“A Great Mental Tonic”
Edward Stratemeyer’s Recreations, Vacations, and Automobiles
by James D. Keeline
I have a sort of an idea of trying some books that will be of the modern
E.P. Roe order––a sweet love story with the scene laid in a country
town and typical country characters.
[letter to St. George Rathborne, 2 Nov 1910]
However, when Rathborne finally turned in the story, Stratemeyer
was “bitterly disappointed”:
Broadly speaking, the style in which the story is written is too old fash-
ioned and smacks of the days of Marion Harland and Ann Stephens
and A.S. Roe. (not E.P.). [letter to St. George Rathborne, 19 Dec 1910]
Another one of Stratemeyer’s hobbies was amateur photogra-
phy as related in the introduction to Bob the Photographer
essels, 1902):
My object in writing this tale
was ... to let my readers know
Edward Stratemeyer in 1903 something about photography,
providing they have not already
mastered the first steps in that
I rather think the trip down here did you good. I know whenever I feel art. During my leisure hours I
“stale” I can always “come back” by taking a trip somewhere. A have taken up “snap shotting”
change of scene is a great mental tonic. myself, and have found out that,
[letter to W. Bert Foster, 28 Feb 1915] and the work of developing and
printing the pictures, very inter-
Edward Stratemeyer is best known for his writings and the esting. All told, there is no
literary factory, called the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which pro- cleaner or better recreation, nor
duced popular juvenile series books, including the Bobbsey one better calculated to make
Twins, Tom Swift, the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Though the follower more patient.
a significant part of his time was spent working, Stratemeyer [Bob the Photographer]
engaged in several recre-
ations which have been Stratemeyer held several memberships in organizations. Most
little discussed until now. of these were professional in nature, such as the Author’s League
and the New Jersey Historical Society, but one was clearly for
These recreations took social and leisure purposes. He was a member of the Roseville
several forms. We know Athletic Club near his home where “he would bowl a few games
that he was widely read or possibly indulge in a few games of pool in a most conserva-
based on the comments tive manner”[28 Apr 1932]. At one point, he held a position on the
and suggestions made to
his publishers and writers
and this extended well be-
yond books in his genre.
When he ordered Jess of
Harbor Hill (Cupples & Leon,
1911) from one of his ghost-
writers, St. George
Rathborne, he stated:
Ad for Jess of Harbor Hill
1
Board of Trustees for the organization as noted in a letter to the Stratemeyer also eschewed alcohol and tobacco. He was a fre-
Roseville Athletic Association [26 Apr 1917]. quent contributor to the Anti-Saloon League of New Jersey and
removed references to alcohol and gambling when he copied
According to his daughter, Edna, “he never learned to play cards Bracebridge Hemyng’s “Scapegrace at Sea” to become “The
or outdoor sports. However, Wizard of the Deep.” He also plotted and supervised the pro-
he did like to sit in the grand- duction of the temperance-themed stories in the White Ribbon
stand and cheer a Boys and the Janice Day series.
closely-contested baseball
game.” [28 Apr 1932] . In fact, Stratemeyer even returned a book on drink mixing recipes which
he considered himself to be
“a good deal of a baseball
!"
#$ %&
&'
&
%
(
' '
was given as a Christmas gift from one of his publishers,
rooter” [19 Mar 1910] as was in their home for many years.
noted on an occasion when a
publisher representative In one of the letters to the Anti-Saloon League, Stratemeyer sug-
called certain facts into ques- gested the creation of smoking rooms as a replacement to the
tion on The Rival Pitchers saloons to serve as a social center for the men of Newark. He
(Cupples & Leon, 1910), a Syn- was quick to point out that he did not use tobacco.
Automobiles
dicate baseball title. It turns
out that Stratemeyer and the
ghostwriter, Howard R.
Garis, were wrong on several points in the book [see letters dated 19
Mar 1910, 24 Mar 1910, 8 Apr 1910]. After this point, Stratemeyer In her letter to Edna Swenson, Edna Stratemeyer pointed out
hired Rathborne to review and edit Syndicate manuscripts for that Stratemeyer “learned to operate an automobile when cars
consistency in sports rules. first came in, and drove about New Jersey when he had finished
his day’s writing” [28 Apr 1932].
A 1908 Franklin Touring Car like the one
owned by Stratemeyer’s friend, Will Vroom
Stratemeyer learned to drive in Will Vroom’s 1908 Franklin. As
he was writing The Automobile Boys of Lakeport (Lothrop, Lee &
Shepard, 1910), he was ready to buy his first automobile.
Stratemeyer considered several types of automobiles before se-
lecting the Cadillac, including a Chalmers and a Maxwell
Runabout. In the end he selected a 1910 Cadillac five-passen-
)+*!for
Ad ,.-./.the
02143!56White
147!897!:!Ribbon
56;!,+<!8!=>Boys
02145656,.89series
-.,./.7!8!*9including
?.7!@4<!A9, Stratemeyer considered purchasing a
1910 Maxwell Runabout like this one
2
A 1912 Cadillac Touring Car Similar to
the 1910 model which Stratemeyer owned A drawing of a 1910 Cadillac from a Literary Digest ad
ger touring car with a 30-horsepower motor. Stratemeyer told man is revealed to be colorblind and the townsfolk chide him for
his publisher that operating his own car would not be that unfa- not being able to distinguish a red car from a green one. It turns
miliar to him because he had taken several trips with a friend out that Stratemeyer was himself colorblind as revealed in a let-
and learned to drive his car around the town square in Newark ter in the 1940s.
[22 Apr 1910].
In later years, he mentioned the automobile if a mishap occurred.
So fascinated was he with the operation of his new auto that he
didn’t tell Howard Garis of We just escaped an accident a week or so ago. I was starting out for a
its arrival until a couple of long trip in the auto when the back axle broke off clean and clear.
weeks had elapsed. Around Fortunately we were close to the house and running slowly, so nobody
this same time, the Garis was hurt and the garage man has fixed us up with a new axle. But if we
family was trying out their had been running fast or coming down a hill!
[letter to Howard Garis, 27 Jun 1913]
motor boat at Lake
Hopcatong, NJ. Howard
Mrs. Stratemeyer and my daughter Harriet came back with me, leav-
was also working on the ini- ing Edna on the farm. On the way down I had two punctures––fixing
tial Tom Swift volumes at the first myself and letting a garage man tackle the second. We ex-
this time. pected to land here at eleven-thirty and made it about one-thirty! And
when I went up on Friday my gasoline pipe sprung a leak and I was in
Stratemeyer’s daily routine danger for five miles of going up in smoke! Lots of sport, eh? But I
at this time was to write in don’t like that particular brand. [11 Aug 1913]
the morning and spend the
afternoons mastering the These problems probably hastened his selection of a new car in
mysteries of his machine. He
mentioned this car often in the business correspondence to his
writers and publishers
I celebrated the wind-up of this season’s story writing by running my
car yesterday afternoon to Morristown and elsewhere, a distance of
forty-three miles. I think I am going to get a lot of fun of the car this
summer. [letter to Warren F. Gregory (L,L&S), 27 May 1910]
I trust this story (The Automobile Boys of Lakeport) pleases you and
that it finds a large sale. Personally I am now having quite some plea-
sure automobiling. On Decoration Day I took my family for a ride of
sixty-eight miles through the country, even taking one of our hills thought
to be quite difficult. The running of the car came to me easier than I
expected, for which I am thankful. I have not had any breakdowns or
punctures and trust mishaps are a long way off. [2 Jun 1910]
One interesting scene in this story describes a local constable
Ads like this one (text omitted) for a 1914 Hupmobile
who mistakes the automobile our heroes are in with that of their
appeared in magazines and were the main source
rivals who have been speeding and driving recklessly. The law- of information for buyers like Stratemeyer
3
1914. He purchased a Hupmobile with 32 horsepower. He wrote
to his insurance agent to give further details on the car and he
emphasized that it was 32 HP rather than 35 HP since the tax on
cars was based on the number of cylinders and the horsepower.
Stratemeyer found the smaller car to be more satisfying and stated
that “Edna runs it very well” [letter to Frederick S. Grow, 22 Jun 1914].
After their marriage, Harriet and Russell Vroom Adams pur-
chased their own car in January 1916 and built a garage for it
next to their house. Stratemeyer kept his car at the Park Avenue
Garage of Newark and called when he wanted to use it. He
complained of poor service from the garage in a letter dated
May 2, 1916.
Stratemeyer only kept his Hupmobile for a few years and on 27 Stratemeyer owned a 1917 Franklin Roadster
March 1917 he wrote to his insurance agent to indicate that he similar to this 1912 model.
wasn’t sure that he would keep this particular car. He sold it on
A fire in the second floor of his home delayed the purchase of
June 1 to B.J. Hughes of the Park Avenue Garage of Newark.
another car for several months. In that fire, he lost many of the
copies of his personal books and artwork created by Harriet and
his wife, Magdalene. However, beginning in 1914, he ran most
of the Syndicate from offices in New York City.
Stratemeyer purchased a “four passenger chummy roadster” with
wire wheels on July 17, 1917. He mentioned either this vehicle
or another Franklin to his insurance agent on October 5, 1921.
He was so happy with his car that he agreed to buy stock in the
Syracuse, New York, company on July 18, 1922. Two years
later, Stratemeyer described a mishap with his Franklin:
Mr. Adams and I arrived home safely after a rather thrilling experience
coming through the Catskills. We broke a spring of the automobile and
had to repair the same as best as we could with a stick of wood and
some wire, and then crawled along in the moonlight past the Askokan
Reservoir and a number of interesting places, arriving in Newburg about
one o’clock in the morning. However, we enjoyed the trip very much,
even though it looked at times as if we might have to camp out by the
A picture from an ad for a 1917 Franklin Touring Car.
roadside. [letter to Chenango Camp, Cooperstown, NY, 15 Jul 1924]
Stratemeyer purchased a “chummy roadster.”
A picture from an ad in Literary Digest for the 1929 Packard “Eight”
4
Vacations
Although it is not mentioned in the letters available on micro-
film at NYPL, it is likely that Stratemeyer bought the first of two
Packard automobiles after this mishap. We do know that the last
automobile he owned was a 1929 Packard “Eight” which he
purchased in June of 1929. Throughout his writing career, Stratemeyer took short and occa-
sionally long trips to relax and renew himself. Most of these
Stratemeyer referred to Literary Digest magazine in a letter on were to various parts of the United States, though he did go to
February 21, 1929 when he complained about a writer who was Canada on a couple of occasions and even considered a trip to
suggesting adding to the Rover Boys series which had been Europe after Harriet’s graduation from Wellesley in 1915. These
brought to a close in 1926. As a reader of this magazine, he plans were changed and Stratemeyer was glad of it after news of
could not help but notice the full-page color ads at the end of the sinking of the Lusitania was received in America.
1928 promoting the 1929 Packard models. These were impres-
sive ads and among very few color ads in the issues of that year.
After Stratemeyer received his Packard “Eight,” he wrote to the
dealer on June 21, 1929 concerning the “foot rail” which was to
be replaced with a carpeted flat one similar to his previous
Packard automobile.
After his death on May 10, 1930, his car probably went to his
younger daughter, Edna, who did not marry until about a decade
later and was still living at home while caring for her mother,
Magdalene, who was a semi-invalid after some strokes and heart
attacks. Stratemeyer’s wife died in 1935. Edna continued to
live in the house Edward bought for many years. She later mar- Stratemeyer was glad that he didn’t go to Europe
ried C. Wesley Squier and in 1942 moved to Florida with her in 1915 once this news was received in the U.S.
husband and child.
A map of Ocean Grove, New Jersey showing the location of a cottage rented by Stratemeyer in August 1894.
5
The Spray View Hotel was located on the Boardwalk in Ocean Grove.
Like the Syndicate series book heroes, Stratemeyer took trips to He returned to Ocean Grove with his family several times in the
“the seashore,” “the country
,” “the mountains,” and “the west.” years 1905 to 1908. He stayed at the Spray View Hotel and later
Although he certainly took several trips before the foundation of at the Seaside Hotel in Ocean Grove. These trips were often in
the Syndicate in 1905, the documentary evidence is lacking the Spring or Summer months. During busy years, Stratemeyer
among materials available to researchers. We do know that while might leave his family at the resort while he returned home to
writing one story in 1891 for Street & Smith, he was spending attend to business. Before he purchased his first automobile in
his time at Ocean Grove, New Jersey in a rented cottage. 1910, he used trains to get to vacation spots like Ocean Grove.
The temporary residents of the Spray View Hotel engaged in many outdoor activities.
6
A typical New Jersey ocean resort scene with the town of Ocean Grove in the background.
The Stratemeyers stayed at the Seaside Hotel in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, in 1908.
7
HOTEL BOTHWELL
In addition to being the inspiration to the Monopoly board game, Atlantic City was one of the vacation
destinations of Edward Stratemeyer’s family. He stayed at the Hotel Bothwell (indicated) on Virginia Avenue.
The Stratemeyer Family at the Seashore
(Magdalene and Edward are in the back row on the left and
Edna and Harriet are on the left and right of the middle row)
Beginning in 1910, he started going to Atlantic City and fre-
quently stayed at the Hotel Bothwell. He also visited other New
Jersey seashore resorts, like Cape May, in his automobile. In
one photo, he is shown with his family, including several yet
unidentified people, on the beach in either Ocean Grove or in
Atlantic City. Stratemeyer has a walrus mustache also seen in
1903 photos like the one on the first page of this paper. In later
years, he visited Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and other spots Magazine ads like this one were sponsored by railroads
in Massachusetts. to encourage tourism into areas they served.
8
Lake
Hopatcong Newark
Annandale
& Lebanon Ocean
Grove
Cape May Atlantic
City
rrrrMacintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh
Macintosh
Some of the New Jersey destinations of Stratemeyer
Stratemeyer also spent a great deal of his vacation time “in the
country.” Much of this time was spent on the farm owned by
W.C. Voegtlen near Annandale, New Jersey, west of Newark. In Stratemeyer traveled to Niagra Falls in 1909 and 1913
1913, he wrote with pride about helping to erect a silo on that and the nearby Thousand Islands in 1925.
farm. He loaned them $2,000 in 1919. The Stratemeyers liked
this part of their leisure life so much that they looked around to
find a farm they might buy. In 1916, Stratemeyer commissioned
W. Bert Foster to write two volumes in the Back to the Soil
series, published by Cupples & Leon.
Like many of his fictional characters, Stratemeyer also took sev-
eral trips to the mountains either by train or in his automobile.
He traveled to the White Mountains of New Hampshire in 1907;
the Canadian Rockies in 1909; the Adirondacks of New York in
1912 and 1925; the Rocky Mountains in 1915; and the Berk-
shires of Massachusetts in 1916.
When his friend, Will Vroom, was planning an auto trip through
the Adirondacks in 1914 with several other men, Stratemeyer
declined but later asked him for road maps, travel guides, and
impressions of the best routes since he was planning The Nowa-
days Girls in the Adirondacks (Dodd, Mead, 1915), a story which
was to have been written by Christine Catrevas but was written
by Howard Garis under the “Gertrude Calvert Hall” pseudonym.
He also visited the Great Lakes, Niagra Falls, and the Thousand
Islands in the Hudson River. He made several trips to Cape Cod
and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. He also made some
trips to Boston to meet with the publisher of many of his per-
sonal writings, Lothrop, Lee & Shepard and to Wellesley, where
Harriet attended college.
Stratemeyer took several trips on the Great Lakes
9
Railroad ads like these inspired travelers to
go to the far reaches of the United States.
Stratemeyer made some long trips of particular note. Two of The Alaska, Yukon, Pacific Exposition of 1909 was held in Se-
these were inspired by the large expositions in Seattle in 1909 attle, Washington and was obviously a very long trip which
and the twin expositions in San Diego and San Francisco in 1915. required a good deal of planning which was mentioned in the
A scene from the Alaska, Yukon, Pacific Exposition of 1909
10
letters on microfilm. Most of the arrangements were made by paperman and real estate agent. From Chicago, they continued
Edward’s friend and traveling companion, Will Vroom, a to Yellowstone Park where they stayed at the Hot Springs Hotel
Somerset, New Jersey, merchant and the man who taught on the first and last days and between July 15 and 20 traveled
Stratemeyer to drive an automobile in 1908. Stratemeyer de- through the geological wonderland by special stage coaches. He
scribed the plans in one of his letters to Vroom: recalled this trip when he gave instructions to St. George
Rathborne who was to write The Pioneer Boys in the Yellowstone
I have looked up some of the time-tables, and find we can get the Black (L.C. Page, 1928) as “Harrison Adams.”
Diamond from New York to Buffalo in daytime, and a Lake Shore train
from Buffalo to Chicago, along the shore of Lake Erie, also by day-
light, about 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. We can also get a Chicago, Milwaukee &
St. Paul train from Chicago up Lake Michigan to Milwaukee and from
there to St. Paul or Minneapolis in the daylight. From there we can get
on the Northern Pacific to Yellowstone Park and the coast.... I should
like to be in Chicago July 9th which should be a special day among
bookmen assembled there. [29 Jun 1909]
They left New York on July 7. The meeting in Chicago was the
first meeting of the American Bookseller Association. During
their stay in Chicago (at the Palmer House), Stratemeyer met
one of his ghostwriters, Weldon J. Cobb, who was also a news-
Yellowstone Stagecoaches in front of A 1908 Yellowstone Stagecoach which
the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel. transported visitors to Yellowstone Park
The Entrance to Yellowstone Park and one of the Yellowstone States
11
After leaving Seattle, Stratemeyer and Vroom traveled
through the Canadian Rockies and its Glaciers.
San Diego, he travelled north through Los Angeles, Santa Bar-
bara, Santa Cruz to San Francisco, the site of the larger of the
two fairs. From there, he continued through Sacramento, near
where his father searched for gold, and then to Salt Lake City,
and Colorado Springs. There he visited The Garden of the Gods
(a geological formation) and Pike’s Peak where he spent half a
day. He came home by way of Denver. In Denver, he met one
of Harriet’s college chums who showed him the top of Mount
Lookout.
When writing a reply to fan mail from Roy B. Vandevier in 1917,
Stratemeyer remarked that he would like to get a new ‘Lakeport’
book but like every one else he liked to take quite a vacation
during the hot summer. Considering some of the trips detailed
The Geological Wonderland of Yellowstone made here, we can see the truth in that statement.
a lasting impression on Stratemeyer.
After six days in Yellowstone, Stratemeyer and Vroom contin-
ued to Seattle to view the fair. On their return trip, they went
through Canada with stops at Banff, Winnipeg, and across the
Great Lakes. Stratemeyer then joined his family who was stay-
ing in Ocean Grove. He finished off the trip with a week in the
country on the Voegtlen farm––a vacation from the vacation.
Upon his return, Stratemeyer wrote that he thought that the trip
did him much good. I late August, he wrote a letter to Wellesley
College on behalf of his daughter Harriet who wanted to attend
beginning in September 1910. He also wrote to Dr. Jonathan
Meeker of Hacketstown, New Jersey, to arrange to enroll Edna
into a boarding school. She was there for just a short time before
returning home. While attending Wellesley, Harriet no doubt
became familiar with Dana Hall which might have served as an
inspiration for the Dana Girls series, one of the first series the
sisters planned after their father’s death.
Stratemeyer’s other big trip encompassed both of the fairs in
California to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal. His
first stop was in San Diego and he stayed in Coronado, almost
Dana Hall in Wellesley, Massachusetts, perhaps the
certainly at the Hotel del Coronado. After taking in the sights in
basis for the Dana Girls books created by Harriet & Edna
12
POSTCARDS FROM AN EXHIBITION
The Panama-California Exposition in San Diego, 1915
13
14
15
Some of Stratemeyer’s Vacations
1905 Spray View Hotel, Ocean Grove, NJ Hudson, NY ➔ Albany, NY ➔ Buffalo,
1907 Maine and the White Mountains, NH NY ➔ Niagra Falls ➔ Toronto ➔ across
Lake Ontario ➔ Delaware Water Gap
Ocean Grove, NJ
➔ Philadelphia ➔ Atlantic City, NJ
1908 Great Lakes and Canada (auto)
Seaside Hotel, Ocean Grove, NJ 1914 Wellesley, MA (auto)
Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ Maine
1909 Buffalo ➔ Chicago ➔ Yellowstone ➔ Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ
Seattle ➔ Banff ➔ Canadian Rockies
1915 San Diego ➔ Los Angeles ➔ Santa
➔ Winnipeg ➔ Great Lakes
Barbara ➔ Santa Cruz ➔ San Francisco
Seaside Hotel, Ocean Grove, NJ ➔ Sacramento ➔ Salt Lake City ➔
Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ Colorado Springs ➔ Denver
1910 Hotel Bothwell, Atlantic City, NJ Hotel Bothwell, Atlantic City, NJ
Morristown, NJ (auto) Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ
Cape May, NJ (auto) 1916 Hotel Bothwell, Atlantic City, NJ
1911 Hotel Bothwell, Atlantic City, NJ ➔ Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ
Philadelphia Swampscot Bay, MA ➔ Berkshires, MA
Pomton Lakes (near Hopatcong, NJ) (auto) 1917 Lebanon, NJ
Portland, ME ➔ Old Orchard Beach, ME 1920 Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ
➔ White Mountains, NH ➔ Casco Bay,
1921 Cape Cod, MA
ME ➔ Kennebunkport, ME ➔ Fabyans,
NH ➔ Burlington, VT ➔ Lake 1923 Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, MA
Champlain, VT ➔ Fort Ticonderoga, NY 1925 Thousand Islands, NY ➔ Adirondack
➔ Albany, NY (auto) Mountains, NY ➔ Martha’s Vineyard,
1912 Adirondack Mountains, NY ➔ Montreal MA
➔ Quebec ➔ Portland, ME (auto) 1927 Martha’s Vineyard, MA
1913 Voegtlen Farm near Annandale, NJ 1928 Old Nantucket, MA
16
