Howard Herron Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

Howard Herron 5 4
A: Yes, mostly, they used to have an interurban track, that used to go
around town here. A car went every hour and they used to ship from
Hartman's Bakery in Springfield. They used to ship baskets full, great
big wicker baskets full of bread for the grocery stores here. They had a
bakery shop started later on then but my mother before she got sick, she
was one of the best bakers. Whenever there was something to do with the
church, well, she'd always furnish the bread and her bread was all spoken
for before we got there. They used to make chili sauce and pickled and
canned everything. Everything was canned, they didn't have any canned
goods like they have now.
Q: When your wife and your mother-in-law ran the hotel, did they had to
cook three meals a day and work a11 day ling at it?
A: Yes, we had a telephone. A big sleet storm come through here and
broke all the wires down and the telephone company, telegraph along the
railroad. They stayed there and they'd travel clear from Girard in order
to get to stay here at the hotel and they'd cook everything and they
served Sunday dinner.
Q: About how many people did they cook for?
A: Oh, about twelve on this crew that come through fixing the telephone
wires. They were here about three or four weeks and they cooked for them
all the time.
Q: About how many rooms are in that hotel?
A: I think there's twelve rooms upstairs.
Q: Do you remember the terrible fire back in 1910 that burnt that side
of the square down?
A: I remember to the extent that we saw it on the way to school. We
seen it smoking and we hurried out. I remember all the stores that used
to be there and everything. Oh, Henry Riehle, he had a butcher shop
there where ~i's Beauty Parlor is now and then the hotel was where the
hotel is now. It was a frame building. It burnt to the ground. And
then Shoot Armstrong had a bowling alley there and John M = K ~ had ~ a
grocery store along the east side there of the square and there was
Schlitz Saloon there, sold Schlitz beer. I don't remember who operated
that now but that's about the extent ot it.
Q: Does anybody know how that fire started?
A: No. I never did hear. I wouldn't know.
Q: What were the fire departments like in those days?
A: Oh, I can't hardly tell you. They had two wheels, it was on kind of
a wagon like and there was a big bar across here. There was a big brass
pump in here and there was one on each side. About four men would get on
this side and four on that side, then it would go up and down.