When we think about childhood in early Southern Utah, we often imagine endless chores, hard work, and responsibility beyond a child's years. While those things were certainly part of daily life, there was something else woven through the memories left behind by these children: FUN.
One thing that has stood out in my research is how little children have changed. Give them a bit of free time and a small amount of imagination, and they'll find a way to entertain themselves.
Once the chores were finished, the fun began!
Community dances were among the biggest social events in Southern Utah's early towns. Often lasting until the early morning hours, they welcomed not only adults but children as well. Yet even when the grown-ups were occupied, young people found plenty of ways to create their own adventures.
In Grafton, one New Year's Eve, the town trustee locked the schoolhouse and proudly announced that the bell would not ring at midnight. The children took it as a challenge. By tying several lassos together and stretching a rope from a nearby shed to the bell rope inside the building, they managed to ring the bell when midnight arrived. The trustee rushed back to investigate, found nothing, and left. Moments later, the bell rang again.
The children of Grafton were equally creative when a new set of eighth-grade grammar books arrived. Unimpressed by the prospect of endless diagramming exercises, several boys tossed the books into the schoolhouse belfry after class. The missing books remained hidden for years before finally being discovered among the rafters.
In Enterprise, a group of boys pulled one of the town's most memorable pranks in 1908 when they gathered every outhouse they could move and lined them up across the public square. Their punishment was simple: return each one to its rightful owner.
Springdale's young people proved just as inventive. One night, a group of local girls decided to swap their neighbors' milk cows as a prank. Unbeknownst to them, a group of boys had come up with the very same idea. By morning, after both groups had spent the night carefully moving cattle, every cow in town had ended up right back where it belonged.
Winter brought its own entertainment. In Pinto, children flooded a meadow to create a natural skating rink. Some even skated barefoot because shoes were scarce. Homemade sleds would also be raced down a quarter-mile track that carried riders from the hill behind Benjamin Platt's home all the way past Charity Thornton's front door.
These children may not have had movie theaters, video games, or huge toy stores, but they possessed something just as valuable: their imagination. These stories remind us that joy has never depended on what people owned, but on what experiences they were able to create together.
Give them a bit of free time and a small amount of imagination, and they'll find a way to entertain themselves.