Rye Gewalt writes: "This was forwarded to me by an old friend and I thought you might enjoy it. I grew up in Racine during that period so it resonates. I don’t know who wrote it." Author found!
Thanks to Vyto Kapocius
and his Park High School classmates for this great collection of
Racine memories. Memories
of Post-War Racine 1. Fourth of July Fireworks at Washington Park Golf Course and the swaying bridge crossing Root River 2. Parades with Racine's musical units -- the Elks Band, Boy Scouts, Kilties and Boys of 76, Johnsons Wax Band, Park Board Band 3. Sun bathing at North Beach during the day and bonfire beach parties at night 4. Reggies Roller Rink at North Beach 5. Swimming au natural at the quarry on Northwestern Avenue 6. Rialto and Venetian, Uptown, Capitol, Crown, Badger, Main Street and Douglas Ave Theaters 7. Radio station WRAC and Saturday Morning Teen Time Program 8. Ethnic programs such as Peder Bachs Danish hour and the Kurier Polski Programma on WRJN 9. Fibber McGee and Molly radio program (sponsored by S C Johnsons Wax) broadcast from Memorial Hall 10. Downtown stores -Zahns, Fantles, Racine Dry Goods,(had elevators) and Penneys, Sears, Fish Furniture, Eitels, Thrifty Mac, Gosieskis Music, Lulevich Jewelry, Mezinis Photography, Ace Pool Hall, Thrifty Sandys (Very nice Lionel Train Store ) 11. Reflecting ponds on Monument Square 12. A&W Root Beer stand and carhops on 12th Street 13. Kewpies hamburgers for 25 cents and root beer for a nickel 14. Dutch Maid ice cream shops on Wisconsin Ave and Washington Ave 15. The Spot ice cream store at 11th and Herrick, Cho-Chos ice cream push-ups, Sammy ice cream bars 16. Public Fruit Markets on Main, 6th Street and Washington Avenue 17. Telephone numbers that began with Jackson and Prospect 18. Operators who connected calls before dial phones 19. Racine Zoo concerts by the Park Board Band on Sundays in the summer 20. The UW-Racine Extension Center Student Union in Memorial Hall 21. Post Prom Dances with big bands such as Stan Kenton and Count Basie 22. Friday night dances with Jim Frosethas band at the Y at 4th and Wisconsin after high school football and basketball games 23. Formal dances at South Hills Country Club 24. North Shore
Metroliners and the Chicago NorthWestern 25. Interurban from Kenosha to Milwaukee operating along Wisconsin Ave., Main Street, State and Douglas 26. Railway Express Agency delivery trucks 27. Wind Point submarine races 28. Perch fishing off the north or south piers 29. Horlick Field football games on Saturdays between the four junior high schools-McKinley, Washington, Mitchell and Franklin 30. Ice skating in the Park bowl and warming shed at end of Valley Drive 31. Tobogganing at Washington Park, sledding down Chicago Street hill. 32. Tennis courts behind Park High 33. Park Center Swimming Pool 34. Washington Park ski jump 35. Pizza restaurants Charlies, Brushas (pencil sketches courtesy of Flint Morrison) and Natales 36. All you can eat chicken at Kilbourn Gardens 37. Scooping the loop down Main Street and turning around after the bridge at W. H. Pugh station 38. The Three-mile Reef Lighthouse and harbor fog horns 39. Blue suede shoes or bucks, charcoal trousers (pegged at 14 inches), pink shirt and blue sport coat 40. Old Horlicks Dam/ Horlicks Malted Milk plant 41. Water tower along Chicago NorthWestern tracks at 9th Street 42. Howell and Franklin Schools 43. Friday night dances for junior high students at the Washington Park recreation center, admission 10 cents 44. Two way traffic on Sixth and Seventh Streets 45. Nash, Crosleys, Packards, Studebakers, Kaiser, Frazer, Hudsons, Plymouths, Metros, Edsels and fins on practically every car in the late 50s 46. Old Abe Eagle atop a post at the J I Case Clausen Works 47. Herrick Mansion, Herrick Avenue and Herrick Hill to Uptown 48. Danish Beer Gardens and Chris, the bartender, on Four Mile Road 49. Tony Rondonis bar with musical wine bottles 50. Bricks on Washington Avenue, College Avenue 51. Smelt fishing by lantern light off Herrick Ave. bridge 52. Shadow of a nude from a tree near Villa 53. Elks Lodge on 6th Street overlooking Lake Michigan 54. Don Hutson's Chevrolet dealership at the foot of 5th Street 55. Coal boats unloading at Pughs dock 56. Coal trucks and dusty coal bins in basements 57. Horse drawn milk wagons from Progressive Dairy, also Mari Gold and Harmony dairies 58. Student nurses dorm at the Bendstead Mansion across from East Park 59. Pokornys Drug Store at 4th and Main 60. Durango's Pizza on Main Street and on High Street 61. Journal Times paperboys 62. Gen. Douglas MacArthurs speedy visit through Racine in 1952 63. Wisconsin Highway 42 re-named to Highway 32, three lanes wide (passing lane was also called suicide lane.) 64. Gasoline at 16 cents a gallon 65. The cannon at Washington and 12th to keep the Danes in West Racine and the band shell for weekly concerts in the summer 66. Horse drawn rag collectors going up and down alleys 67. Garbage incinerator behind City Hall 68. City dump on Lake Michigan at foot of 6th Street 69. Police Headquarters on 3rd Street 70. Natural gas storage tanks and coke factory on lake front 71. The Egyptian mummy in the museum located in the court house 72. Manufacturing
jobs at Hamilton Beach Osters, Andis Clippers, Rainfair, Massey
Harris (later Massey Fergusen), Young Radiator, Western Printing,
Jacobsen, Belle City Malleable, Hamilton Beach, Haban Mfg., Gordon
Machines, Hartman Mfg. Co., Dremel, Lakeside Malleable Castings
Co., Racine Boiler and Tank, Jacobson-Lawn Mowers, Green Mfg, Modine
Mfg, Walker Mfg plus many other smaller Companies that were taxed
out. You have to
be older than 60 to remember many of these events and milestones! Other reminiscences: |
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