Nestled in the countryside of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Howard Falls holds a rich history that intertwines natural beauty, community, and conservation. One particularly remarkable chapter in its story began in the late 1930s, when the property briefly served as the site of the Erie County Sportsman’s League Game Farm.
Chapter One Summary: How the Game Farm Began
In Chapter One of this blog, How the Game Farm Began, we detailed how the Sportsmen’s League developed a Game Farm at Howard Falls to raise ring-necked pheasants for release into the wild. This Game Farm began operations in 1937 and successfully raised 3,500 pheasants in its first year.
In the following Chapter Two, we detail how the League began to hold various member events at the newly established Game Farm at Howard Falls. These events, including their Summer Picnic and their fall Field Day, would last for four remarkable years, bringing thousands of people to Howard Falls each year from 1938 through 1941. The following is a look at the inaugural year:
Chapter Two: The Sportsmen’s League Events at Howard Falls
With the successful operation of raising ring-necked pheasants at the Game Farm at Howard Falls, the League decided to consolidate various annual member events to the Game Farm. Previously, such events had been held at various locations around Erie County, with the prior year’s Field Day in 1937 held on a farm in the Waterford area.
The inaugural event held at Howard Falls in 1938 was the Annual Picnic on Sunday, July 17, during which the Game Farm would be dedicated. It was expected to draw a record crowd, and for those sportsmen who did not have cars, special buses left Perry Square for the picnic at a fare of 50 cents round-trip. An article on July 13th notes, “All bus reservations should be made with Paul Howard at Howard’s Dinor on Peach St.”
Leading up to the event, the Erie Daily Times newspaper ran almost daily articles outlining the events and activities the sportsmen and their families could anticipate “to make sure there was never a dull moment.” The Erie Daily Times article from Saturday, July 16th, 1938, titled “Sportmen Outing Set – Annual Picnic Will be Sunday; to Dedicate New Game Farm,” details the inaugural event:
Everything is in readiness for the biggest and best picnic ever held by the Erie County Sportsman’s League. This year’s outing will be held on Sunday at Howard’s Falls, five miles south of Fairview, with the main program to get underway at 1pm.
The main feature of Sunday’s program will be the dedication of the new game farm of the Sportsmen’s League and the first public showing of the pheasants which have been raised at the farm and which will be liberated to provide fodder for the guns of the sportmen.
Among the out of town guests expected to attend the picnic and to assist in the flag raising and dedication of the field is Seth Gordon, executive director of the Pennsylvania game commission, Robert Lamberton, game commissioner of the northwestern division, and Hays Englert, district supervisor for the northwestern division, have also been invited to attend the program.
– Of special interest to sportsmen will the exhibition fox chase, made possible by well known sportsmen of Ohio, who have loaned the fox to the Erie League for the outing –
Committees in charge of the affair have planned an afternoon of enjoyment to everyone attending. Diversified sports and games will be in progress at all times. Picnic benches have been placed beneath large covered buildings, so lunches and refreshments can be enjoyed despite the weather.
Following is the program which has been prepared:
1:00 pm – Band Concert – Albion Band
1:30 pm – Presentation of Flag and Dedication Services
2:00 pm – Exhibition Bait Casting
2:30 pm – Concert – Girard Rube Band
2:45 pm – Archery Exhibition
3:00 pm – Ball Game
4:00 pm – Fox Chase
4:30 pm – Exhibition Horseshoe Pitching
5:00 pm – Tour of the Game Farm with explanation of how birds are handled and shelters made
5:30 pm – Awarding Prizes
6:00 pm – Band Concert – Albion Band
6:30 pm – Don Tranger and his three trumpetsGrounds open at 10 AM
Trap shooting events start at 10am sharp. Trap shooters are requested to bring their own guns. All gauge shells will be on the grounds.
Ox roast and plenty of refreshments will be available from 12 o’clock on.
The mention of Don Tranger and his three trumpets as evening entertainment piqued our interest and required some additional research. Donald Matsen Affantranger (1899-1960) was born in 1899 and grew up in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He was a “one-man band” performer known for his extraordinary ability to play multiple instruments simultaneously, specifically four trumpets and a clarinet. He must have upgraded to four trumpets after 1938. He married Alpha Breffitt (1901-1967) in 1939, and they moved to New York City. The couple toured various venues with their vaudeville musical act in the 1940s and 1950s. Don would be featured in Ripley’s daily “Believe it or Not,” shown below, with his four trumpets.
with a twist; he could wrap his mouth around four trumpets and
a clarinet, playing them all at the same time while he quick-stepped
a Russian dance.”
The 1938 annual picnic was a huge success! As reported in the Erie Daily Times on the following Tuesday, “Upwards of 10,000 sportsmen of Erie and surrounding counties jammed the grounds of the Erie County Sportsman’s League new game farm.” Following this success, the League moved forward with holding their 6th annual Field Day, the league’s “big autumn outdoor party,” at Howard Falls.
For the annual Field Day, held on Sunday, September 18, 1938 the League had expected 2,000 members to attend. The day was uncharacteristically warm in the Erie area, with a high of 79 F and a low of 54 F, and taking advantage of the weather once again record crowds of over 12,000 people would attend.
Today it is hard to imagine a crowd of that many people at Howard Falls, but we do not doubt the attendance numbers that were variously reported for the event. Preparations made for the event were summarized in the Erie paper leading up to the big day.
The Erie Daily Times article from September 14, 1938, titled “Record Field Day Expected Sunday – Local Sportsmen Gather at Howard’s Falls” notes
With the weather man on our side we will have a larger and better field day next Sunday than was ever held in the history of Erie County Sportsmen’s League activities” was the optimistic statement today of Paul Howard, secretary of the organization.
The field day, annually the premiere event of the league, will be held on the game farm near Howard’s Falls on Route 98 south of Fairview.
Howard stated that repairs to Route 98 are practically finished and the other roads leading to and near the game farm have been graveled and oiled. Benches and tables on the farm itself have been re-conditioned and are ready for members and their families.
Final arrangements for the program have not been completed as yet but Howard said “the ox is waiting to be roasted, the traps are waiting to be sprung, and the dogs are ready to run.” Details of the program which will include shoots, various trials for beagle, coon and fox hounds and other field day events will be announced in The Times tomorrow.
Below are some images of the ring-necked pheasants, the expanding number of brooders on the game farm, and a shot of Paul Howard’s niece Edith from the Pennsylvania Game News magazine published by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Paul’s niece, Edith, was born in February 1927 and would have turned 11 in 1938 when that picture was taken. For a brief period her family lived at the Cottage at Howard Falls, perhaps about the time the picture was taken. Now nearing 100 years, Edith visited the Cottage this past fall and recounted many precious memories of growing up at the Falls.
In the days approaching the big party, the Field Day program was taking shape as noted in the September 14th Erie Daily Times “Assure Busy Time For Sportsmen at Annual Field Day – Program to Open Early, Continue Through Day” article:
There won’t be an idle minute for any sportsman who cares to be active at the sixth annual Field Day program of the Erie County Sportsman’s League Sunday at the league’s game farm at Howard’s Falls off Route 98 south of Fairview.
Chairman Paul Howard announced today that the program will get under full swing at the game farm as early as 9 o’clock with the staging of the rabbit hound trials which will be followed by the coon dog trials.
A fox chase in which the fox finally will be returned to the cage and the dogs ultimately returned to it, also will be one of the morning features following the coon dog event.
-Trap shooting will get under way at 10 o’clock, according to Howard, and from the time the first birds are broken the traps will be sprung continually as long as there are trapshooters to fire. –
Archery shooting for those enthusiasts fo the bow and arrow sport, will get under way at 11 o’clock with Paul Banghart, Erie’s topnotch archer, in charge of the competition. Pistol shooting, in charge of Leon Wilson, will get under way at 10 o’clock.
According to Bill Schildmacher of the Erie Sport Store, who has charge of the trapshooting competition for the day, an Erie team of trapshooters will meet a Franklin team in a special 100-bird shoot during the afternoon. Erie’s team dropped a close match to Franklin last Saturday at Franklin, 351 to 332, and the local boys will be out for revenge. Jim Hallinan, Bill Baxter, Blake Crosser, Jake Lower and Gooley will represent the Erie team.
And continued on the 17th of Septemeber with “Borgardus to Be at Sportsmen’s Field Day“:
Sixth Annual Field Day program of the Erie County Sportsman’s League at the league’s game farm at Howard’s Falls, south of Fairview off Route 98 Sunday, will not go wanting for a representative of the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Scheduled to attend the Field Day program here Sunday is Dr. James F. Bogardus, head of the state department of Forests and Waters, who will fly to Erie from Harrisburg on Sunday to be with the Erie County sportsmen for what annually is their biggest outing.
Dr. Bogardus will be met at the Erie airport by Ambrose J. Mulligan, superintendent of Peninsula state park, who will drive him to the league’s game farm for the afternoon. Dr. Bogardus’ plane is scheduled to arrive at the airport at noon on Sunday.
Following the Field Day events at the game farm Dr. Borgardus will remain in Erie overnight and will make an inspection tour of the Peninsula state park with Mulligan on Monday.
Plans have been made to handle a crowd of as many as 10,000 at the game farm Sunday. Sportsmen from all over northwestern Pennsylvania and others from bordering New York and Ohio cities, including some of the leading pistol and riflemen and dog fanciers of these cities, have announced they will attend.
Paul Howard, general committee chairman for the Field Day has left nothing undone in arranging for a program that will be varied enough to prove interesting throughout the day for all sportsmen. the events will get under way at 9 o’clock.
An innovation in this year’s Field Day program, too is the “swapping lot” which will be marked off on the game farm grounds for any sportsmen who have something which they want to trade. Dr. J.J. Koehler, president of the league, gave the idea birth this week and it should prove popular. Any sportsmen who have dogs, guns, rods, reels, or anything else which they would like to swap for something which others may have are urged to bring whatever they wish to trade to the “swapping lot.”
Attention of sportsmen was called again today to the announcement yesterday that the section of Route 98 out of Fairview leading to the branch road to the game farm, will be thrown open for motorists by the Doyle Construction Co, The branch road to the game farm has been graveled and oiled and will be in good shape with minimum of dust.
The 1938 Field Day was another huge success, when a crowd estimated at 10,000 again gathered at Howard Falls. While rain cut the program short toward evening, most of the game competitions were completed. The League would make a profit of $1,500 (the equivalent to approximately $34,500 today and cleared the League of it’s cost to construct the game farm over the past year.
While the question of the game farm and its location appears to have been hotly disputed among members in the mid-1930s, the farm’s success in its inaugural year seemed to silence the doubters. Writing in the Erie Daily Times, sportswriter Joe Williams had the following to say about the game farm in his column, “Sport Sparks”:
The Sportsman’s League had demonstrated how a complete schedule of events, held in one common location would draw members out in droves. The Game Farm seemed perfect for this.
Preview of Chapter Three
The overwhelming success of the 1938 Members Day Picnic and the Field Day events at Howard Falls gave great momentum to hold similar events there in the following years. These successes would present both opportunities and challenges for the Sportsmen’s League organization.
Chapter Three of this series will summarize the continuing successful events of 1939, 40, and 41, but also how ‘strong winds of change’ were beginning to blow.
The members supported these events because they could include their spouses and children. But increasingly, the families wanted facilities located closer to Erie, where travel to such events would be much more convenient. Concurrently, Pearl Harbor was about to thrust America into WW2, with profound effects on everyday life.
Stay tuned for the conclusion of how all of this was managed by the Sportsman’s League beginning in 1942.