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Stationmaster's House
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THE MASTER BEDROOM Where did Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias sleep? They slept upstairs in the master bedroom. As you open the door and look around, please realize you are having a rare opportunity, for during the time when they lived there, a master bedroom was shut off from view. According to etiquette of 1860’s through 1870’s, it was considered improper to show the bedroom to guests. The master bedroom was regarded as the most private room in the house. Surely Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias needed a retreat from the public eye! Mr. Zacharias spent much of the day working around the railroad patrons and staff. Similarly, Mrs. Zacharias must have felt the strain of living under a watchful public eye as she tended to household matters, for their home revolved around the railroad. She must have been tired from working in the kitchen that was adjacent to the office, caring for the children when they were not in school, and as always, maintaining the house. What was the view from their bedroom window? If you glance out of the window, you will see they looked toward Main Street rather than the railroad tracks or train station. They probably welcomed a view that directed focus away from work related activities. In particular, Mrs. Zacharias may have found the view comforting, for she could look across to the brick homes of her married brothers, Mr. Levi Riegel and Mr. John Riegel. Her brothers were much older than Mrs. Riegel, and likely served as father figures. Mrs. Riegel’s father had died when she was sixteen, and her mother died in 1861, the year that Frank was born. Thus, it must have provided solace to have her brothers living on the corner Main Street and Market Street.
Would Mrs. Zacharias have decorated the room? While Mrs. Zacharias did not choose these specific furnishings, she would have influenced the décor, and typical for that time period, room decorations had a feminine look. The room has a ¾ rope bed with a feather tick, a typical kind of mattress for that time period. The MMA has used a linen sheet, also typical for that time period; however, this sheet has an added element of interest, for it had belonged to President Nixon’s Grandmother Griffith of Lancaster County. The 1849 coverlet was woven by Williams Seifert Young. They were three weavers who lived in Mechanicsburg. Note the homespun curtains; they were typical in Mechanicsburg. When Mrs. Zacharias closed the curtains, she not only created privacy, she was cloaked from the town’s distractions, as well as the light from street lamps that had been erected in town throughout the 1860’s. Street lights were added to the area of the train station in 1871.
How did they wash? Prior to going to bed, they used the pitcher to fill
the basin of the wash stand. For complete baths, Mrs. Zacharias heated
water on the kitchen stove,
What type of clothing did Mrs. Zacharias wear? When considering how Mrs. Zacharias dressed, it is important to remember she would wear clothing suitable to her age. When she moved into the Stationmaster’s House, she was in her thirties, and so her style would reflect younger to middle age women, and she probably kept the same sort of style from 1866-1878. Often generalizations are made that suggest all women wore the same style of clothing regardless of age, situation, or locale. However, research by Juniata Leisch, Who Wore What? Women’s Wear 1861-1865, suggests how women in the age bracket of Mrs. Zacharias dressed differently than older or much younger women. Actually such a realization reveals contemporary style trends. Even today, styles for women at thirty are different than what is marketed for senior citizens. Thus, historians recommend using photographs and printed text to understand what styles were worn in a particular locale, as well as who wore them and why. Of course, women typically had photos taken for special occasions, and so their attire rarely showed day-to-day wear, but rather more formal fashion. Since specific photographs of Mrs. Zacharias do not exist, we can get a sense of her style by looking at photos of what other women wore in Mechanicsburg and Cumberland County after the Civil War, as well as reading local newspapers, such as the Cumberland Valley Journal and the Carlisle Democrat. She had grown up in Mechanicsburg, and so her attire reflected a woman from a hard-working middle class family. Mrs. Zacharias might have developed an eye for fashion from her girlhood when her father, John Adam Riegel, operated a dry goods and general store. When her father had moved to Mechanicsburg in 1816, he formed a partnership with John Coover, another prominent citizen, and their business was one of the first ventures of any importance. Also, her older brother, Mr. Levi Riegel, a well-respected businessman, ran a shop on Main Street that sold hats, gloves, and shoes. Undoubtedly, she saw women passengers as they traveled through town and stopped at the passenger station, and thus, she got a sense of style from them. Why was physical attire so important? Mrs. Zacharias knew her appearance was important because she was in the public eye. It was important for Mrs. Zacharias to uphold decorum, for as the wife of the Stationmaster, she would have been criticized for failing to adhere to standards. From a young age, Mrs. Zacharias had been taught to conform to social norms. Family, church, school, and peers reinforced how the consequences of deviating from the norm meant being considered less than a lady. In a small town like Mechanicsburg, no one wanted to be rebuked for being less than a lady. Thus, Mrs. Zacharias would take care to look her best, for a woman’s reputation, as well as that of her entire family, could suffer from gossip, and thus Mrs. Zacharias surely guarded against that from happening. Did Mrs. Zacharias have a particular style of dress? Mrs. Zacharias wore a day dress for light household chores and informal occasions, such as shopping and doing errands. She wore dresses with a natural seam at the waist, and for her age group, the waist tended to be shorter than for older women. She might have highlighted her waist with belts or jewelry. The hemline would have been a few inches off the ground so as to protect material from dirt and fraying. Her bodice would have been constructed to add width to shoulders, but not the waist. If you picture shoulder pads from the more contemporary 1980’s, you can get a sense of the visual effect. Much of the time, she used an apron. Detachable cuffs and undersleeves would be worn to help keep the sleeves of the dress clean. Even when wearing a skirt and blouse, a woman included cuffs and undersleeves. The skirts and dresses were less full than formal wear, but could be worn over crinolines or a hoop when she went into town. Did she have a special dress for cleaning and hard-to-do chores? Most likely she wore a wrapper for rigorous cleaning, washing, or baking. The wrapper was intended for use in the house when others would not see her. Of course, with the telegraph office adjacent to the kitchen, Mrs. Zacharias would have been vigilant about keeping the door closed, so she could stay out of public view. The wrapper was a loose fitting dress that allowed her freedom of movement. She would wear it without hoops or a corset; thus, pregnant women, as well as nursing mothers, also wore a type of wrapper. Originally, wrappers in the 1850’s were worn in the morning, much like a robe, whereby women wrapped the garment around themselves. Thus the garment was called a wrapper. By the time Mrs. Zacharias had moved to the Stationmaster’s House, the wrapper had evolved to a style more akin to a day dress; however, wrappers typically buttoned down the front, and therefore, putting it on was easier than a day dress. Would Mrs. Zacharias wear a corset? Most certainly Mrs. Zacharias wore a corset. The undergarment helped to reduce the waist, thus exaggerating the bust and hips, so the body conformed to a fashionable silhouette. Most corsets were white and worn over a chemise. Regardless of social class, women wore corsets. Some women made their own, while others purchased them. Corsets were one of the first mass produced garments for women, and corsets changed to accommodate shifts in the economy and fashion. When Mrs. Zacharias was growing up, the women wore corsets made with wood or cording rather than bone, for even back then, whale bone was very expensive. By the time Mrs. Zacharias was an adolescent, the corsets became shorter than what her mother had worn as a young woman. The desired silhouette for the 1850’s became softer and more curved than the straight lines worn by her mother a decade earlier. Also women began to put corsets on themselves, for the use of springy steel allowed corsets to open at the front. When Mrs. Zacharias married in 1858, the corset was further shortened to emphasize the widening hoopskirt, for the cage crinoline was invented, and so the waist returned to its natural position. The wide skirts also allowed the waist to be a little thicker, as there was sufficient contrast to the hips covered by the extended skirt. By the 1860’s, the ideal silhouette for the upper body was a broad chest with sloping wide shoulders to make the waist appear small. The corset did not need to make the hips smaller, but it did need to be supportive of the weight of the crinoline and skirt. So the corsets of the 1860’s were rather shorter than those worn before or after, and less restrictive. That feature began to change when Mrs. Zacharias moved into the Stationmaster’s House. In the 1870’s, the full hoop or crinoline shifted to bustle, and a new corset became longer. It was much heavier, stiffer and far more restrictive, for it needed to mold the abdomen exposed by the new lines of the bustle. Did she wear hoop skirts? Yes, she wore hoops under skirts and dresses, but they were changing size and style. In 1866 the large and awkward size of the hoop began to diminish somewhat, and it shifted to an ovoid shape, slowly turning, by 1870, into the bustle. During that time, the hoop had come under criticism for its large impractical size, and even the Cumberland Valley Journal noted how women’s hoops took up too much space in the train station and in passenger cars. While the bustle took up less space and allowed more freedom of movement, it gave the female figure a forward leaning stance, and some humorists thought the shape made women resemble the prow of a ship. The image was hardly flattering. What was worn for special occasions? Special occasion dresses resembled day dresses, but with fuller skirts and wide necklines (but high enough to hide any cleavage) and sleeves were short or three quarter length. Fine fabrics were used and bodices were generally trimmed. Of course, extra fabric was needed to cover the hoop or bustle. Undoubtedly Mrs. Zacharias wore a festive dress when her sister, Maggie Riegel, married Edward Eberly, member of the L.F. Eberly & Sons, lumber firm. Did women have a special dress for mourning? Mourning dresses reflected etiquette for locale, age, and economics, and generally, a middle class woman in Mechanicsburg wore black, including black collar, cuffs or undersleeves, and black crepe for veiling or trim. During the time the Zacharias family lived at the Stationhouse, various members of their extended family died, and so they would have worn mourning clothes. In 1871, the sister of Mrs. Zacharias, Mrs. Elizabeth (Riegel) Herring, lost her husband, Dr. James Besh Herring, who died and was buried at Chestnut Hill Cemetery. The following year, the mother of Mr. Zacharias, Maria C. Milleisen Zacharias, died in 1872 at age 67. Additionally in 1872, the brother of Mr. Zacharias, Robert B. Zacharias who was only 14, died in a train accident. How did Mrs. Zacharias style her hair? Her hair style aimed to make her face look full and round. While it was not important to have clean hair, the style needed to be neat. Mrs. Zacharias probably did not wear a hairnet since they were going out of fashion for her age group, but on special occasions, ribbons or decorative items might have been placed in a net. Whether her hair was fashioned in braids, a roll, or curled, the ends were generally hidden from view. Makeup, when used, created full cheeks. Did Mr. Zacharias wear a suit? Most likely he wore a suit, white shirt, vest, and tie. Men's dress in this era continued the trend towards decreased individuality of style, crossed with increased technical perfection of manufacture. Interestingly, railroad uniforms did not become standard attire for employees until the turn-of-the-century. In the early days of the railroad, men in management positions wore standard business attire. Did he shave? Facial hair gained in popularity in the 1850's, 60's and 70's, not really going out of fashion until after 1900, and then only gradually. The MMA has a newspaper photograph from the 1900’s that shows him with a beard.
Was it unusual for Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias to have just two children? Both Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias came from large families. Typically women from their parents’ generation had babies over the course of many years, for they had little access to birth control. Also, women were often defined and valued for their maternity. That attitude began to shift as women became more educated and had more opportunity for acceptable employment. When women had taken on various jobs while men were gone with the troops during the Civil War, people feared disrupting the social order. However, social conscripts remained fairly intact until Industrialization took shape, and women and men began to reconsider their roles. While the importance of family was highly valued, local records suggest a shift away from large families for Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias, as well as for their siblings. Were fewer children a coincidence or a conscious attempt to limit family size? Surely women faced many health dangers with each successive birth, and so they may have wanted to limit family size. Interestingly, the newspaper carried advertisements about products that could control female cycles. Thus, one may conclude the subject was of concern, and perhaps it was not as politicized as today. Did women get such information from doctors? Mechanicsburg had many doctors as indicated by tax records. In fact, the sister of Mrs. Zacharias, Mrs. Elizabeth Herring, was married Dr. J.B. Herring, and so we can imagine sisters sharing information, just as women in rural areas exchanged awareness of herbs and roots. Women in town also had access to newspapers that provided pertinent information. For instance, the following advertisement appeared on a regular basis in the Cumberland Valley Journal. It was published on the second page of paper in Special Notices, and the spelling reflects publication. The advertisement is included to provide background to attitudes surrounding women’s health, and Mrs. Zacharias would have been familiar, for she read the newspaper:
Who cleaned the room? Mrs. Zacharias cleaned the room, for the Zacharias family was middle class, and women were taught to take pride in maintaining the home. As E. Gertrude grew older, she would be assigned tasks, as well. It was understood that children should be given chores. Housework was considered part of the female sphere whereby social standards established a woman’s unpaid labor as crucial for maintaining family harmony. Women assumed many tasks, for the work was part of the division of labor. Mrs. Zacharias knew that if she failed to perform necessary household duties, she and her family would be faulted by the community. Even worse, since they lived at the Stationmaster House, she could jeopardize her husband’s career by failing to maintain an orderly home. Daily cleaning was part of her routine. Certainly a lot of dust blew in when windows were open, for the roads were unpaved, and trains stirred up dirt and debris. |
Where did they keep their clothing? Clothing that could be folded, such
as underclothing, chemises, corsets, stockings, dressing gowns, and
nightshirts were kept in chests similar to the cherry High Chest, c.
1810, donated by Margaret Strong, a Zacharias descendent. It is the
oldest piece of furniture in the restored house. Rarely would a dressing
gown be left out, but you are given the opportunity to note its
intricate embroidery. Most likely, Mrs. Zacharias, like other middle
class women, took pride in doing fine needlework. Both Mr. and Mrs.
Zacharias appreciated the feature of a closet, a rarity for homes at
that time. Items were hung on pegs in the closet. Today we use hangers,
but they had not been invented until 1869 when a coat hook inspired the
shoulder-shaped wire hanger.
and then filled a portable tub. When not in
use, the tub was kept out of sight, for it was considered poor etiquette
to allow such items to be seen. They had different attitudes toward
hygiene than we do today, and so they did not take frequent baths.
Where did Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias keep valuables? The box beside the bed
was used to store family valuables, for there were no safety deposit
boxes then—and in the case of a fire, they could pick it up and go.
Being in a brick house set apart from other homes afforded them less
fire worry than a frame house, however; they would adhere to common
practice. In addition, the brief occupation by Confederates during the
Civil War taught them the importance of being prepared for emergencies.
Did Mrs. and Mrs. Zacharias do much leisure reading in their room? While
today we figure people in the days before television had a lot time for
reading, they actually owned few leisure reading books. Popular books of
their time which are still read today include Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calveras County and Other Sketches by Mark Twain, Hans Brinker or, The
Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the
Sea by Jules Verne. Surely Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias read the newspaper
which recommended various books, and they probably enjoyed some literary
pursuits, especially as they were both educated. Mr. Zacharias had
started to work for the railroad by the time he was a teenager, but Mrs.
Zacharias, at age eighteen was still in school at the Cumberland Valley
Institute. The 1853 Stockholders Report for the Cumberland Valley
Institute notes how both the Zacharias and Riegel families were involved
with the school. Mr. Samuel Zacharias and Mr. Levi Riegel were listed as
stockholders. Students included Daniel Zacharias, Mary Ann Riegel and
Gertrude Riegel. The private school had closed by the time Mr. and Mrs.
Zacharias were married and had children. Since Mr. and Mrs. Zacharias
were educated, we can conclude they appreciated literature, for the
classics were emphasized in school.|
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