Figure 1.-- This 2nd grade elementary (primary) school class portait was taken in Lake Wales, Florida, during 1932. Theteacher is in the middle. Second grade means children 7-8 years of age. Presumably Lake Wales was also the name of the school. The clothing worn by the children is very varied. One boy is wearing a suit with a vest and tie. Other boys wear overalls. One barefoot boy wears a play suit. It was still quite common for younger boys in the South to come to school barefoot. This was a school in town. More children would have been barefoot in more rural schools. The age of the boys and warm climate is why so many boys are wearing short pants. Notice the button-on shorts. This was more common in America than the suspender shorts and suspendrs we commonly see in Europe. None of the boys are wearing knickers, in part because of the climate.

This 2nd grade elementary (primary) school class portait was taken in Lake Wales, Florida, during 1932. The teacher is in the moddle. Second grade means children 7-8 years of age. Presumably Lake Wales was also the name of the school. The clothing worn by the children is very varied. One boy is wearing a suit with a vest and tie. Other boys wear overalls. One barefoot boy wears a play suit. It was still quite common for younger boys in the South to come to school barefoot. This was a school in town. Notice that it is a substantial brick school with two stories. More children would have been barefoot in more rural schools. The age of the boys and warm climate is why so many boys are wearing short pants. None of the boys are wearing knickers, in part because of the climate. Florida was just beginning to become a vacation and retirement center. This began more intensely after World War II with the arrival of air conditioning. Lake Wales is located in central Florida, east of Tampa. At the time it was still a largely farming area which explains why so many boys are wearing overalls.

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Created: 6:30 PM 1/27/2014
Last uodated: 6:30 PM 1/27/2014