When I was growing up - 2

In about 1949 - don't quote me - we moved to 905 E 11th Street, a two story, red brick siding house which isn't there anymore. The place is part of the front lawn of a factory. Miller lived next door east, had a '37 Packard Clipper and a kid named Billy who was a bully and we were afraid of. Babe Daniels was on the other side, a fireman, and his kid Jerry got polio in one leg. It had to be massaged every night and it hurt and you could hear him crying. Fire engines used to run up the next street with their sirens going - like the one in the picture, 40's LaFrances - and coming back from the fire the driver would toll the big brass bell on the side of the cab.





Nick and I were running around by then and my twin sisters were born there. Mom had a hard time with all this and all of us had a really hard time with Mom. Dad went to work in the next town every morning and came back at suppertime. This was the house of most of our childhood baggage. But Nick and I had bikes and, during the summer we were able to take off without siperivison and head for the railroad where we played. Don't tell Mom. The crossing on Chartres Street was where the Monon line came into town over a bridge and then eventually right through town in the middle of 15th Street.



We liked Chartres Street, the crossing smelled like creosote, we saw trains up close but not too close, and the railroad man would come to open the big silver cabinet there and fill the batteries in it with caustic soda. The batteries powered the crossing signals. Chartres was a neighborhood kind of on the rough side but we didn't know that when we were kids. We didn't know about poor and disadvantaged. Just more dogs and no sidewalks and beat up cars.



Over on Beeler the Beck Sisters ran a dry goods store. Carrie and her sister. mom shopped there sometimes and it was a palace of wonderful fabrics, thread, plastic model kits, some aftershave, paper and pens and pencils.



The Becks used to sit in the side yard where their house was to catch a breeze in the evening.

There will be more about growing up in the next installment when I get nostalgic enough to write it! Ta!