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Ye Old Town Pump

    A meeting place in a small town like Lowden was usually where every person, plus horses, dogs, cats, birds, etc., go to get a cool, refreshing drink of water.

     The square wooden pump on Main street next to the Corner Cafe was such a place. It was on a 2-step raised platform, also made of wood planks. The pump was operated with a long wooden handle something like a baseball bat but longer and a blunt point on the handle end. It was as smooth and slick as glass. A small chain stapled to the pump held the community large tin drinking cup. Business men, farmers, kids galore, and the very frequent bums or hobos would stop to refresh themselves with that cool, clear, and pleasant tasting water. Hundreds of people drank from the same tin cup. Walter quality control had not been heard of at that time. A handy spike in the side of the pump held the cup until the next customer's arrival.

     The foot long wooden spout guided all surplus water to the horse trough. The trough also was made of planks and placed at an angle to the street. Farmers hauling hogs, grain, etc. would stop and let their horses fill while the farmer would try the tin cup. Draymen, like my dad, and horseback riders stopped to refresh. A team pulling a surrey with a fringe on top would now and then be seen there as well as many single horse and buggies. In the winter, sleigh bells sounded beautiful when on a trotting single horse pulling a cutter. The coal haulers would stop and throw a few buckets of water on the load of coal so the dust would be lessened for scooping it into basements.

     The main street kid gang would keep the trough full to overflowing so we could float small pieces of wood down the ditch as far as the Germania Hall. One day a hobo saw us and told us he would whittle a good boat for us. He got a piece of wood from the back of Freund's Store and we sat beside him until he finished two sail boats with mast and rudder. We were two very happy boys when we sailed them the length of the horse trough and down the ditch, – to us it was sailing “Around The World”. The hobo told Johnny and Henry he had been a sailor and had been around the world. Of course, we believed him.

     If that old town pump had been able to recite, I'm sure a good book would have been written because that wooden platform served as a meeting place for people to cuss and discuss, to argue and laugh, to make horse trades and sell hogs, to tell good stories and bad stories, to gossip and to tell the truth.

              Henry Twachtman

Editors Note” This is the pump that stood on the northwest part of the intersection which is now Main Street and McKinley Ave. The Lowden Centennial Book shows a picture on page 90 of another pump that was located on the southwest corner of the intersection which is now Main street and Washington Avenue.

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I REMEMBER WHEN –

Herb Freese used to come down the cemetery hill in his iron wheeled coaster wagon. You could hear him hit every crack in the sidewalk, all over town.

               Dick Sennett