DETROIT-1929
“Detroit is destined to become the center of activity for the Society of Mary Reparatrix.”
These words were uttered by the Reverend John Corbett, S.J. of New York city during his Sunday sermon which was delivered at the dedication of the Sisters of Mary Reparatrix convent and retreat house for women on October 27, 1929.The new Convent was located at 17300 Quincy Avenue, Detroit, Michigan near Livernois and Six Mile. Across the street from the Convent was Gesu Parish and a block away the University of Detroit, a Jesuit institution. The new convent would serve as the novitiate for the Sisters in the United States. The Sisters of Mary Reparatrix opened their first retreat house in 1908 in New York city, but with the expansion of this new location, the mission of the Sisters, and especially the ministry of retreats, would be established in the diocese of Detroit. Bishop Gallagher, bishop of the diocese of Detroit, stated in his remarks that, because of the opening of the novitiate, women from all parts of the country would come to Detroit for their training and would then go out to the whole world to continue the vision of Mother Mary of Jesus (Emilie d’Oultremont, d’Hooghvorst).
The Sisters had courage and determination because the year, 1929, marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties and the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. From September 3, 1929 the stock market began a sharp decline and continued until Black Tuesday, October 29, when panic ensued on the floor of the New York stock exchange. Thirty billion dollars had been lost, more than twice the national debt of the USA.
Other interesting events which occurred in 1929
March 2 – The longest bridge in the world, the San Francisco Bay Toll-Bridge, opens
March 4 – Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States, succeeding Calvin Coolidge.
March 31 - Liz Claiborne, Belgian, American fashion designer and entrepreneur was born.
May 16 - The 1st Academy Awards were presented. Best picture was “Wings”.
June 7 – The Lateran Treaty, making Vatican City a sovereign state, is ratified.
June 23 - 300,000 people attend the Pontifical High Mass at the Phoenix Park to mark the end of the Catholic Emancipation centenary celebrations in Dublin, Ireland.
24 July - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers).
August 8 - The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
October 18 – Women are announced to be persons by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in and allowed to sit in the Canadian Senate thus giving women political power to run for government positions.
November 7-Museum of Modern Art was opened to the public nine days after the Wall Street Crash.
November 29 - US Admiral Richard Byrd becomes the first person to fly over the South Pole.
In the Soviet Union, General Secretary Joseph Stalin expelled Leon Trotsky and adopted a policy of collectivization.
Popular Music of 1929
"Star Dust" w. Mitchell Parish m. Hoagy Carmichael Music 1927.
"Singin' in the Rain" w. Arthur Freed m. Nacio Herb Brown