Walnut Street

Some memories from one of our homes in Marysville.

One year we lived for a few months at 326 S Walnut St. It was the downstairs of a large house. We had a living room, bedroom, dining room, kitchen and large bathroom. An alcove off the living room was our bedroom.

I remember an old building behind the house. We had a box that had old clothes in it and we played dress-up out in that shed.

Our neighbors to the south were the Jacksons. Sharon was about our age and we played together. Sharon told me her dad used to have the guys from Scotts over for poker parties. They would have a big bucket of fish for them. One of the things she remembers is my mom's Chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting.

While we lived here, the Jacksons bought a TV set. This was the first set we saw. It was a huge piece of furniture with a tiny screen. I don't remember what was on at the time. Recently Sharons brother, Chuck, told me he remembers that my dad had worked on their TV at one time. I had not known about it or more likely had forgotten it.

Sharon remembers her dad helping us when we moved away. Daddy always asked the guys he worked with to help with the heavy furniture. Mom would make a large pot of chili and daddy would have lots of beer, of course. It seemed more like a party to me. I don't remember him helping them, but I'm sure that he did. We wouldn't have been allowed to go probably.

Not long after that we got our own TV set. Our favorite shows were cowboys and indians. My dad became fond of the boxing that was on Friday nights. We watched a lot of Midwestern Hayride, as this was our kind of music. There was also Howdy Doody, Lights Out and all those comedians.

One Halloween my mom let us have a costume party. Lois, Sharon and I were allowed to invite a few friends from school. We had a good group and had a lot of fun. The three of us dressed like witches. .

Near the house on Walnut St, just at the end of the alley there was a Red and White store that was on Eighth Street. They carried groceries, etc. My parents carried an account with them. Whenever we went to get something for my mother, she would let us get some candy or a pop and charge it. They had lots of good stuff. I loved the chewing gum that had 3 pieces to a pack. They were various colors and were a penny.

Between Plum and Oak Streets on Eighth St, just north of the railroad was the Big Four playground. This was where the neighborhood kids played. When I was young, it had a cute little water feature that had a little house in it.

The playground had the usual things, swings, slides and monkey bars. Part of it was large enough to play ball. In later years there was a trampoline pit at one end. I remember one time Lois and I were playing around on the monkey bars and she lost her grip and fell on her back. She must have gotten the breath knocked out of her, because I remember being scared to death and thinking she had died! I know I wasn't very old then.

At the end of the playground on Oak street was the fertilizer plant of O M Scott and Son. This is where my dad worked. I remember visiting him there a few times. Once he showed us how they packed the fertilizer in bags and sewed them shut. We were close to some of the men who worked there and their families. There was Olen Green, Cloyce Friend, Martin Strischek, Bob Friend and Robert Jackson, to name a few.

 

My dad loved to work with electronics and one year he took a course to learn how to repair radios, etc. He always had a shop where he could mess around with this "hobby". At 310 S Main St, the shop was in the upstairs hall at first. Then it was in the garage on the alley. I used to love to watch him test tubes. He had a machine in a box and the tubes were put into receptacles depending on the size and shape of the tube. Then he would press a switch and read the results on a dial. He had to try several switches with each tube. I thought this was neat! I guess I was easily entertained back then.

We had a neat neighborhood. Three of our teachers lived near us when we were young. Miss Josephine Cody lived on Main Street just north of Seventh St and Mr and Mrs Strickler lived behind us in a house at the corner of Seventh and Plum.

I can remember looking for our Christmas tree at a lot that was always at the corner across the street from the Rothleys. I thought it was always so pretty with the lights bright every night and the trees smelled so good. Our tree was nearly always 5 or 6 feet tall. We had some really pretty ornaments and for awhile we had some of those ones that look like candles and had water inside that got hot and bubbled. Sometimes we made paper chains in red and green.

Reviews

[toots]

Yes....I am there with you.

[Robert]

More good memories. Thanks for sharing them!

[Reeses]

I can taste that peanut butter frosting on the chocolate cake (chocolate is my fav). and ive never watched cowboys and indians but it sounds great. very descriptive story. ~Reeses~