A 1928 vintage bottle of champagne was going for $4.25 on New Year’s Eve 1941, but thousands of Rhode Islanders didn’t have time to celebrate. They were working around the clock at defense plants or had already enlisted in the military.

In a look back into the yellowed newspaper pages of past New Year’s Eves, a snapshot of life in Rhode Island emerges.

Some held clues of what was to come – the influenza that began killing dozens in Providence before New Year’s Eve 1918, somber reflections on New Year’s Eve 2001.

Some seemed to hold secrets, giving revelers one last celebration before a hard year began – the 1929 push for travel as the Great Depression loomed, and the 1990 New Year’s Eve before Rhode Island’s banking crisis.

The newspapers of every New Year’s Eve, going back to The Providence Journal’s first publication as a daily in 1829, show life at the brink of a new year.

The 1933 New Year’s Eve, the first after Prohibition’s end, brought giddy celebrations at hotels and restaurants in Providence. The damage from Hurricanes Carol and Edna sent insurance premiums skyrocketing on New Year’s Eve 1954.

Each year’s end also marked what we’d left behind.

Stores in downtown Providence and West Warwick that had advertised for decades eventually disappeared with the opening of the malls in Warwick. The Park Cinema in Cranston, showing Deadfall on New Year’s Eve in 1968, and Modern Theatre, “Home of Glorified Burlesque,” with “Peaches” Browning performing on New Year’s Eve 1933, have faded to black.

There is nothing that endures but change, said the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. The only constant on these nights, it seems, is making New Year’s resolutions.

On Jan. 1, 1830, the first New Year’s Day newspaper of The Providence Journal and Advertiser offered its own resolution:

“We should resolve to cease from all complaints about our different stations in life, remembering that they are wisely ordered by Heaven … .

“If any enjoy wealth, let them use it with moderation — if power, for the promotion of public welfare — if knowledge, to instruct the ignorant — and if virtue, to reform the wicked … ”

Dec. 31, 1906: One hundred years ago today the top story was a large gathering of Boston Catholics to denounce actions the French government had taken against the Roman Catholic Church, including confiscating land and imposing restrictions on Catholics in France.

For entertainment that night, Rhode Islanders could see a 15-round boxing match between Terry Martin of Philadelphia and Billy Rhodes of Kansas City at the Rhode Island Athletic Club, in Johnston. Reserved seats were $2.50 and ringside, $3. The New Scenic Temple on Mathewson Street in Providence was showing a continuous performance of “moving pictures” and “illustrated songs” with a full orchestra. Admission: 10 cents.

Under its ad for a clearance sale, the Shepard Co., the Providence department store, had this message: “In reference to the unfortunate altercation between one of our extra saleswomen and a customer, which occurred Monday evening, December 24th between eight and nine o’clock … we desire by this publication to notify the public that the customer was in the right and was unjustly humiliated by the words and manner of our saleswoman.”

Dec. 31, 1919: Sponsors of the National Daylight Saving Association hoped the measure would be adopted in the new General Assembly session. Rhode Island’s approval would link the train schedules on daylight-saving time from New Hampshire to Pittsburgh.

The General Assembly was also expected to ratify the suffrage amendment in a few days. The Rhode Island League of Women Voters and its rival, the Providence League of Women Voters, planned separate celebrations at the Narragansett Hotel and Turks Head Club. [Rhode Island ratified the 19th Amendment on Jan. 6.]

This was the first year of Prohibition, and the day’s paper had several stories from around the country of people dying from drinking wood alcohol and even disinfectant.

Victrola records were selling for 85 cents to a $1.50, for the Philadelphia Orchestra’s “Invitation to the Waltz” and “You Didn’t Want Me When You Had Me” by Henry Burr, and “Oh! What a Pal Was Mary” by Joseph C. Smith’s Orchestra.

Dec. 31, 1929: Two months after the stock market crash that started the Great Depression, The Journal had ads encouraging people to travel.

The New England Steamship Co.’s Providence Line offered trips to New York City for $3.50. The steamer offered hot and cold running water in all staterooms and had room for automobiles on board. Another cruise line advertised a 16-day trip that included Nassau, Jamaica, Panama and Cuba from $175 and up. The ship’s luxuries included “up-to-the-minute toilet fixtures” and “stewards who speak your own language.”

In the news that day was a story about three rum runners who were killed by the Coast Guard off Conanicut Point. A fourth man had accused the authorities of not giving warning before firing and doing little to save the dying men.

Dec. 31, 1938: Three months after the worst hurricane in the state’s history, Westerly faced the loss of $1.5 million in taxable property. Town leaders were considering asking the General Assembly to raise its tax rate above the legal limit of $2.50.

The Lippitt mansion in Cumberland, the former summer home of U.S. Sen. Henry F. Lippitt, burned to the ground as firefighters stood by helplessly without enough water to fight the blaze. Workers at the Lippitt Estates Country Club saved most of the furnishings and food for the New Year’s Eve party that had been planned for 300 people.

Dec. 31, 1941: Just weeks after the Pearl Harbor attack that led the United States into World War II, The Journal was dominated by war-related news.

“New Drives Endanger Manila; Red Army Storms Into Crimea” was the headline stripped across the top of the front page. Another front-page story announced that President Franklin D. Roosevelt predicted the war would cost $50 billion a year by the middle of 1943.

The Providence Journal urged readers to buy War Bonds: “It will cost money to defeat Japan. Your government calls on you to help now. Buy defense bonds or stamps today. Buy them every day if you can.”

The bonds and stamps could be purchased at banks, post offices, some stores and from “your newspaper carrier boy.”

A statewide test of blackout procedures was being delayed one month to allow factories time to prepare. The state was soon expected to complete a manual for all citizens explaining procedures for blackouts, air raid alarms and other emergencies.

Dec. 31, 1963: A month after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Adams Drug was selling a 79-cent portrait of Kennedy and a memorial record album of his speeches for 99 cents. The Journal-Bulletin was also offering “Four Days,” a historical record of the assassination for $2.

Temperatures were below zero, but the Newport Polar Bear Club was still planning the annual dip. “When it’s too cold for the fish to move, then maybe we won’t go in,” said the group’s president.

Dec. 31, 1974: Jurors in the Watergate cover-up trial were beginning their final deliberations. Ronald Reagan completed his second and final term as California governor. And, in days, Providence’s new mayor-elect, Vincent A. Cianci Jr., would take his first oath of office, starting his record-setting reign.

An advertisement for Vantage cigarettes urged smokers to resolve to switch their cigarette brands. Thirty years later, smoking would be banned in restaurants and bars across Rhode Island.

Dec. 31, 1990: It was the night of a blue moon, escaped convicts, a mayor beginning a second run that would end in disgrace, and praise for a governor who later admitted to corruption.

Some Rhode Islanders celebrating this New Year’s Eve would wake up to nothing in their bank accounts. The worst banking crisis in Rhode Island was going to come to light on New Year’s Day, when a new governor would declare Rhode Island Share and Deposit Indemnity Corporation insolvent and close 35 credit unions and 10 banks. The embezzler behind the collapse, Joe Mollicone, was already on the run.

The top headline that day were two convicts who’d sawed through bars and jumped razor-wire fences to escape the Adult Correctional Institutions. Mayor-elect Cianci was planning his administration, including Frank Corrente, who would later go to federal prison in the Operation Plunder Dome scandal.

A Journal editorial praised outgoing Gov. Edward DiPrete: “It should be emphasized that he has done a good job for Rhode Island, and we owe him our thanks.”

DiPrete later went to jail for corruption during his administration.

Dec. 31, 1999: People worried about Y2K, a glitch where computers would believe that it was suddenly the year 1900 instead of 2000. As the nation and the state fretted about possible chaos, the small town of Foster was unconcerned.

“This is Foster,” said Police Chief Donald E. Kettelle. “The people out here, if they lose the electricity — like they have in the past — they light the candles and they light the wood stove.”

He was right. The night passed peacefully. But when the following New Year’s Eve threatened a blizzard, the tone was different.

Rhode Islanders stocked up on milk and bread.