continued ..........LILAGCS B2 part 3
Mr Howe sold me a new bicycle, (a Murray as I
remember that I used to replace one that I had worn out). I sometimes used it
to deliver my papers. I also recall that I paid $2 a week from the money I
earned from my paper route to pay for it. I think it cost $49.95.
The next customer was Bjornstad's Drug Store. I
was able to pass through a door at the Hardware store to enter the rear of the
drug store. This, I might add is the drug store where the 1931 fire started
from a boy lighting sparklers that ignited the fireworks on display in the drug
store. The fire destroyed many building on both sides of the main street in
that location. It was that fire that caused fireworks to be banned in Iowa.
I heard many stories from the firemen when I
was there living in the fire station. The stories I remember best were the
stories my mother told me about her experiences with the fire. She was 12 years
old and she and her sister, Imajean, were attending the Spencer Theatre when
the fire broke out. She told me that someone came running into the theatre and
told everyone to leave immediately.
Mom said that she took Imajean by the hand (
she was a few years younger than my mom) and started for my grandfathers auto
repair garage located on 1st avenue east directly one block east of
the theatre. She said that when they
arrived at the garage the fire had spread so fast that sparks were floating
through the air.
She said that grandpa instructed her to take
Imajean and go home which was east of there and away from the downtown area.
She then added that grandpa took an old bed mattress he had in the garage,
soaked it with water and took a garden hose to the roof and proceeded to
extinguish the sparks as they landed on his roof. He put the sparks out so they
would not set is building on fire.
Another story I remember hearing was that the
fire fighters had to pump water from the Little Sioux River just south of where
the fire station was located because they were running out of water from the
city source. A number of surrounding towns were called and responded to the
fire call as far away as Sioux City, Iowa.
Some of the Spencer firemen who shared stories
and pictures with me were: The fire chief Oscar Stouffer, Leo Parks, Cliff
Hodges and George Franklin to name a few.
After delivering a newspaper there at
Bjornstad's Drug Store, I crossed Main Street to the East side and delivered
back north starting at the Rexall drug store on the corner of 4th
street east and Main Street. There were a number of apartments above the drug
store and the next business, the BeeHive. Grandma had a good friend that worked
in the fabric depart in the BeeHive, her name was Bessie West and Bessie’s
grandson, Jamie was a good friend that I played with
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