Looking Back: The Year of 1925 Was a Big One!

As we celebrate United Country’s 85 years of heritage this month, we can’t help but take note of the other exciting things that happened in 1925, the year United was founded by Roscoe Chamberlain.

For example, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway, An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser and The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie were published in 1925, while The New Yorker magazine published its first issue. In other, seemingly related news, F. Scott Fitzgerald met Ernest Hemingway in 1925, an incident Hemingway described in his memoir by saying, “…a very strange thing happened.” Another strange thing – and devastating – was the Tri-State Tornado that rampaged through Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing 695 people and injuring 2,027.

United Country isn’t the only organization celebrating 85 years in 2010. Chrysler Corporation was founded by Walter Percy Chrysler, Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, was founded at Lafayette College, and the Phi Lambda Chi fraternity was founded at Arkansas State Teacher’s College (now the University of Central Arkansas).

Eighty-five years ago, Louis Armstrong formed the Hot Five and made his first records, while John Baird successfully transmitted the first television picture, using mechanical television technology, in Britain. Leica manufactured the Leica A, the first commercially successful 35mm camera the same year.

Malcolm X, Barbara Bush, William F. Buckley, Jr., and Flannery O’Connor were born in 1925. So were Mel Tormé, Johnny Carson, Paul Newman, Yogi Berra, Merv Griffin, B.B. King, Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke. The world was on the verge of some major changes in 1925. Calvin Coolidge was inaugurated as the 30th president of the United States, and Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first female governor (Wyoming) in the United States.

New York City became the largest city in the world, taking the lead from London, but London had their own milestone: their first enclosed double-decker buses were introduced.

Meanwhile, Paul von Hindenburg became the President of Germany’s Weimar Republic. Hitler was released from prison and published Mein Kampf. Mobster Johnny Torrio retired and put Al Capone in charge. John Scopes was arrested and found guilty for teaching evolution in the Scopes Monkey Trials. In the world of sports, the Vancouver Cougars won hockey’s Stanley Cup, the Chicago Cardinals won the National Football League (NFL) Championship, and the Pittsburgh Pirates won the World Series. Early in the year, a dog sled relay was used to carry an antitoxin for diphtheria to Nome, Alaska. The relay was the inspiration for the Iditarod dog sled race.

Perhaps the most touching anniversary is that of Percy and Florence Arrowsmith, who married on June 1, 1925. Shortly after celebrating their 80th anniversary in 2005, Percy passed away – but not before the couple was listed in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest marriage and the greatest aggregate age of a married couple (Percy was 105, and Florence was 100.).

United Country affiliates, what year did you start your business?