Page 38

Walking Downtown in 1938

    When I first came to Lowden as a bride in 1938, I remember going downtown and the benches in front of each store lined with retirees, loafers, etc. At first it seemed they were staring at me but I soon found out that my “hello” was usually returned with a similar greeting.

     In those days everyone walked downtown to do their shopping and perhaps bought supplies for just 1 or 2 days at a time.

     Speaking of “walking”, quite often the evening's recreation would be to walk to the Lowden cemetery and back home.

     Now nearly 40 years later quite a number of Lowden people still enjoy walking for recreation but most often it is at the 3/30 Golf course at the east edge of Lowden, engaging in a round of golf.

     Lowden still reflects the friendliness of the “bench sitters” of yesteryear, perhaps at our church socials, ballgames at the park, and other civic affairs or just by being a “good neighbor.”

              Mrs Dick (Dorothy) Sennett

Picture of Bench Sitters in Early 1900's
    Pictured above is a typical group of “bench sitters” in the early 1900's, sitting in front of the CORNER CAFE, which is now known as the E & A Cafe at the corner of McKinley and Main. Left to right, they include Fred Ohlrogge, Fred Klipp, George King, Ferd Dohrmann, and Julius Miller. They are now all deceased.

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WE REMEMBER WHEN

. . . . . The indigent was not very easily turned away from the doors without something to eat. We were invited to the home of Mrs L. D. Rixe and while the invited guests waited at the table she fed a wayfaring tramp at the kitchen table. She was that kindly a woman. (The L. D. Rixe's ran a dairy at Lowden for many years.)

              Hulda and Anne Neiting

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Page 39

Remembering Days Gone By

Editor's Note: Fred Hamdorf, a longtime resident of the Massillon area was interviewed by Mrs Walter Hack. He related the following interesting incidents which took place in this area as he remembers.

    Fred Hamdorf, 84 years young, tells us of many little incidents throughout his years in this area and around Massillon. He remembers how horses were stolen, then traded and often they got beat badly on trades, too. He recalls the story before his time about horse thieves who were caught, strung up, and then beaten. Their captors rubbed salt in their open wounds and then hanged them south of Lowden on the first bluff.

     He also recalls a school teacher he had, named Ira Bright, who taught 42 kids in the one room school at Massillon. He seemed to keep the kids in line with a stick with long thorns on it. As Ira would say, “I don't want to use this but if I have to, I will.” So the stick was kept along the blackboard by the recitation bench, and everyone was reminded of it before any shenanigans were thought of.

     Remembering a farm his Dad bought, brought memories of a one-half mile horse race track on it. This was later plowed up and used to produce grain. He himself remembers plowing at the early age of seven and using a sulky plow. He soon learned to take the corners properly. As once you were told the right way by your dad, you would try to do it right, or probably be reminded in a way that you would just as soon forget.

     In 1925, a phone call came on the party line for help, as thieves wanting gas had robbed and injured Phil Schneider at the General Store in Massillon.

     The river, so close, provided sand for all around. It was sold for 10˘ a load, and was hauled away with a team and wagon after it had been hand shoveled onto the wagon.

     Across the road to the north of the Massillon store was a hotel and post office. The train also came through that area. And, if you were going to have a party and wanted beer, all you did was to order your keg in the morning from Louis Shirley, who was in charge, and he'd have it sent on the train that night from Davenport. This was Rockford beer, by the way. He also tells us that this railroad was taken out in 1939.

     Being on a baseball team in1912 with five Hamdorfs on it is another fond memory. The team traveled to other towns with horse and buggy.

              Mrs Walter (Evelyn Meier) Hack

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    Taken from The Lowden News dated March 14, 1935: Chicken thieves are again at work in Lowden and neighboring towns. Tuesday night thieves broke into the chicken house of Henry Boettger and stole 16 hens and a rooster, one-half of the entire flock. The thieves evidently knew their chickens as they picked the best layers in the flock.