|
In mid 1952, houses had just been completed on the east side of 20A St and were being occupied. Completion of the houses though did not include steps up to the homes (some which were three or four feet higher than the road), nor the laying of sidewalks, nor the paving of roads.
Some of us remember canvassing the area with a petition for the laying of sidewalks. When city crews came to dig up the ground in order to lay the sidewalks, a couple of neighbors offered the crews some liquid encouragement (beer) to move the dirt hey dug up into our backyards directly behind our homes because of the houses being built so much higher than the ground level. One tractor operator that first summer had a blade on his tractor which he used to level the dirt out for several neighbors for $5 each. It made a nice patio behind the houses.
The houses did not include eaves troughs. Out next door neighbor was able to obtain the eaves troughs wholesale, so several of us were able to install our own.
A couple of neighbors made step forms for four or five steps from the sidewalk up to lot level and crews that were still pouring basements and hadn’t emptied their cement mixers at the end of their shift were tempted by yet more liquid refreshment to pour the remaining cement onto the step forms. We still remember patting down and smoothing the cement for the steps.
We still remember the roads in spring when the snow was melting. We still have a mental picture of a neighbor coming to extract his young son from the mud in front of our corner house. He picked up his son with a little effort but the rubber boots remained trapped in the mud.
Later in the fall, some of the new home owners were out in the evenings selling $25 debentures in order to build a community hall a couple of block east on 14th Ave. And now it has just been torn down.
Not sure, but, Mr. Reuben Hashman opened a drug store on 12th Ave between 20 and 20A St and it became a real social center for all the new inhabitants in the area.
THE END | 
