Excerpt from the journal of W.E. Laurent - Wanette, OK.
In the late summer of 1920, a picnic and carnival was scheduled to be in Wanette and being persuaded that I needed to attend, the next thing was to acquire some nickels & dimes. At this point in time it seems that some of the area people who liked to imbibe a little were hard pressed to find a source of supply. To appease their thirst for fiery stuff, they had substituted flavoring extract, most of which had a very high alcohol content. The favorite flavor seemed to be vanilla, followed by lemon and pear. These things I gleamed from the labels. The drinkers would purchase the extract and go out the backdoor and consume their purchase, or perhaps around the corner to empty the bottes and leave them there. I talked to a local doctor and he agreed to take my bottles if I would clean them thoroughly.
I took my coaster wagon and headed for downtown and the alleys behind the grocery stores. I gathered 60 bottles and headed home with them. If you haven't soaked the labels off of 60 bottles and washed them until they sparkled, you my friend haven't lived. Anyway I received 60 cents cash went to the picnic. With most items priced between 5 cents and 10 cents I had a pretty good day.
Merry go round cost 10 cents to ride. Lemonade & red soda pop a nickel a throw.
W.E. Laurent, a local businessman, owned a hardware store from 1951 - 1981. In 1984 he was on the town's board of trustees. Over the years he compiled a hand written journal about the town of Wanette. The excerpts shown here are just a couple pages of the 145 page journal he wrote. A digital copy of the journal can be found at the Pottawatomie Historical Museum in Shawnee.