cemetery here in 1921.
Photo by Don D’Amato