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
Late 1940s to Mid 1950s
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
(North Shore Electroliners plus North Western passenger trains, per Dennis Mayer)
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.
73. Saturday night Stock Car racing at Horlick Field (per Dennis Mayer)
You have to be older than 60 to remember many of these events and milestones!
More Memories — by Jon Aceto, December 2010
4. Reggie’s Kiddie Land as well, with mini roller coaster after the roller rink “burned down”
5. Skating on Root River above Horlick’s Dam where there was also another Kiddie Land on Rapids Drive.
6. Don’t forget the Granada off Douglas Ave on Charles or the Rex which became a bowling alley on Main. The Venetian and Uptown had Live Wurlitzer Organs played during intermission for the Saturday Kiddie shows –$0.25 for 3-4 serials (Lash LaRue, Flash Gordon, King of the Rocket men), lots of cartoons, and a cowboy movie—what a deal. A kid with 50 cents could take the bus, see the show, buy popcorn (Maybe jujubes or Blackjack gum?) and ride back home.
7. I recall WRAC’s Saturday program being called “The Melody Nuthouse” I appeared on it one day in about 1953. The crazy MC’s ‘sold’ me the program.
10. Zahn’s had elevator operators, “Going up!”
16. Farmer’s market on West & Marquette Saturdays in the summer.
18, “Number playeeze.”
19. Skating on the Zoo pond in winter.
22. I think his name was Froseth.
24. Metroliners gave you a transfer for Chicago and Milwaukee public transportation. I used to go to Milwaukee to see the Braves. The State Street Trolley, yeah, trolley, took us to County Stadium.
There was also a tiled tunnel connecting the N-bound & S-bound 400 stations (cool in summer) at the Northwestern station.
Locomotives on the Northwestern were soot and steam before diesels.
The NW crossing gates were pumped by hand by guys in elevated towers along the tracks 24/7.
28. Beside fishing off the piers, sometimes there was a jump off the pier into the harbor for an impromptu swim when they weren’t biting. (Add fishing for ‘crabs’ in Island park beforehand for bait for fishing: 10 cents of liver, some string and some patience). If you had a boat, you could fish off the Reef Lighthouse when it was still manned by the Coast Guard.
30. Skating at Albert Park, Marquette Park and others…with warming houses and guys who’d sharpen your skates.
35. A note on Brusha’s: it had been my Grandfather’s (Sam) bar/restaurant/store; my parents ran the grocery store in the 1940’s there; he sold to the Brusha’s (we lived right next door).
46. Inside the building behind Old Abe was the Case Agricultural Museum..free..mostly Case implements produced by Jerome Increase’s company.
51. Smelt fishing off the jettees a Shoop park, too, in spring.
59. Homer Dary’s Pharmacy with Soda Counter (Red Cross Pharmacy on State Street and Pokorney’s had one, too) where you could get a copper mug of rootbeer for $0.10..or even better a “Suicide”…sugar rush, anyone? Woolworth’s also had a lunch counter (sandwiches = 50¢; malts = 25¢; banana split = 39¢; coke was a dime).
71. Mrs. Trumbull was the curator. She knew the provenence of every best deposits item in the NW corner room on the 1st floor, just past the switchboard operator. Free, too.
Memorial Drive used to be called casino games Forrest Street.
Other reminiscences:
Belle City Foundry…lots of work and pollution just south of Horlick Field. Used to watch the Belle City Belles play there (League of Their Own).
Hartman Trunk on Hamilton W of RR tracks made luggage—now a prison.
The Library moved from its old classic Carnegie building on Main and 7th to the lakefront location. You could go out on the terrace for a cig break
Lincoln Elementatry K-6 school wasn’t always a condo online slots.
The “Y” moved from 4th & Wisconsin to the lakefront in the ’60’s. Co-Rec sponsored swimming, games, dances when I was in high school.
Batten Field was Horlick Airport.
The Theater Guild Playhouse in the abandoned church on High Street & Erie.
“Boy Scout Woods” off W High St. that extended from the Country Club to Lincoln Park. Hiking and day camping. Yeah, swimmin’ in the River, too.
The Guild Galleries in Porters was understaffed. My classmates & I used to eat our lunches there in luxury.
Unreal, I remember it all, you forgot piggly wiggly
what was the name of the Danish ? store on Washington ave–had a tea room?
The Loom
That very nice place was The Loom of Denmark!!! jewelry counter, wonderful food in their dining area…. its sad
so many wonderful places now are “history.”
Loom of Demark?
Loom of Denmark
Loom of Denmark
The Loom of Denmark
The Loom of Denmark
The tea room was the Loom of Denmark
The Danish store on Washington Ave was the Loom of Denmark. It’s now the Family Dollar store.
I have been trying to think of this name for years. We saved and bought a coffee table and other things. They also had great candles!
Before it was The Loom of Denmark it was a National Tea Grocery Store. I remember shopping there with my parents.
My mother, my sisters, and my brother worked there for years…
My grandma is trying to remember a restaurant on hwy 20 & I-94 from the 60’s or 70’s. Located where Burger King is right now. Said Kilbourn Gardens was across the street. Anyone remember?
I do remember a place called Highlands Restaurant
dk if she is remembering BeBes restaurant? It was one of the few restaurants for families….had wonderful hot beef sandwiches and pies!
IT WAS PETER’S COFFEE SHOP
Kelli,
I seem to remember a restaurant there named El-Wal’s. We lived just south of that intersection in Yorkville township.
we remember many of them, I worked for Case, Gordans, wife worked Johnsons wax and Massy. Grew up like many kids working in the Hansche or Piper onion, cabbage and potatoe fields.
Does anyone remember the big elephant that was brought to the zoo so patrons could put money in so the zoo could raise funds. Does anyone have a photo of this elephant early 1960’s.
they also brought in a fake elephant kids could climb on. In the early 70’s my stupid cousin had a lion cub in their basement on Spring where Ohio St. They really had all kinds of animals. The lion was given to the zoo in exchange for them not prosecuting my Aunt and Uncle after lion mauled a little girl next door. She was fine but they had to pay a lot of money.
Your Uncle died under some very suspicious circumstances.One of my dogs got in a fight with one of the 2 lions Rob shot it in Ladysmith
Where he moved. Boricon was the male lion that was donated to our zoo,
when I workad there, as the first female zookeeper. Rob was a compassioate man not a stupid one at all. God Bless him, he sacrificed a Magnificent lion, for a Great Dane!
I remember most all of it it just took me back to when I was a kid will be 74 in 2015 I remember going to the main street to see the serials and going to the crown it only cost 14 cents
We had dance reviews at the Mainstreet theater. If you missed a movie downtown you could alway see it later at either the Capital, Uptown or Granada. Lastly the Crown…..
I remember watching the Venetian Nights from the railing of Memorial hall, am I right that Lake Michigan came right up to there? The decorated boats were spectacular to this young girl, might have been 1948 ?
I loved the Main St theater, we’d take the bus to downtown and watch the live plays they put on for the kids. The good old days,,,, I wonder what good things todays teens will have to look back on?
Does anybody remember the Dept store that was next to Eitel’s before Walgreen’s moved in? Must have been early 50’s.
Was the Danish Beer Gardens an 18 year old beer place, and where on the four mile road was it?
The Beer Gardens was licensed for 21 yr. olds, but our 18 and up I.D.’s weren’t checked by Chris and his bar tenders.
What was the name of the record store on Main Street in the same block and just north of the Venetian and Rialto theaters. Normal Norm was one of the sales clerks there.
Thom Petersen: SOULVILLE! … and there was nothing Normal about Norman ……… He still is a great friend! … Norman Wilde.
Pete Sisak: Record Mart was downtown on Main, Gil Niesen was one of the speakers at the recent Golden Rondelle forum, as it was his parents store
Thom Petersen: Norman Wilde ……… YOU ARE BEING PAGED?
Any good info or pics of Holm Sisters? Dressmakers, dry goods?
What was the name of the bar (in the late 70’s/early 80’s) that’s now Rogan’s Shoes by the Dam on Rapid’s Dr.?
Does anyone know the name of the drive in out on 3or4? mile road and douglas ave in the 60’s-70’s?they served a ground beef mixture that looked like a corndog, would love to find a recipe. They served root beer in glasses
It was 4-Mile Drive in
The first Loom of Denmark was originally a small brick store, up in the neighborhood of McKinley hill, north of Kinzie Ave. I remember a Mrs.Hermansen owned it. Originally she carried textiles, jewelry and some housewares. I went to school with her daughter in the early 1960’s. My mother and Mrs. Hermansen spoke Danish when we visited, so that is what I remember. It was a tiny little shop—which later was expanded and moved to the Washington St., location. There were always cookies and fresh coffee for the patrons. I have many lovely jewelry pieces and silver charms from the original store.