Figure 1.--With the new century and the Proigressive Movement, mire and more attention was given to cvhild welfare, inckuduing childhood nutrition. Inevitably, school lunches became part of that duscussion. Here is an example from Oregon in 1924. The newspaper caption read, "Thev ideal lunch biox for school children recently was pronounced by the Oregon state board of health after long invesigation. Contents should be 1. fruit; 2. sandwich made with while wheat bread; 3. a bottle of milk; 4. desert such as a cuop cake, custrard, or some sweet not too rich. Picture shows a teacher okehing [OKing] one of her pupil's lunches." The articke and photograph ran at the beginning of the bnew school year (October 17, 1924). We don't get to see all of the lunch, but ee see a sandwich, apple, and muffin. The milk may have been purchased at school. Note the early school lunch box.

School lunch is a huge topic on its own. We do not have a lotb of infornmastion on the arrangements in the 19th century. We believe that at city schools, the children commonly went back home for lunch. It is important to remember that in the 19th century, what we now call lunch, was mostly referred ton as dinner and was the major meal of the day. Rural children commonly had a different experience. For most the dustabcewas too far to go hime for lunch. And of course the facilities at small rural schools were limited. The teacher had to use a little initiative. The children would bring theuir lunches. Brown paper bags or lunch boxes were not yet in use. The children might bring pails like theur fathers who worked. The rural teacher had one assett, the iron stive set in the middle of the room. It could be used for heating items the children brought to school or even for preparing a soup. With the industrialization of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, cities grew. Workers tended to travel longer distances and less commionmly come home for the mid-day meal. And what we now call lunch became more common. Many city children continued to come home for lunch, but more and more did not. City schools became larger and thus the catchment areas increased, meaning longer distances to and from schools. The Progressive Movement of the late-19th and early-20th century addressed many issues, among them was childhood nutrition and eventually the role of schools. This was addressed by a variety of social welfare groups and local communities. A few states took some steps, but nothing was done at the national level until the Great Depression of the 1930s when the New Deal took the first teataive steps--PL320 (1936). The program was put in the hands of the Agriculture Department, largeky because food was involved. School cafererias were not common until after World War II, especially at elementary schools. And of course to make schoolm lunches, you needed a casfteria. The move to the suburbs began well before the War, but exploded wuth post-War baby boom. Many new schools were built, almost all with cafeterias.

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Created: 11:42 AM 10/19/2022
Last updated: 11:42 AM 10/19/2022