For the past several weeks, I have been writing a series of columns on my grandparents' generation. During which, I have found it incredibly difficult to relate to the many stories and hardships they faced on a daily basis. I have no idea what it is like to not have running water. I have never lived anywhere that light wasn't only a switch away and, certainly, I have no clue what it is like to spend a buck on five gallons of gasoline.
Well my friends, I have finally found something I can relate to! When I was in grade school, I would be taken into Monroe for my monthly haircut. I went to the Barbers II, just off the Square. This was where my dad went to get his haircut, my brother went for his, so it was natural for me to follow suit - besides, Tom and Roger knew how to cut my mullet just right (who would have ever thought that would go out of style?). After my haircut, I was treated to an ice cream cone at Ruf's Confectionery - that big painted mural above the counter has always fascinated me.
The Monroe Square is a great asset to this community, and has been for generations. Carol, the young girl from Winslow, described going to Monroe as "Our weekly source of entertainment." My Aunt Marie enthusiastically described her family's trip into town, "That's what we did - every Saturday night!"
This was during the 1930s, at a time when a small farm could support a growing family with basic essentials: Milk, meat and vegetables. Still, a weekly trip to the grocery store was necessary for non-producible goods. Likewise, as we discussed last week, living on a farm without electricity or mass communication created a sense of isolation. A weekly trip into town was indeed a fondly anticipated occasion.
The Monroe Square of the 1920s and 1930s was very much the center of the community. Carol remembers driving to Monroe, but not everyone drove. "Some of our neighbors still used horses." The Square would be abuzz with activity as families made their weekly trip for essentials. Right up to when she passed away, my grandmother loved to relay a childhood story: "Each Saturday night when we went into Monroe, us kids were each given a nickel. We could use that nickel to buy whatever we wanted - it was a big deal!"
Stories relayed to me about Monroe's Square take on a similar air. I envision sets of children laughing and running along the walk as their parents shopped for weekly essentials. For the children, this was great entertainment. People who would become my grandmother, aunt, uncle or friend all tell me about window-shopping and people watching. As my grandmother wrote, "Ice cream was my favorite and always a treat." Carol told me how she and her sister would sit and just "watch the people go by - we loved to see their clothes and wonder whom they were."
No matter who they were or of what age, the Monroe Square had an amazing variety of stores to choose from in the 1930s. Daryl explained, "There used to be a grocery store in the middle of every side of the Square." My grandmother wrote about the A & P Food Store, Kroger's, and the Marachowsky Food Store, where provisions all came in bulk. Imagine, buying flour, coffee or tea in a 50-pound cloth sack. Sugar came in 100-pound bulk bags! Vinegar was purchased from a barrel, and prunes and dates came repackaged from 50-pound sacks. Both Ken and my Aunt Marie both remember seeing "huge boxes of cookies".
Many of the families who came to Monroe on a Saturday night brought goods from the farm to be sold - particularly eggs. My grandmother wrote, "We would sell 30 dozen eggs and that would buy our groceries." Daryl can certainly relate, "It must have been rough to run a [grocery store] in those days because everyone would bring their eggs to town. I can still see Walter Wyss sitting in that back room candling eggs, 'cause for all you knew, half of them could be rotten! I can still see him sitting back there - he'd sit back there candling eggs all night long."
What did it mean to "candle" an egg? Daryl went on, "You'd hold the egg up to a light and see if there was a spot in it. If there was a spot, they were no good."
In addition to groceries and foodstuff, shoppers on the Monroe Square could choose from variety stores like Barbs, Rottlers and a Woolworths. My grandmother probably went into Schiesser's Book Store, walked past the Post Office Shop, and certainly remembers the Rudy Mauer Meat Shop.
Today we can take for granted the ease of parking along the Square. Finding a place to stop in the 1930s was a different affair, as told by my uncle Daryl, "You could just go nuts - there was supposed to be no parallel parking, and you couldn't stop; you'd shut off the traffic behind you! Well, how were you supposed to get your groceries if you didn't stop? The cops would run all over town trying to keep everyone going."
The Monroe Square is a fantastic asset to this community. There are a number of restaurants and coffee shops to choose from - perfect for a relaxed and intimate lunch date. There are stores with high-quality giftware and home utensils - imagine, being able to purchase and own something you will actually be proud of! And, it is really nice to be able to go into Flan's for a beer or two, and not reek of cigarettes the next morning.
All of this is available to us today, just as it has been for generations. Folks, the best part is, that you can still park on the Square for pennies.
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes
a weekly column for Friday editions of
the Times. He can be reached
at dwegs@tds.net.
Well my friends, I have finally found something I can relate to! When I was in grade school, I would be taken into Monroe for my monthly haircut. I went to the Barbers II, just off the Square. This was where my dad went to get his haircut, my brother went for his, so it was natural for me to follow suit - besides, Tom and Roger knew how to cut my mullet just right (who would have ever thought that would go out of style?). After my haircut, I was treated to an ice cream cone at Ruf's Confectionery - that big painted mural above the counter has always fascinated me.
The Monroe Square is a great asset to this community, and has been for generations. Carol, the young girl from Winslow, described going to Monroe as "Our weekly source of entertainment." My Aunt Marie enthusiastically described her family's trip into town, "That's what we did - every Saturday night!"
This was during the 1930s, at a time when a small farm could support a growing family with basic essentials: Milk, meat and vegetables. Still, a weekly trip to the grocery store was necessary for non-producible goods. Likewise, as we discussed last week, living on a farm without electricity or mass communication created a sense of isolation. A weekly trip into town was indeed a fondly anticipated occasion.
The Monroe Square of the 1920s and 1930s was very much the center of the community. Carol remembers driving to Monroe, but not everyone drove. "Some of our neighbors still used horses." The Square would be abuzz with activity as families made their weekly trip for essentials. Right up to when she passed away, my grandmother loved to relay a childhood story: "Each Saturday night when we went into Monroe, us kids were each given a nickel. We could use that nickel to buy whatever we wanted - it was a big deal!"
Stories relayed to me about Monroe's Square take on a similar air. I envision sets of children laughing and running along the walk as their parents shopped for weekly essentials. For the children, this was great entertainment. People who would become my grandmother, aunt, uncle or friend all tell me about window-shopping and people watching. As my grandmother wrote, "Ice cream was my favorite and always a treat." Carol told me how she and her sister would sit and just "watch the people go by - we loved to see their clothes and wonder whom they were."
No matter who they were or of what age, the Monroe Square had an amazing variety of stores to choose from in the 1930s. Daryl explained, "There used to be a grocery store in the middle of every side of the Square." My grandmother wrote about the A & P Food Store, Kroger's, and the Marachowsky Food Store, where provisions all came in bulk. Imagine, buying flour, coffee or tea in a 50-pound cloth sack. Sugar came in 100-pound bulk bags! Vinegar was purchased from a barrel, and prunes and dates came repackaged from 50-pound sacks. Both Ken and my Aunt Marie both remember seeing "huge boxes of cookies".
Many of the families who came to Monroe on a Saturday night brought goods from the farm to be sold - particularly eggs. My grandmother wrote, "We would sell 30 dozen eggs and that would buy our groceries." Daryl can certainly relate, "It must have been rough to run a [grocery store] in those days because everyone would bring their eggs to town. I can still see Walter Wyss sitting in that back room candling eggs, 'cause for all you knew, half of them could be rotten! I can still see him sitting back there - he'd sit back there candling eggs all night long."
What did it mean to "candle" an egg? Daryl went on, "You'd hold the egg up to a light and see if there was a spot in it. If there was a spot, they were no good."
In addition to groceries and foodstuff, shoppers on the Monroe Square could choose from variety stores like Barbs, Rottlers and a Woolworths. My grandmother probably went into Schiesser's Book Store, walked past the Post Office Shop, and certainly remembers the Rudy Mauer Meat Shop.
Today we can take for granted the ease of parking along the Square. Finding a place to stop in the 1930s was a different affair, as told by my uncle Daryl, "You could just go nuts - there was supposed to be no parallel parking, and you couldn't stop; you'd shut off the traffic behind you! Well, how were you supposed to get your groceries if you didn't stop? The cops would run all over town trying to keep everyone going."
The Monroe Square is a fantastic asset to this community. There are a number of restaurants and coffee shops to choose from - perfect for a relaxed and intimate lunch date. There are stores with high-quality giftware and home utensils - imagine, being able to purchase and own something you will actually be proud of! And, it is really nice to be able to go into Flan's for a beer or two, and not reek of cigarettes the next morning.
All of this is available to us today, just as it has been for generations. Folks, the best part is, that you can still park on the Square for pennies.
- Dan Wegmueller of Monroe writes
a weekly column for Friday editions of
the Times. He can be reached
at dwegs@tds.net.
