Our Daily Show! 100 Years Ago W/ Lacy: Goldfish by the Thousands!
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On November 5, 1924, an article in the Alton Evening Telegraph told of the “finny beauties” raised by Casper Horn, who was described in numerous articles as the “Luther Burbank of goldfish.” Luther Burbank was a preeminent American botanist who cultivated hundreds of new varieties of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and other plants, including the Russet Burbank potato and Shasta daisy. In 1940, the United States Postal Service released a Luther Burbank stamp, and his birthday is celebrated as Arbor Day in California.
In the late 1910s and early 1920s, Casper Horn owned the largest goldfish hatchery in Illinois. In 1923 alone, he raised approximately 3,000 goldfish at his property on Alby Street. He developed fish that were pure white, fish with white bodies and red heads, others with golden colored bodies and large web-like tails that looked like trails of smoke as the fish swam through the water, but “inquiries as to how he managed to propagate such a variety of different colored gold fish evoke[d] only smiles from Mr. Horn.”
Casper Horn was a director of Alton Banking & Trust Co. and he owned Horn & Horn grocery. In 1921, he sold the grocery business to his oldest sons, Louis and Casper Jr., so he would have more time to devote to his interests: fancy chicken raising, goldfish propagating, and his flower farm. Horn owned the biggest dahlia farm in Illinois.
Horn shipped some of his goldfish to other parts of the United States “to help beautify or add pleasure to the homes,” but many were bought by residents of Alton and the vicinity. Drug stores during this time often gave goldfish away as a free gift with purchase, so some of Horn’s fish may have been part of these promotions.
Other varieties of “hatcheries” on the North Side of Alton during this time were Tom Lyons’s angleworm (earthworm) farm, Jacob Schmitt’s goatery, Howard Gray’s cattery (specializing in Angora cats), Alice Donnelly’s canary bird hatchery, Henry Buckstrup’s crawfish pond, and, of course, G.L. Glassbrenner and B.H. Merriman’s possumry.
Sources
“At the Fish Hatchery.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), November 04, 1915.
“A Big Flower Garden.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), August 29, 1919.
“Biggest Dahlia Farm in Illinois.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), May 3, 1919.
“Canaries and Fish.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 31, 1918.
“Casper Horn Sr. Dies; Retired Business Man.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), May 22, 1941.
Driscoll, Sally. 2017. “Luther Burbank.” Luther Burbank, August, 1–2.https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=3715e321-814f-3c35-81ba-12739cfb1b88.
Duffy, Rebecca. University of Delaware, and University of Delaware Winterthur Program in American Material Culture. 2018. “The Age of Aquaria: The Aquarium Pursuit and Personal Fish-Keeping, 1850-1920.” Dissertation.https://www.academia.edu/78667228/The_age_of_aquaria_the_aquarium_pursuit_and_personal_fish_keeping_1850_1920
“Free Gold Fish.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), May 23, 1917.
“Free Gold Fish.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), February 10, 1927.
“Gold-Fishery Did Well.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 12, 1923.
“Has Gold Fish Hatchery.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), November 21, 1916.
“Hundreds of Gold Fish.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), November 5, 1924.
“Now Watch the Poultry Business Boom.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 3, 1921.
“One of the Finest Show Places.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), October 20, 1920.
“‘White Blackbirds’ Are Being Rivaled. Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), December 22, 1916.
“Will Have All Kinds of Hatcheries Soon.” Alton Evening Telegraph (Alton, IL), February 19, 1916.
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