This Week in Odessa History

It was just about two months before the Crash of 1929 and the beginning of the Great Depression. Nobody knew what was in store for Odessa and the rest of the world when The Odessa Record rolled off the press on August 23, 1929, 84 years ago this week.

Odessa seemed to be a happy, contented community. Harvest, although not one of the better ones, was over. School was to start with the largest enrollment ever expected.

Oddly, the first day of school would be Labor Day, a legal holiday, and while students would enroll and receive their lesson assignments, they wouldn’t have to work, said school s...