A New Start in1942

We moved to north Saint Louis, to an area where the “Brady Family” has lived since coming to America from Ireland! There was the Fairground Park on one side of where we were living and the O’Fallon Park on the other side. My mother would take us for long walks throughout the neighborhood, pointing out all of the important places for me to remember – that when the time came – I could find the correct way to get there.

The “Water Tower” on north Grand Avenue then straight south to Natural Bridge  Avenue where the Northside Theatre was on the one corner and the Drug Store on the corner where we would stop for a caramel nut sundae. We could then follow Natural Bridge west to Van deVanter Avenue and cut through Fairground Park, or go on down to Sarah Avenue and look at the different homes we never saw before as we aimed toward home. In the other direction, we would travel on Carter Avenue to Warne Avenue, sometimes stopping in at the “PINK SISTERS” for a Church service or go through to the O’Fallon Park. Sometimes on a Saturday or Sunday we would go on then to Calvary Cemetery to see where the Brady’s and Riley’s were resting, nicely – six foot under!

There was no “TV” – no “GAS” for automobiles – so the best thing to do was to “WALK.” The air was clean without “gas” fumes and for our health’s sake we were exercising the body and viewing the sites. We were doing what families should be doing today, enjoying the great outdoors while communicating with each other. Sometimes, we would be walking, and some relative or friend of my mother’s would be also out for a walk or going to a nearby store. Naturally, we would all stop to catch up on what the current news of the day, namely the war and who had a son or father killed in “ACTION?”  Every family in those days was in the same boat, all of us poor, trading ration coupons, working our “V” garden, chickens in the garage, collecting newspapers and saving bacon grease in old coffee cans, and all for the “WAR effort!”

The walks we took along Florissant Avenue were some of the best, because there were stores for blocks and blocks. There was a “5 and 10 dime store,” dress and shoe stores, beauty shop, a meat market, a grocery and vegetables stand store, a “live” poultry store. We would go into the poultry store just to see the “live” chickens. You would look over all of the “live birds” they had and pick the one you wanted. Someone would take that selected bird to the back killing it, depending on what you were paying them to do clean and dress the bird – prepare it for you to bake or whatever way you plan to have it for dinner.

Best kindergarten school for me was Bryan Hill Elementary School which was also along Florissant Avenue, and the best teacher, my mother liked her!


Posted in Childhoodwith no comments yet.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *