When the new owners of the Prigge home in the 400 block of Sixth Avenue contacted the museum we never expected to learn so much about a family through what remained of their belongings. Walking into the foyer of what once was a very grand home, the place reduced to an organized chaos that testified to the people who had lived their entire lives in that place. Shortwave radios, cases of what appeared to be Mogan David wine, school notebooks handwritten with speculative ideas, table linens, and clothing.
The dress shown in the picture above dates to the late 1800s. It is white broadcloth with satin ribbon adorning the bodice. As I held the dress up against the fine wallpapered foyer of the home, I imagined a small-waisted woman gliding by, the trill of the doorbell provoked by a paper boy spinning the iron lever outside before the grand doorway, his Cincinnati Times Star bag loaded with papers. She likely wore her hair in a loose bun atop her head, ringlets draping down on her well defined neck. These were people of means. Quiet in their resolve, but steadfast in their commitment to the town they lived in.
Among the boxes donated to the museum where photograph albums that appear to be from the thirties, forties and fifties. Each one meticulously labeled with places like Banff in the Canadian Rockies or chairs on a ship sailing the Adirondacks. Don and Violet Prigge appear in the pictures, more Violet than Don. I spoke to members of St. John’s Anglican Church who say that Don economized so much that he came to the church every night to make sure that lights had gotten turned off. And yet, he and Violet traveled the world.
Another box is filled with textbooks, how-to books and lesson books from Sunday School, grade and high school. One such notebook contained this handwritten message from Violet on May 17, 1926:
“Self-reverence, self-control, self-knowledge, these three alone lead life to a sovereign power.” Tennyson. As we grow older we realize more and more that certain actions of ours help or hinder us in our relations with other people. Our parents and teachers are constantly reminding us that we should be polite. Why? Watch the boys and girls who are invariably courteous in everything they do; courteous to elders, to strangers, and to playmates and friends in school and out. Notice the people with whom you are brought in contact; observe how well the courteous person gets along/ and you will surely with to possess that “passport to good society in every country.”
The attic of the house contained a ham radio that Don Prigge built himself. We know that because he kept meticulous notes on how to put it together. He made his own wine, dabbled in chemistry, carpentry, and biology. Mike Lenz, who knew Don fairly well, said that at one point in time, their house had more than just the attic with a dormer that exists today. There had been a fire that destroyed the second floor. I just wonder how much Don or his father had to do with the ingenuity that went into rebuilding. Perhaps that contributed to the reasons why they saved everything.
The new owners told me that they will never have to buy toilet paper, paper towels or garbage bags because Don and Violet had left a healthy store of all three. We are eternally grateful to the new residents of this treasured home for their generosity. This donation is already educating us on what life was like in the early twentieth century in Dayton, Kentucky.
Dayton Heritage Museum 