Camp Idle Hour

Girls listening to a phonograph

Written by Debrah Lovan

January 1, 2022

In 1913 the French aluminum company built a Club to accommodate newly arrived, single engineers who were settling into a new location and new jobs. In 1916 Alcoa built a teacherage, called the Annex, next door to the Club. It was to provide young, single, female teachers a place to stay as they arrived in the town. The plot was set in place.

Mr. Thorpe, Plant Manager of Alcoa, set up a recreational camp for the newly arrived, male and female, where they could relax. He called it Camp Idle Hour and provided his boat Lucille to ferry people to the site. From all accounts it seems to have formed a “bermuda triangle” for matchmaking.

One thing was often said about both places:

All persons warned. Keep away. Place infested with the “BACILLUS MATRIMIONS” .

If you are not already inoculated; you will surely catch it.

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