Features
Remember When? Our town’s ‘best-kept secrets’
By HELEN SUE JOHNSON
Times-Leader correspondent
Shh! One of the best-kept secrets in McLeansboro, in my opinion, is the beautiful Heard’s Pond off Virginia Avenue, in the middle of town almost; accessible to all, plentiful parking space, picnic tables sheltered under an open-air canopy, benches, barbecue pits available for outdoor cooking, and walkways onto the pond for fishing sport.
Nearby are remnants of the old Shawnee Branch L&N; Railroad which served the farming communities of Broughton, Eldorado, Shawneetown and beyond.
Another secret, to me at least, is the fabulous Budget Shop on the west side of the square, full of antiques and memorabilia at reasonable prices; I can spend hours in there just browsing around.
The old Robinson Drugstore on the west side had its store there, and never will I forget the delicious orange-pineapple ice cream cones for a nickel.
The Creamery, across the street on Market, made the best ice cream I ever tasted to this very day. It was owned by the Stelle family and sold ice also door-to-door in the days when we had ice boxes instead of refrigerators. It was delivered in a horse-drawn wagon, and the driver would use an icepick to cut the ice according to the order given by the buyer.
•••
I wrote sometime back about Raymond Richey’s runaway team of horses in town, but I’ll repeat it here in case readers today missed it.
Back in the early 1930s, the light plant sounded three loud whistles, one at 6 a.m., the second at noon and the third one at 6 p.m.
Richey’s team was just approaching the L&N; tracks on Market Street near Marshall Avenue when the noon whistle went off, scaring the horses, which then raced east on Market Street, the wagon rattling to beat the band, Richey pulling back on the reins to stop the team, unsuccessfully.
The horses raced through the north side of the square, down Baptist Hill, up the hill toward the Catholic church on Hancock Street, where they suddenly stopped. Onlookers scattered out of the way of the racing team, their eyes bulging out of their heads with fear — the horses’, I mean.
What an event on an otherwise placid day in McLeansboro!
•••
Readers may not have read of the Royal Scot diesel engine train scheduled to pass through on the L&N; tracks late at night back in the early ’30s, when steam-engine locomotives were yet the norm pulling the trains.
We bundled up, for the night was cold and it was late, and trudged down to the L&N; depot to see the sight. We waited and waited — and soon there was a musical sound in the distance!
Before our very eyes rushed the train going like 60, the colors purple and gold on the sides of the cars, and I barely saw a porter in a white coat serving a passenger. I would have sworn the king of England was on that train, it was so exciting!
The train finally stopped at Union Station in St. Louis hours later — but not too much later, it was going so fast.
Those were the days also when hobos hitched a ride on the trains going wherever the trains went, and were sometimes taken off by train detectives stationed along the tracks. Stories have been written about those train hobos.
The blessing of living at that time in McLeansboro, where people cared about each other, churches packed full of believers and more!
Stay tuned! There is more to come.
• Helen Sue Johnson is a former Hamilton County resident.
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paul.lorenz@mcleansborotimesleader.com
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