Memories
of Aurora in the 50s and 60s
These
memories were collected from the old classmates.com bulletin board (while
it was still free). The memories are mostly from East High graduates who
have moved away from Aurora.
-Thanks to Peter Horwath of the Class of
66.
Skating at Parkview roller rink, carnivals at
Phillips Park, Teen-A-Go-Go at the bowling alley!!!
How about fireworks at Phillips Park. Ice skating
at Phillips Park. Just swinging at Phillips Park. Or, golfing at Phillips
Park. And of course, sledding at Phillips Park. Are the Plane, Cannon, still
there? Does the water fall still run?
I still have pictures of us sitting on those
cannons when we were really small!! What about the sprinklers and the "zoo"
and the train??? My brother raced in the Mid America ice skating races every
year and always managed to bring home a trophy or two. I can remember the
old pot bellied stove in the warming house. I can also remember the island
in the middle of Mastadon Lake! It seemd like they always had the entrance
chained closed but we would always find a way to get over there!
How about drive-in movies at the passion pit;
cruising on Broadway at night; hanging out in a lunch booth at Kresges';
Sock-Hops at the YWCA; HI-Y dances at the YMCA; piling in an instant photo
booth; The Stallion restaurant; the Red-and Black Spot snack shop across
from Waldo; splashing our feet in the goldfish pond in the sunken gardens
at Phillips' Park.
Did you ever stop on the way home from school
at Johnny's -Neitsle's(sp.) I haven't a clue how to spell it. It was on State
and North Ave. to buy a frozen Snickers or a bag of chips and
pop?
How about State Street Bakery or Federal Bakery
or Christmas shopping Downtown. Music and Salvation Army Booth or Hi Fi Record
store with all the 45's.
State Street Bakery...deeelicious cream puffs.
How about the little shop on the side of Hensley's dime store that sold french
fried popcorn?...Yum! (It was at Union and Main)
I lived on Beach Street. We had the Beach Street
(Copley) Playground at the end of the street. Summer Indian Pow-Wow's; running
through the sprinkler; arts and crafts; movie night when we took our popcorn
and blanket and they showed a movie outside.
How about movies at the Isle, Tivoli, and Paramount
Theaters? Buying popcorn at the Corncrib and sneaking it into the theater.
Cartoon festivals every week in the summer at the Paramount when I was in
grade school...hours of cartoons for 25 cents plus prize drawings, coupons
for free Dairy Queen treats or Jet Burgers. Remember those delicious Jet
Burgers? (horsemeat, it turned out)
Those cartoons at Paramount, used to stand in
line that went all the way back to the corn crib. I would look thru the cement
bridge railing and see turtles in the Fox. I won a camera once there. Had
the winning # on my theater ticket. They also gave away riding at Hauntoons
Stables. That's what I really wanted but I was only nine. Later years went
riding often with group of friends and even had hayrides. I remember one
year Mayor Paul Egan gave trips to Riverview for canvasing the town and raising
money to spray for mosquitoes. Remember how they sprayed that fog? We all
used to run thru it and hide. Oh that Corn Crib...they even had homemade
ice-cream. I liked the cinnamon popcorn balls and cheese
popcorn.
How about Pike's Dairy - best ice cream cones
in the world - peppermint was my favorite - and the yellow delivery trucks
when they still delivered milk. Or Hauser's grocery store on the corner of
2nd and Union with the "slow" brother who made deliveries in the woody station
wagon?
I loved Pike's ice cream. Now, this is going
back to before we moved to Benton, Pike's delivered milk to our house on
Spencer off New York with a horse. We kept sugar cubes in milk box to feed
her. Her name was Queenie. I remember when they switched to
trucks.
How about Peter Wheat Bread delivery
man.
Remember how the cement water fountains at Phillips
Park always ran. Are they still there?
I remember Pikes Dairy, too. My favorite ice
cream flavor was raspberry ripple. Never have found any to compare to it.
My cousin lived on the corner of Benton and ? (the street Pikes was on).
Sorry..had a senior moment there. We used to go down there when we were little
and feed the horses sugar cubes, carrots and apples. My cousin still had
a hitching post at the curb by her house.
How about the man who rode around the neighborhood
in the summer time on the modified tricycle with the knife sharpening equipment
on the front and my mother would send us out with the kitchen knives and
the money (don't remember how much). I do remember hitching posts here and
there. Also, Second Ave. from Union St. to hmmm...Jackson, I think was still
paved with brick until I was in high school, I think. I lived on Second Ave.
between Union and Spencer.
Do you remember the Book Shop that sold penny
candy as well? It was near Assell's photo shop and down the street from the
library. I used to walk there between classes at the Y. The Firestix and
Slopokes were my favorites.
Shopping at Scencenbaugh's Department Store was
a treat. It was the classiest store in town to my recollection. It was on
Broadway across from Kresge's. Kresge's had an iron lung at the front of
the store as well as vending machines that sold pictures of the movie
stars.
Do you remember the ice cream sandwiches in
Woolworths made with Neopolitan ice cream? Pike's best flavor had to be their
fresh peach. What a treat on a hot summer night! Dairy Queen was a more
economical destination. Cones were 5 and 10 cents. For 15 cents, you could
get a giant cone. Oberweis Dairy had circus sundaes for kids with animal
crackers encircling the top of a chocolate or strawberry sundae. Their hot
fudge with pecans was to die for.
How about hamburgers? Remember McDonald's opening
up on Lake Street and buying a sack of burgers for a buck?
...OR Jets??
...OR Prince Castle?
I did most of my Sencenbaugh's shopping in their
basement - where the deals were. Also, there was a bakery on "Fox" Street
(what is it now?) east of Broadway just under the RR tracks where we would
buy a cream puff to eat on the walk home. I also remember going downtown
to see JFK make a campaign speech in 1960!
Does anyone remember the Aurora Museum, and the
Mastadon that was supposedly found in Mastadon Lake?
When I was a little girl and my best friend lived
2 doors down from me on Beach Street, there was an old shoe shop on the corner.
The old guy that owned it was John...John's Shoe Shop. We used to go in there
and pester him. He would give us scraps of leather and stuff. Later he moved
up-town on Union close to Main. Across from his shop on Beach Street there
was the Happy Corner Tavern. At the corner of Beach and Claim there was a
used comic book and candy store. You could take your comic books in and trade
them for ones you hadn't read. We also had The Fruit Juice House store on
Beach. Penny candies by the bag full! Around the block from us was a little
store where we used to takes the empty pop bottles from behind the store
and take them in and get the deposit on them...don't know if the old lady
who owned the store ever caught on.
Do you remember the shoe repair in the back of
Kresges? Used to have cleats put on my loafers while waiting, would shop
or sit at counter and have fries and a cherry-coke.
There was a candy store off "Fox St" from Waldo
on Anderson I think. There was a hedge in front and if you checked you might
find an empty pop bottle there.
Perhaps you remember in the Hensley's area: The
Delicateson, Kearn's(that shop had the popcorn), Johnson's Drugstore on the
corner (w/a soda fountain inside and served phosphates.) and the National
food store on New York next to Hensleys and accross the street - the Hardware
store and Wierricks I think that sold T.V.s and had a ceramic RC Victor dog
in window w/tilted ear and puppy. And on the corner of Union and New York
was a Sweet Shop. Oh..remember when New York was two way thru town? Sears
was downtown?
The Fruit Juice House. Now your talking real
pinapple shakes! Had a crush on the girl that worked there. I must have gained
10 lbs just trying to get up the sand to ask her out.....never
did.
I remember the drug store with the fountain next
to Hensley's very well, and all the stores that used to be there. Remember,
on the corner across from Hensley's, the furrier - and next to Hensley's
New York St. entrance, the S&H Greenstamps catalog store? We used to
call that shopping area Uptown. I remember Mr. Hensley used to give the kids
permission to soap his store windows on Halloween, I suppose in the hopes
that they wouldn't do any real damage. Speaking of Halloween, remember when
the best treats were the homemade ones and there was no danger involved -
we could actually eat them?
I remember all the stores Up-town. I remember
when all the big department stores were downtown and Christmas shopping was
really fun...going in and out of the stores in the snow. Remember the big
Christmas Parade every year back then?
Remember twist dresses; penny loafers; petty-pants;
bubble hair-does; the little bows we wore in our hair; the big rollers with
the plastic picks we set our hair in.
Remember chocolate malts and dill pickles in
the lunch room; porcupine meatballs in the cafeteria (the only times I bought
my lunch was when they served them...they were delicious); the fruit
machine.
Remember Mr. Jennings; Miss Ahrens (later Mrs.
Viola) and the spike heels and hickies on her neck; Miss Kennedy; Miss Dollins
(Dolly); Mr. Spence; Mr. Hess (Conway Twitty); and so many
others.
How about the old Sears store on Broadway and
Fox. After Sears moved out it was a white elephant for many years. In 1964
it was the Republican headquarters. I went to see Nixon give a speech there.
He was campaigning for Goldwater.
Then there were the Friday night dances at the
Tomahawk Club next to the old city hall.
I remember Pike's horse Queenie as she used to
stop at my grandmothers house on 5th street and her driver lived up the street
(7th Ave I think). I remember the big red house on the corner across from
my grandparents. OLGC and the bell from the old church and the bells from
the new church. I also remember the trolley bus the went in front of Grandpa
Ruten's house out to Phillips park and turned around to return back to down
town. It cost a nickel each way! The price of a small root beer was a nickel
and a large was a dime. Both had frozen mugs ! My favorite popcorn was the
cheddar cheeze. I also remember Bill's pool hall above the old drug store
and his packard automobile. Dave Riem and I used to go up there to play.
Then we would jump parking meters on the way down to the Broadway for coffee.
After the tornado that went down 5th street they started using busses from
downtown to Philips Park. But you had to get off at the turn around and walk
the rest of the way to the hot house and put on your skates. In the summer
you had to walk the other way past the Naval reserve office to the new swimming
pool. Lebanon Park had baseball games, arts and crafts, a wading pool, and
a new swimming pool that closed when the other one opened. We also used to
get on the EJ&E train and ride out to the dump as kids. My dad got real
angry when he found out we hopped a freight train! Nobody would ever believe
these things were just about 40 years ago. We had a milk door at Grandma's
on 5th street. That house had walls that were a foot thick !
I remember riding the bus to the swimming pool
at Philips Park. There was an ice-cream place there at the stop. They built
a tall apartment tower there now. And the swimming pool got bigger too! Ha
ha..For those who do not know the Aurora Aquatic Center is there now. hmmm..
not sure if the Naval Reserve building is still there. We used to use the
large room in it to practice color guard drills when I was in the Aurora
Vaqueros in 1961-63. REMEMBER THE FIREPLACES AT PHILLIPS PARK? ARE THEY STILL
THERE? I used to go into the tennis courts to play tennis after dark because
they had lights.
I REMEMBER THE FIRST YEAR THEY PLANTED ALL THE
BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS ON SMITH BLVD TO THE PARK. IT WAS JUST AWESOME... MAYOR
HUNTER LIVED ON THAT STRETCH OF ROAD....
My brothers and I walked to a junk yard near
Jackson Street,I think, and found wagon wheels and things to make go karts.
Guess we got ideas from Little Rascals. Ah such fun it was being a
kid.
I remember parking and making out on the golf
course at Phillip's Park and getting the sprinklers turned on us. Also parking
on Hurd's Island and being chased off by the cops.
Dad and I used to go to Smith Blvd. before they
made the water falls and other improvements as they used to race the soap
box derby cars down the hill. It was the steepest hill on the east side with
a good road. When they built the fountain it ended the soap box derby
races.
The brick fireplaces were great for cooking hot
dogs and burgers back then.
The lake was great skating fun before they built
the road. I got kicked out of there for parking too!
About that time I figured out why everyone went
to the drive-in movie theaters ! Did anyone ever watch all those beach party
movies ? I was always too busy experimenting and learning. Those were very
special days !
I marched in the Aurora Vaqueros Drum Corps in
59 when they dedicated that waterfall at the park entrance. We played at
the ceremony. On hot summer days some of us would take off our shoes and
wade in it.
Some of the guys used to put some high suds soap
in it and watch it foam up all the way down the hill! Tide, Joy, Amway liquid,
or something else. Great fun and it kept the water a little cleaner. The
maintenance guys cussed us for doing this. Most people never knew who was
doing all these pranks!
On cabbiage night for two years we dismantled
the Daleiden Mortuary horse drawn hearse and put it back together on the
roof. That used to make the owner pretty angry. Before he called for the
crane service to pick it from the roof we always placed it back in the street.
All back together too! Those were the days of hand speed wrenches and it
usually took two guys about an hour to disassemble it. Four guys to get it
back together. We would steal it, take it to a nearby garage for taking it
apart. A flat bed truck to carry the parts. and a few ropes to raise the
parts to the roof. Then came the tricky part. One piece at a time! When done,
we would call the police, they would call the Beacon News and it would show
up in the front page. Not too bad for high school kids. The third year was
stopped by my Dad before it happened. He threatened each of the guys with
calling their parents after overhearing our planning session. That was great
fun but not as good as cow tipping ! Later I found out the cops already knew
who was doing it and as long as no harm was done they left us alone. Fun
times!
The gas company that was city owned used to have
to methane generation tanks on the island that Mooseheart's band did their
practice. I'm not sure about the name of the place. The big gas tanks supplied
the entire town with "natural" gas.
Mayor Eagan - wow! Wasn't he the one who went
around with the lantern "looking for an honest man"? I remember the soap
suds in the fountain. Cow tipping, dismantling, outhouses on the 50 yard
line?
Was the little old lady who ran the store on
the corner of Claim Street and Beach, named Aggie???
You got it! And Hal's filling station was across
the street. He used to fix my bike tires when I got flats...for nothing!
Those were the days...
Remember the Thor Pneumatic Tool Company. Mastodon
Lake: My father worked on building that Lake. I can remember my mother and
I sitting up on the hill, watching the men, and waiting for my Dad's lunch
period, and he would join us, and we would have lunch that Mom carried out
to the Park. Ah yes, the good old days..
Did they really find dinosaur bones when they
dug that lake?
Not a dinosaur, but a Mastodon, which was a big
animal that looked like a hairy elephant. I think it is a completely true
story. Years ago, they put out a book about Aurora, that sort of traced the
history of the town. In there is a picture of the men on WPA that dug the
Lake, and looking closely, I think I can see my dad in the picture. One of
those cases of I think it was him, but I can't be sure. My dad passed away
in July 1964, so there is now way of asking him.
I remember my dad taking me fishing at Mastadon
Lake when I was a little girl. That was before they built the roads through
it. I remember fishing in the Fox River, too...before it became so
polluted.
we as a family would do the same thing. Fish
at Phillips Park and picnic too on the island. And fish the Fox River by
North Ave bridge or North Aurora dam or on 25 on the way to Oswego and other
places too that I can't think of right now. Don't think I ever caught one.
My dad would though. Catfish and others. I would sit for hours watching that
bobber and hardly get a bite. My dad would make, I think they were, dough
balls?
Hurd's Island is the one that is just south of
the North Avenue bridge, which, believe or not, is south of
downtown
You got it!! Spent some embarrassing moments
there!!!
I remember parking there. The cops would drive
through once with there lights off. They would drive through the island and
leave. About ten minutes later, they would come back and have there lights
on and shine their spotlight on your car. They would once again drive through
and leave. When they came back the third time, you had better have your clothes
arranged and be out of there or on your way out....or else
Some things are best kept to myself ! The "Sunken
Gardens" and ice skating, the island, and getting caught by the cops without
much on one night ! I remember the drive in theater and "fogging" the windows
was probably the safest place. I also remember going down Smith Blvd. with
my girl friend and almost losing control of the car ! Playing tennis with
her, ONCE. Ouch, that still hurts! We had lots of plans but several things
got in the way. Going off to the service was the second hardest part. Getting
the Dear John was much worse. I remember coming home on leave the first time
and running into my good friend Ken Welter (another Lafayette Street kid).
We used to double date while in high school. I remember the four of us going
up to Lake Geneva one day. The water was a little cold but we had a great
time swimming and a few other things. Ken was home on leave from the Army
at the same time I was from the USAF and we visited for a few hours. He was
going to Germany the next day and I was going back to Texas for more special
training. We had some laughs, took some pictures, each had one of my Dad's
beers, and talked about what changed. We both agreed the best part of the
military training is you get to do lots of pushups, eat well, and run everyday.
I went from a skinny 130 lbs. to hard body at 180 lbs in just over 14 weeks.
Neither of us knew exactly what would happen to our lives during the next
few years but we were willing to try almost anything. After all, we just
got brainwashed into the belief we could walk through a mountain. I believe
I actually tried it once! A few years later Ken returned to Aurora and bought
a body shop which has done very well for him. Ken lived across the street
from my parent's house on Grand Avenue (on the West side). Mom passed away
from Cancer. A few years later Dad remarried and they sold that house. Dad
is very lucky as he married a wonderful lady named Emily and they still live
in Aurora. I guess everyone eventually moved away from the original Lafayette
Street neighborhood. Ken still owns a body shop in Aurora and I still stop
in every time I return home just to say hello. We usually have a coke and
visit for an hour before I leave for Texas. I miss my old friends from high
school and I am looking forward to seeing them September 22nd and 23rd at
our 35th reunion at the North Island Center Ballroom (Hollywood Casino).
Maybe I will even get to see some people from the other classes near 1965.
It would be an added adventure if that could happen. Leaving Aurora and my
childhood friends was difficult but it gave me the foundation for my adulthood
life. The mid-west, and Aurora were part of the greatest experiences available
and I was lucky to have been raised in that interesting time. The movies
and the music that were made from that era are still going strong today (American
Grafitti, Grease, etc.). We should all be humbled by the experiences and
fun from those times and thank God we are still here to talk about them and
enjoy our futures. Several of our peers didn't get that
opportunity.
I still live here, and Hurd's Island IS on North
Ave between Broadway and River Street, almost across from Builders Supply
store.... and for those that are older than us in the 40's that is where
the East West football game was played, on Thanksgiving day!
I have read most of the replies to the original
ones about the Skating rink, and have heard about Hurd's Island, The Park,
Mastadon Lake, but no one has commented about the Stage that was built on
the side of the hill where they used to perform Puppet shows, and Entertain
on it.... the bleachers were sitting on the ground on the side of the hill!
Or of the parties we used to have in the "Birdhouse" in the park across from
the "Hot" house for ice skating.
But who can forget the Bill Brooker radio show
that was on WMRO telecast from Cook's Hi-FI on Fox St.
We used to get Tony Weed's pizza every Saturday
night, and then sit down and watch Wrestling! That seems like forever ago
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