The Rochester Historical Society announced the winners of its essay contest on Saturday at the Rochester Country Fair.

The society charged students with writing about life before technology and comparing it with the entertainment they now have at their fingertips.

First place went to Delaney Shaw, 13, who won $100. Colin Kulak, 13, took home the second place prize, $75. Third place went to Lukas Michaelis, 12, who received $50.

All remaining participants received a gift certificate to Captain Bonney’s Creamery.

Read Delaney Shaw's essay below:

The times are a changin’ people tend to say. From the things people do, to the way they act it has taken a turn and we are advancing on towards the future. Although the 1950’s seems like ancient history, it helped our era to evolve on so many things we do day to day. For example in the 1950’s when playing with toys was more popular, those toys were simple. Some of these toys include, marbles and jacks, skipping ropes, jump ropes, bicycles, balls and bats, and ball throwers and catchers.

“Children would spend hours upon hours playing outside,” says Henry and Bonnie Hartley. Also around the 1950’s the jigsaw puzzle was just becoming popular, although it was still a pricey toy at the time.

Some of the newer toys in those days included carpentry sets. These contained real, well-made tools suitable for children. Girls enjoyed doll tea sets so that they could have tea parties just like adults, how proper! Many children also enjoyed dolls and models of boats and trains.

Around the year 1955, many toys branched out to include Disney-themed products such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse buckets. There were even toys designed to be played with inside. For instance, miniature coloring books were produced. Not only did they make the coloring books but they also made board games such as chess and checkers. They even started to make toys made for road trips or for small pack away areas. One such toy was the beach ball for those who went to visit places near the water in the summer time. Soon after buckets and spades made an appearance, and children had the opportunity to construct magnificent sand castles either at the beach or in sandboxes. “I can remember when my kids would be in the backyard for hours making these huge masterpieces in the sandbox,” says Thelma Rogers.

Unlike today, kids would spend hours outside either in the woods or at various hotspots around Rochester. One such place was the Pinegroves. “I can remember when I was younger and we would meet up at the Pinegroves to build forts and tents known as teepees,” says Julie Wright. Now although the destination seems like fun how’d people get there? Some kids lived too far to walk or there parents didn’t want to drive so how did they travel? Bicycles! Kids in town would grab their bikes from the shed and pedal off through the many paths in Rochester! Some kids who lived on farms would even ride their horses to get together for a day of endless fun!

Another well known spot was the waterworks. “My kids would get ready in the morning, go into the backyard, grab a tire that was laying around and push it all the way to the waterworks. Occasionally they would grab cardboard and use it as a sled,” says Thelma Rogers. Now you might wonder, what could you possibly do with a tire that could be fun? Well, you could push it down a hill and watch it roll on and on at immense speeds! “Sometimes, my kids would have these competitions to see who could roll the tire the farthest!” Thelma Rodgers adds. Some kids would even use their imaginations and create various groups! For instance, Barbra Besse was one of the few girls in the Explorer’s Group. This group would walk down every road in Rochester for the day to see where they would lead to.

In the 1950’s kids would watch the popular western style t.v shows. From these shows kids would then use their imaginations to put themselves into the show. “I can remember when I’d get together with my friends and sit on the fence pretending that we were riding horses. Occasionally, we’d even pretend we were having shoot-outs,” says Henry and Bonnie Hartley. Also, during the 1950’s World War II was occurring. “I can remember going to this pond near my Uncle's and he would let us use his boat and we would row out to this island in the middle of the pond and just chill for the day,” says Barbra Besse. “One day when we were out in the pond we heard the Navy planes come in since there was a big wooden target that they would practice on. Boy did we head for the beach!”

As you can see there are many activities that children in the 1950’s would do, but what do we do today for fun?

Today children are more inclined to stay indoors and watch television, play computer games and, in some cases, even do their homework, than go outside to play. These days many of the toys that were once popular in the 1900’s have lost value and many kids would rather have an electronic. Especially this year, the only thing that seems to get kids outside is apps and various social medias. One such popular app is Pokemon Go which has over 9.55 million people in just the U.S playing for hours daily.

Recently there has been a large expansion on apps called social media. Some of the more popular apps include Spotify, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and Musical.ly. More than ever this year teens and even young children have been making accounts and spending hours a day sending and viewing feed from what is called a profile page. Even when walking around town, you notice that kids are on their mobile devices connecting with friends who may live just next door! Instead of having a face to face interaction kids find it easier and more fun to text and video chat people that they could easily connect to in real life.

For transportation, kids tend to have their parents drive them everywhere whether it be to a friend’s house within the tri-town or even to a friend’s house down the road. Sadly, most parents prefer their kids not to ride their bikes anymore because it simply isn’t as safe anymore. Mainly it’s from the new technology that is always advancing and distracting people from focusing.

Although, many things have changed for what we do, some things remain similar thanks to family traditions. Some such things include, going to the beach, going to snow’s pond fishing and swimming, going to the movies, making sand castles, ice skating at the bogs around town, and playing sports out on the lawn.

I believe that kids today can learn a lot from putting down their technology and taking the time to consider what could be the most fun. In particular, after doing research and having conversations with various townies from Rochester it has opened my eyes on the effects that human interaction can have and what memories it can bring to a person over many years to come. Even today you can still hear the excitement in each person’s voice as they recall these past memories and they explain in exquisite detail how it felt to engage in each activity. This experience has helped me to see the beauty of the things around us in this beautiful town!