All year long, as Ralph’s Hardwoods Floors has been celebrating its 50th year in business, I’ve found myself thinking about what the world was like when my father started Ralph’s in 1965. I guess it’s the same sort of fascination as looking at a newspaper from the day you were born.
One thing I’ve found interesting about that time is how much it relates to what’s happening today.
In 1965…
The Vietnam War was dividing the nation.
As Lyndon Johnson escalated the “police action” in Vietnam, young Americans started burning draft cards, protestors of all ages began marching on Washington, and a mass anti-war movement began to spread.
Many others supported the growing military involvement; the burning of draft cards was outlawed with harsh penalties; and troops kept being sent to fight the Viet Cong. The Vietnam War was beginning in earnest.
Obviously, we’re still getting pulled into foreign conflicts, and people are still disagreeing about how and when the U.S. should use force as part of foreign policy.
Racial tensions were high.
Throughout 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. worked to spread his message of brotherly love and equality, including leading the famous marches from Selma to Montgomery. And the violent responses to civil rights protests—many broadcast on national TV—helped to spur a nationwide sentiment that resulted in Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law in August.
However, the civil rights movement met much resistance. Malcom X was assassinated in February. And less than a week after Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, the Watts riots occurred—a precursor to Ferguson a half-century later.
We had our eyes on the stars.
The recent photos of Pluto are fantastic, but it seems that our passion for space travel has waned over the past 50 years. In 1965, the U.S. and Soviet Union were in what seemed like a life-and-death struggle to conquer space first—and everyone was paying close attention. In June, Edward Higgins White made the first U.S. space walk, but Soviet Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov beat White and the U.S. to that feat in March.
On the other hand, considering the insane amounts of money people are plunking down for the possibility of private space travel, maybe our space obsession is still very much alive.
The Green Bay Packers were the gold (and green) standard of football.
The 33rd NFL Championship Game was won by the Packers and legendary coach Vince Lombardi (with a lot of help from guys like Bart Starr and Paul Hornung) on the second day of 1966. Of course, the bulk of the effort came in the 1965 regular season leading up to that game.
For the next two years, the Packers continued their championship ways, winning the first two Super Bowls after this last NFL championship game, following the merger of the NFL and AFL.
These days the Packers are still the Packers, but are we going to win the Super Bowl this year? Sure, why not?
Things that now seem classic were brand new.
Debuting in 1965 were Tom & Jerry, the Pillsbury Doughboy, the Days of our Life soap opera, A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Beatle’s movie Help! and album Rubber Soul, Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
Two landmarks were completed in 65: The St. Louis Gateway Arch and the Astrodome in Houston. The Astrodome is gone, but the Arch is still there and hopefully will be for 50 more years and beyond.
Ralph’s Hardwoods Floors opened in Black Creek.
A lot has changed about hardwood flooring since Dad started the company in 1965, and we diligently stay on top of the latest techniques, materials, etc.—always looking to do things better. Ralph’s has changed too, growing from my father’s one-man-shop in his garage to an employer of 35 people with a 19,000-square-foot facility and a 4,000-square-foot showroom.
But Dad’s initial commitment to quality craftsmanship and first-rate customer service has remained a constant.
That’s something that will never change.
