oberlin-high.org

[Peter Chase]

From time to time my sister Stephanie sends me emails in which someone has compiled a long list of Miami bygones, such as "Do you remember when US 1 was a 2 lane highway?" If you lived in Miami then, as we did, you utter a sigh now.

Miami people are very good about this sort of thing and even sometimes provide extensive photographs of places like the Tropicaire Drive In. (Well you just had to have been there.)

So it occurs to me that Oberlin might deserve a little of the same attention. Here is a starting list.

DO YOU REMEMBER...

When kids could get into the Apollo for 10 cents?
When there was a popcorn stand at the SW corner of College and Main?
When Pettiford's Bakery sold strange cylindrical loaves of bread?
When the Campus Restaurant served Tin Roof sundaes in metal dishes?
When there was a functioning dairy in Carpenter Court?
When there was a horse-drawn wagon delivering block ice (and kids would beg for slivers of ice in the summertime)?
When Presti's was a gas station?
When there were TWO weekly newspapers in town? (The News-Tribune and the Times)
When the college had a wonderful stone building (Warner Hall) for its conservatory?
When Mrs. Bentley ran the children's reading room in the Carnegie Library? And Dorothy Daub ran the adult reading room?
When there was a Comings running the A. G. Comings Bookstore? And when Rann Haylor had a most excellent bookstore down the street?
When Isaly's served banana flavor ice cream?
When Tobin's drug store had a functioning soda fountain and you could get a lemon phosphate?
When there were actual telephone operators who knew the number of most everyone in town? And there were no dial phones? (Do you remember your phone number?)
When the Van-Kel Pharmacy on South Main had an enormous collection of patent medicines, and an ever-burning gas flame for gentlemen to light their cigars?
When old man Brickley would lay aside his printer's apron and dash out his print shop to hop on the fire engine? (Volunteer fire company)
When you could lay a bet at the pool hall on East College?
When there was a large red-brick orphanage way out East College? (Where did the orphans all go?)
When all the high school kids would hang out at Pinkie's on East Lorain? (It had various names.)
When the Second Church served as the College's zoology department and you could go look at things preserved in alcohol?
When the Oberlin Inn was upstairs, and the building block it was in had such stores as Behr's Boots, Locke's Grocery (a REAL grocery store), a corner barber shop, C. D. Ryal's florist shop where my Aunt Cathy worked, ...
When you could pick wild strawberries in the fields to the west of Prospect Street Elementary School?

I think I've picked enough Wild Strawberries for now, before I break down... But I'm sure there is more to be said. Feel free!

Love to all, Peter Chase