A Lockport Childhood
According to his own accounts, Raskob enjoyed a comfortable and enjoyable childhood in Lockport, New York. At that time, Lockport was a thriving city along the Erie Canal, an important transit-point for Great Lakes shipping. Raskob's studies at Lockport's parochial and public schools were enlivened by participation in local theater, explorations of the local countryside and vineyards, and regular part-time work as a newspaper-delivery boy and in seasonal agriculture. Lockport also had a well-established Catholic population, and Raskob took part in many of the religious and social activities of his coreligionists, staying connected for many years with classmates and fellow-parishioners.
Related Correspondence:
John J. Raskob to R.D. Moore -- recollection of Lockport (August 1907)
John J. Raskob to Frank Chapman -- recollection of Lockport (March 1924)
Image: Lockport at the turn of the twentieth century, ca. 1900. View image in Hagley Digital Archives