EARLY CHILDHOOD - Part 3

The previous post of Timelines and Stories introduced the area of Indianapolis where Alfred lived. Today we will see how different life was during the early 1900's. Alfred writes:

"I was a weak, sickly, skinny kid and did not attend school very much the first few years.  My parents being Lutherans, I attended St. Paul’s Parochial School on New Jersey street the first few years and then a new church and school was built on Orange street called Emmause.  I went through the 6^th grade at this school.  The Catholic children attended St. Patrick Parochial school on Prospect street and the other children attended the McKinley school on State street – We kids grew up and played together as all kids do.

We had what we called a Commons (empty lots) that was an entire city block bounded by State street, Spann and Fletcher Avenue and the Big Four R.R.  Here is where we played base ball – We didn’t have much equipment- A yarn or string ball, maybe a ragged glove and most times a hand made bat.  We used the familiar boulder or big stones for bases.  We often had to change our diamond because of cows that were staked out in the commons for pasture.  Near us was a lady who had lost her husband and had two children, a boy and girl, and she had 2 cows from which she was able to sell enough milk to raise her family.  During the winter months the boy would collect all the green garbage in the neighborhood to feed the cows.  Now of course we had some hot ball games in the street – We did not have interruptions by automobiles, but occasionally a delivery wagon would cause a delay.  Of course, and naturally, every once in a while a ball would crack through a window, and everybody would run.  I can’t recollect that the kids or their parents ever paid for such a mishap.

 It might be stated here that there were no paved streets and most of the side walks were made of brick; however State street had concrete sidewalks.  It was here we did our roller skating and played polo.  Now here is where we had our worst problems - most all the skates had wood wheels or steel wheels and they sometimes got flat or wore out.  Nobody had ball bearing skates.  We used to go to Tucker-Dorsey on State street, who made furniture, and get some kind of caster wheel that worked fairly well as a substitute.  Now the polo stick was a problem – most of us would get a crooked limb and the more fortunate who could buy a stick would wind wire around the curved section or took tin around that section – woe to him that got “socked” on the shin.  A Big night for the kids was when an arc street light was put up at Summit and Spann avenue.  A strict curfew was enforced at 8 o’clock but this night our parents let us have extra time.  While laying on my back and yelling because bigger boys were putting street gravel down my pants legs, I suddenly was yanked to my feet by a policeman.  There were two officers, one had me and another my cousin Edmund Lichtsinn.  After giving us a scare of going to jail, they turned us loose." 

Here is a google map of the area Alfred described.  Of course the interstate wasn't there but The McKinley School, St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and Emmaus Lutheran Church are all still there. The railroads are shown in light grey.  The Emmaus church was built in 1903.  

Emmaus Luthern Church on Laurel Ave. Indianapolis, IN

Alfred states that he was a sickly child, but here is a picture of him that states on the back he is age six, I think he looks younger. He looks to be healthy although maybe a little small. I wonder how typical this outfit is for the time period.  

Alfred William Moehlmann, age six
From the Moehlmann Family Collection

Tucker and Dorsey Manufacturing Co. was  established in 1865, employed 100 people and made all types of wood products.  When I went to Google to find out about the company, I found many of their now antique items for sale - kraut cutters seems to be popular.  There was also a mention in a Google book about hand trucks.