When a four-flat apartment building in Maplewood was destroyed by fire on Sunday it was well-documented by neighbors in photos and comments on social media. Two former residents of the building reminisced on Facebook about living there in the 1940s and ’50s: carrying coal up from the basement to heat water for baths, the ice man and his horse-drawn wagon, seeing movies at the the Powhatten show on Saturday, and more.
Becky Miner-Young — This my home for the first 11 years of my life. Lots of good memories of living there. Went to Sutton school. That was over 60 yrs ago.
Barbara Cavenah — The place I was raised. Went to sutton school. My cousins lived downstairs. Hard to believe it is gone.
Becky Miner-Young — I know makes me sad. I will try get some pic this week. Hope you all are taking care and doing ok.
Barbara Cavenah — Haven’t left home for 2 weeks or had anyone here. So far so good. Hope you and yours are ok.
Barbara Cavenah — So many memories. We were living there when Mike was born.
Becky Miner-Young — I remember when he had measles and we could not play together.
Barbara Cavenah — We lived there in the 40s and 50s. They were cold water flats. No hot water? heaters. Heated with coal and had to get coal from the basement. We lived on the second floor and it was my job to bring coal up. I was so scared in that basement I would bring 2 buckets up at a time to get out of there. Had to heat water on the stove and kitchen sink had a wooden drain board. Rent was $18 a month. We had to move when some Germans bought building after the war. Had plaster walls but no closets.
Becky Miner-Young — I remember it well. We would take a bath in about 6 inches of water. Your mom had a big brass water heater that sat on the stove. But we did not think it was so bad. do you remember the club house you all built in the back yard? It seemed like there were so many kids around then.
Barbara Cavenah — It was copper. The clubhouse started as a chicken pen for baby chicks colored for Easter. Our dads built it. When chicks got big enough they were cooked. I couldn’t eat any. They closed the frame in with cardboard. We played dress up there. There were about 9 kids living there. We played baseball there.
Becky Miner-Young — You guys would not let mike and i in. I so many pictures of you all. On your bikes. In the snow and dressed up for Easter.
Barbara Cavenah — Granny made most of our clothes. Nancy wore them first and then me except when she made us made matching outfits.
Becky Miner-Young — Those yellow eyelett dresses. Joe and Sue would come over sometimes.
Barbara Cavenah — Faye and I were in the same grade. Granny made each of us pink eyelet dresses for 6th grade graduation.
Becky Miner-Young — Barbara Cavenah that’s right.
Barbara Cavenah — We all lived there when you were born. I remember helping your mom get her shoes on to go to hospital. You were a beautiful baby with your curly hair.
Barbara Cavenah — There were no refrigerators or freezers. The. Ice man came with a horse drawn wagon. We put signs in the window so he knew how much ice to deliver. Ice box had drip pans that had to be emptied. Milk was delivered in glass bottles. In the winter the cream would freeze and pop the bottle top. There was no ac so on the summer you could not get chocolate candy cause it would get worms. No one had cars. No fast food restaurants. No one had money to go if they did have them. Medarts was the fancy place if you could afford it..
Barbara Cavenah — People came from the whole St. Louis area to shop cause it was the best. All the kids went to the Powhatten show on Saturday where for 10 cents you could see 2 cowboy movies, a couple cartoons and serial.
Becky Miner-Young — I remember some of those things. Was the Powhatten on sutton. Did they have an outdoor theater. How about the Cinderella steps by the railroad tracks.
Barbara Cavenah — Yes. At the show in the summer before ac, they showed the first feature inside then moved outside for the second. It would get so cold. Are those steps there?
A very good friend of mine and her son lived there – her son and mine went to MRH ECC together in 2003. We spent many times over there with them… very sad to see.
These are wonderful reminiscences. Thank you!
Carrying, or shoveling coal, and the coal delivery man. Long ago memories. My folks first house (early 50’s) had a coal room & we helped(?) pop load it into the octopus furnace in the basement. The coal man (think it was Mr. Pilla) told us kids that if we buried the coal with enougn weight on it it would eventually turn into a diamond. To this day 1506 Del Norte probably still has a dozen pieces of coal buried somewhere in the yard althought the “heavy” bricks are probably gone. We moved to 1719 Bellevue and still had coal delivered but by then we didn’t help pop load the octopus, it became soley our chore. Thank God for the oil conversion after only a few years.