Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

the main attraction filling the big wooden drawer.
Mr. and Mrs. Harper Smythe owned the Easterly
Hotel on the south side of Main Street along Booth
Street. On Saturday nights they sat out on the front
porch of their hotel to watch the folks going by. I
remember both of them talking to folks who stopped by
to chat.
Folks who needed watch repair will remember Nick
Jura who operated a jewelry store on the south side of
Main Street. He talked broken English. and as a kid I
thought he might be related to some distant German
from the old country who taught him the business. He
was a very nice man.
The Lazio Grocery Store was on West Main Street
where fresh fruit seemed to appear daily. Joe Lazio was
an Anamosa High School football player who started off
the winning streak, and long after leaving high school
he still loved the game. Both Lazio boys were fond of
sports and used to come to every game played.
George Zeuck operated Zeuck‘s Grocery on the north
side of Main Street. l will always remember one of his
employees. Mrs. Owen. She was from Wales and she
had a brogue as rich as Jack Neville's. She was a lovely
lady and an asset to the store. Those were the days
when the clerk of the store would greet each customer
as he walked in and ask. "Can I help you?" She did a
wonderful job of making people feel welcome.
Dr. Rawson had an upstairs office over Main Street.
So did dentists. Dr. Trevarthen and Wilkinson. and a
few others. No one worded about older people having to
climb the steep stairs. Several law offices were also
upstairs. as was the Bell Telephone office.
If you wanted to discuss real estate, you could flnd
‘Stub’ Conmey leaning against a light pole in front of
Watkins’ Department Store. He made more contacts
down there on the street than he did in his upstairs
office.
Roy Skeels had a gas station and grocery store
combined in the west end of town. He sold Paraland
Pennfield gas and oil, and Clover Leaf brand groceries.
In 1939, at Christmas. Roy gave his customers milk
stools that he had made by hand.
One of the specialties of the soda fountain of
McMickle's Drug Store was a soft drink called the
“green river." This store had a row of circular-motion
fans attached to the ceiling and it always seemed so
nice and cool inside the store. You could also get thick
malts and banana splits for a very special treat there.
Frank Stoughton ran Stoughton's Drug Store next to
the post office on the corner of Main and Booth Streets.
Frank used to sell a double-dip ice cream cone with a
cherry on the top for 5 cents. His cones seemed bigger
than the size of cones today, and he pushed one dip
right down into the inside of the cone and then
piled two more huge dips on the top along with a
cherry.
Mr. Berger ran the “Kom Krib" candy store on the
corner of Main and Ford Streets. It was a stopping place
for all the kids. He sold both candy in bulk and candy
bars. It was here that I was introduced to the new pop
"Pepsi" that was competing with Coca-Cola in 1938.
Every country kid dreamed of stopping off at the Korn
Krib on Saturday night to buy a candy bar that was
three times the size of present-day candy bars. The
price? One nickel.
The "Nook" was a favorite hang-out of the high
school crowd. It was a meeting place for young people
to go after games. for malts and hamburgers. and
socializing. Everett Anderberg and his staff were most
tolerant and understanding with young people and put
309
up with a lot of noise and horsepiay.
Rudy Trejtnar had a shoe shop below the McNamara
Shoe Store. Rudy repaired shoes and leather goods. The
smell of leather and glue still sticks in mind, as we had
new soles or heels put on our shoes and maybe sewed
up a little. Rather than throwing old things away, folks
took care of what they had and used things until there
was no hope of repair left.
Frank Hart owned “Hart's Motor Repair" where cars
were reborn by a slow but methodical mechanic like
Frank. When he finished repairing a car, it would run
again. Frank had one bad eye, but that didn't slow him
down at all. He loved kids and was really nice to me
when my folks took a car in there for him to fix.
"Lucky" Baldwin had a junk yard in the west end of
Anamosa. Folks around thought it was an eyesore. but
we kids thought it was really neat — all that stuff to sort
through. Another area where you could find junk was
where the city maintenance shop now stands. There
was a pond there and it was populated by bullhead fish.
The sides of the pond were lined with junk cars and
parts. Buried under tons of fill dirt are antique cars and
parts from sixty years ago.
Reverend David Beggs was the minister of the First
Congregational Church. He was from Ireland and he
spoke with a slight Irish brogue. As a young man he
had worked on the "Titanic" as a carpenter before
entering the ministry. As a child. I thought he was
related to God and I was told to behave real well when
Reverend Beggs and his wife made a social call.
in the years of the “dirty thirties" between the Depression
and World War II. Anamosa was a thriving
little town that was connected to the rest of the world
by Highway No. 151 which ran right through town. On
Saturday nights the population doubled as all
surrounding fanners and their families came to town to
shop and trade, and get things taken care of for another
week. Farm folks often only came to town as a family
once a week.
A lot of country kids worked hard all week and
especially hard on Saturday so that they could go to
town on Saturday night. One of my first stops in town
was at Curley Schuchman's Blacksmith Shop. I tried to
stand out of the way (but was probably in the way]
watching him shoe a pair of work horses. We kids were
enthralled to see Curley‘s arm muscles stand out as he
worked. He had the biggest arms I had ever seen. He
was a giant of a man in my eyes and I was afraid of him
because of his size. If I had ever thought of dating his
daughter. Helen [now Helen Gray). I quickly changed
my mind.
Everyone I knew who was a kid in the thirties. and
who lived on a farm. thought that going to town was
something special. There was a lot to offer a kid if he
had a quarter. There was no swimming pool but the
town was the only means of restocking supplies and the
only outlet for socializing. During the week kids were
needed at home to do the chores. or help fix a hamess.
or mend some fence. or get a planter ready for spring. or
to milk the cows by hand. So, not much time was spent
in town. If a harness was beyond our help. it meant a
trip to town to see Fred Otten at his harness shop. We
might get to visit the Anamosa Creamery in the early
mornings to deliver milk and cream. Hazel Smith made
the ice cream and ifyou behaved yourself you might get
a sample.
In the thirties and forties. North Ford Street was
surfaced with brick. Coming into town from the north I
remember the hum of the tires when driving over the
brick. In winter the Ford Street hill would be roped off