The Best Time in Anderson or In Your Life

[Da Wham]

We used to get out of school no later than the first week of June and not go back until the first Monday after Labor Day. We either got a week or a long weekend for Thanksgiving and two weeks or so for Christmas and either a week or a long weekend for Lent/Good Friday/Easter. I don't recall any other particular days out at the moment.

[Ma and Pa]

Wham: Were you aware that the old market at the very north end of Columbus was originally the Buckeye Manufacturing Co., where John Lambert built cars and trucks in the years leading up to WW1? During the 50's, it was the home of Hank's (Holdren) Supermarket. When I was a kid, my dad worked there part time to supplement his income from Delco. We lived on Cincinnati Avenue, just across the tracks from the Golden Crust Bakery, home of the legendary donuts -- pretty well world famous around Anderson!   

[Da Wham]

Yup! Do you remember the old Hobo Castle back behind there? If we're roughly the same age we lived in basically the same neighborhood and I delivered papers there and all over central Anderson. I grew up on Noble right back behind the gas station on the corner of Ohio and Jefferson. Loved those chocolate yeast donuts!

[Gardengirl]

Da Wham,

Yes, those were old gravel pits. My parents bought nine acres with a two-acre lake and we stocked it and opened it. We charged $1.50 for 5 hours of fishing, do you believe? There was no limit on the amount of fish someone could catch. If someone caught over a 3# fish, we lost money on the ticket. But, we had to compete with the other charge lakes and they also charged the same fee. We stocked catfish, bass and sunfish. Most of the fish cost 50 cents a pound to stock, and we were stocking twice a week all summer.

On holidays, like July 4, we would have 100-150 people fishing. Once, the FBI came down to look for a criminal who liked to fish.

[Anne]

IIRC, that grocery on 8th St in PPlace was still in business up until 15 or 20 years ago. It's been a coffee shop and a dance studio and whatnot since then.

Where was the meat market on 29th? I don't recall it. I recall the one on 23rd out east by Pitt and the old one on the west side of the 1800 block of Columbus, but I can't dredge up one on 29th.

My husband says the grocery was Park N Shop.  The meat market was Fentors and it was on 23rd, it has been a long time and my memeory is not what it used to be, sorry.

[Ma and Pa]

Park & Shop on 8th St. (in Park Place) was owned by the Breeden family.

Fenters' Meat Market became Heiney's Meats, and later a little hole-in-the-wall flea market (where I made a few really good finds). Not sure if it is still operating any more; I'm not down that way too often these days.

Anne: What year did you graduate MHHS?

[Anne]

The flea market still has signs out but I don't know if it still operates. I drive by there a couple times a month on the way to the mall, but it looks pretty empty. My sister used to go to Heiney's for bulk fruit when she canned fruit and made jelly and jam.  Fenters had the best meat, bought a lot of steaks there.

I graduated in '64 from MHHS. When I started there in '58 the junior and senior high were in one building, the new junior high opened in '59 and we went to the eighth grade in the new building. Would have been nice if it had been finished before we started there .

[me]

The flea market has been gone for about a year.  We used to go there a lot and I went to some of the jams they had there. 

[Ma and Pa]

Well, I guess that's probably another building on a long list of those waiting to burn down and/or be demolished.   

[Ma and Pa]

Who remembers going to Decker's the first week of September to pick up their school supplies for the upcoming year? Can you ever forget the smell of that new box of Crayola Crayons; the infinite promise of all the really great pictures you might draw with those pristine sticks of varicolored wax? Took the sting off the loss of summer's freedom like mamma's kiss on your skinned elbow. 

[Mr442]

I remember being drug all over downtown, while my mother bought new school clothes for me.  "Hey, let's go look at the bicycles whle we are in Sears.  NO!  We are here to buy clothes."  The clothes stunk from the dyes, were stiff as a board, and were not the most stylish as the other kids would be wearing.  Yeah, that was a regular cornucopia of fun for me.

[Henry Hawk]

you know pa, there WAS something special about those smells of crayons....I also used to love to run the old xerox machines....the smell of warm paper and carbon..... ......and the smell of those big ol pink erasers.... ......

[me]

I remember being drug all over downtown, while my mother bought new school clothes for me.  "Hey, let's go look at the bicycles whle we are in Sears.  NO!  We are here to buy clothes."  The clothes stunk from the dyes, were stiff as a board, and were not the most stylish as the other kids would be wearing.  Yeah, that was a regular cornucopia of fun for me.

Good old Sears.....Did they have one of those foot x-ray machines in this Sears like they did in Muncie?  You could stick your foot in it and see the bones and it had a little pointer on it so the salesman could point stuff out. 

[Henry Hawk]

The Sears in Anderson used to sell fresh roasted nuts..............and THAT is a smell that was awesom.....my Dad would ALWAYS by some roasted cashews....

[me]

They still did when I moved over here and I really liked them too.  Those cashew's were the best.