CCAE Turns 80: All About 1938!

In Fall 1938, what was previously known as the Cambridge Social Union officially became Cambridge Center for Adult Education. In Fall 2018 we celebrated 80 years of creating, exploring, and growing! CCAE instructors Brian Bixby and Anatole Sykley compiled a list of some interesting facts and firsts about the year 1938.

Notable events in 1938:

• The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 struck on September 21, killing over 600 people, and causing massive damage, not just due to high winds, but coastal storm surge and inland flooding due to heavy rains.

• The four Quabbin towns were officially disestablished to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir.

• The first Federal minimum wage law in the U.S.

• The Federal Mint replaced the Buffalo nickel with the Jefferson nickel.

• The last formal reunion of Union and Confederate veterans at Gettysburg took place on the 75th anniversary of the battle on July 3.

• Famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, who participated in the Scopes “Monkey Trial,” died on March 13.

• LSD was first synthesized on November 16. It’s hallucinogenic properties would not be discovered until 1943.

• The radio show “Information Please” began.

• Superman first appeared in April. The original comic book cover date is June.

• On October 31, Orson Welles broadcasted a dramatized version of H G Well’s “War of the Worlds” with a modern twist – it was scripted as a news broadcast. Some people believed it to be real news and there were reports of a national panic.