The fly strip was a standard feature of kitchens in the 1940's and 50's. I remember a fly strip in our kitchen at both Dicksons Corners and St. Marys. The fly trap consisted of a strip of yellow paper about 3 inches wide and possibly 24 inches long that spiralled out of a thin cardboard canister. 
Heavily coat
ed with a heavy, sticky substance the paper was attached typically by a string to the light fixture that hung from the ceiling and hovered over the kitchen table. Of course, the purpose of the fly strip was to entrap unawary house flies searching for a respite from their ceaseless buzzing through the kitchen . Once alighted on the surface of the paper, their feet became stuck and no matter how much they buzzed and pulled they were unable to free themselves. Inevitably they died stuck to the paper. In the hot summer these fly papers quickly became covered with the dead bodies of hundreds of flies and when there was no more room on the trap we threw out the paper and hung up a new one. I have no idea how much these fly traps cost or when we quit using them. While, in retrospect, the fly strip with its dozens of dead and dying house flies, was visually unappetising, it was simple device that served a very useful purpose. In previous decades the role which house flies played in the spread of disease was not well understood. Furthermore, the annoyance caused by the dozens of house flies that bred, buzzed, and landed on food, should not be forgotten. Here are two stories that illustrate this point. Lois tells of a technique they used on hot summer days to rid the Riley kitchen of the hundreds of house flies which, attracted by the cooking, had invaded the room. Everyone would gather in the 
far corner of the kitchen armed with a coat, a sweater, or a piece of cloth. One person would open the kitchen door and the rest, waving their coats vigorously in front of them would proceed in unison to the kitchen door hoping to sweep the flies outside. In the second story Curly Wilson is reminiscing about St. Marys in the 1890"s: "Manure, smells and flies go together and one cannot imagine the difference between downtown then and downtown to-day. Privies were also a problem but health officer
s were not as aware of the connection of wastes to diphtheria and typhoid as they should have been. A gradual tightening of regulations forced butcher shops to put on screen doors much to the disgust of the owners who felt such regulations were unnecessary and bureaucratic"The number of flies in our homes has decreased dramatically in the past several decades. Whether this is the result of better storage and protection of food, improved methods of screening in homes, or new insecticides, I am not sure. Whatever the cause, one result has been the disappearance of the fly strip as a feature in family kitchens.
