Days of Yore

PRSL passenger station

as recounted by Bill Day

Some of them are not so ancient so they may be remembered by the not so old as well as the not so young.

1. The brick tunnel under the railroad tracks up at the station so that passengers could get from one side of the tracks to the other.  All the kids got a kick out of using it.
2. The delicious smell of roasting peanuts coming out of Mr. Lytell’s delicatessen store that stood near the present Woolworth’s store.
3. The baseball team from the Point that played the Presby A.A. at least twice every summer.  It was known as the Phalanx.
4. The gas war between the gasoline companies when a gallon of gasoline was eleven cents.
5. The different names that the old movie house used to be known by: The Bright Spot, The Colonial, and The Little Theatre.
6. The row of wooden steps for the deadend of Lee avenue to the shore of Evans Lake that made access down the steep hill easy.
7. When the fire whistle blew to announce a practice blackout during World War II, every police and fire warden would get his arm band, hat, whistle, and blacked-out flashlight and hurry to his assigned post.  There were more official cars, dashing around than there was traffic when things were normal.
8. Old John Sterling;s oyster place in  the covered alley next to Farrow’s Drug Store.  A diem got you two delicious fresh oysters on the half shell.  Time sure has brought changes.
9. There was a morning mail delivery and an afternoon mail delivery.
10. The swagger sticks that the World War I soldiers carried that kept their hands out of their pockets.
11. When at assembly each morning, Miss Woolston, the high school principal, would blink her eyes, which was the signal for the student body to rise for the flag salute.
12. Turnley’s greenhouses on the lane off Euclid avenue that is now Turnley avenue.
13. The fragile gas mantles that easily burned through and then had to be replaced
14. How Pop Clever, the high school math and chemistry teacher, would stick his cigar but in his vest pocket as he entered the old Brown building to conduct classes.
15. How the athletic field at the rear of the Presbyterian Church was name Clever Field in Pop’s honor.
16. The Sunday evening religious services conducted on the lawn of the Friends Meeting House every week during the summer.  A different denomination was in charge each week.