BROOKVILLE — In early 1929 Mr. John MacMillan, president of the Dayton Rubber and Manufacturing Co. gave a presentation to the Brookville Rotary Club about a proposal regarding a new 13 month calendar that was to be presented to an international committee within two years.

It called for a year to be composed of thirteen months, the months to be exactly twenty-eight days, each month starting on Sunday the first. The extra month was to be called Sol and to be placed between June and July.

Each year between December 28 and January 1 there would be a day designated as International Peace Day or some other designated name. Each four years would have an extra to take care of the present Leap Year day of February 29. It was also proposed to have all holidays come on Monday so that people might enjoy two days of rest combining Sunday with the holiday.

It was said that the big gain to be made with this new calendar is that of the uniformity of the months, each month containing the same number of days and the same month of each succeeding year would absolutely compare with each other. Easter Sunday, was the greatest variable event of the year, it being possible to come in a period which varies over a month.

The movement gained considerable strength, particularly among organizations who try to operate on definite time periods such as accountants and sales organizations. The U.S. Weather Bureau was in unanimous favor of the project. Many church authorities both Protestant and Catholic favored the project as it did not interfere with the Jewish faith inasmuch as they use their own Jewish Calendar.

It was hoped that this new calendar could be put into use on Sunday, January 1, 1933, because this was the first year in the future where January the first fell on Sunday.

George Eastman of the Eastman Kodak Company was a big supporter of this movement. He adopted it for his company and the company used it until 1989. Mr. Eastman opened a U.S. office for the International Fixed Calendar League. From this office, his organization mailed calendar information to businesses around the country. Eastman spent a lot of his own money creating these publications.

The dispute over the change was thought to resolve itself into a question of whether the advantages would make up for the disadvantages. At the presentation, Brookville residents were urged to study over this proposal and figure out for themselves whether or not they could see an advantage to the change.

With the death of George Eastman, who was the calendar’s biggest financier and proponent in1932, it also began the end of the movement.

All information and the photo for this Look at Brookville article were supplied by the Brookville Historical Society. Do you have a photo or historical information to share or add? Please contact the Brookville Historical Society at 937-833-0285 or email to [email protected].