Gunfire on William St.
One of my more interesting discoveries was that for five cents on a Sunday after lunch you could get into St Louis Catholic School and Church, and see movies. The movies were Dr. Kildare, Andy Hardy, and a series of movies with Jane Powel, that seemed to be made for young girls. I loved the movies and would go any time I could, someone told me if you could get a job delivering the Waterloo Chronicle, you would get 35 cents, and a free ticket to get into the Waterloo Show, I did get one of those routes, and that was like finding a small treasure.
A branch line of the CNR ran through Waterloo and from Allan St. to Willow St. beside the property, through an arbour of trees and Choke Cherry bushes, to a small rail yard just a couple hundred feet west of Willow St. where there was a freight yard, and a freight shed. When the train came to switch the yards and local factories with smoke belching, we would be sure to be there watching.
One day in the late 1940s on the way to Sunday School the sky started turning black, and by noon became like night time it was so dark. Many of the adults were worried but the kids were fascinated. Some said it was an eclipse of the sun, but others said no it's not an eclipse, because they are predicable, and no one had predicted an eclipse. As I said many people were worried, that is until they found out that the sky darkening was smoke from a massive forest fire up north, with the wind blowing our way.
Because the Kitchener Arena on Queen St. in Kitchener had burned down in the 1940's, the Flying Dutchmen, or later the Rangers would play their home games in the Waterloo Arena until the new one could be built. The new one would eventually be built where the Army Base had been at the top of Borden Ave near where we had lived. My father who was Kitchener's most ardent, and boisterous fan, would take me to the odd game at Waterloo Arena on the edge of Waterloo Park. At times the excitement would get the better of him, and he would be yelling and screaming, many times epithets, at the opposing players. One time in particular a player from the Guelph Biltmores got so exasperated with my fathers yelling at him he started coming over the boards at my father. The only reason he didn't get in a fight that day was that Lou Fontinato's team mates restrained him. I actually liked Lou Fontinato, an had in fact got a cracked hockey stick from him, so I had mixed feeling should a fight occur, because at times I have to admit I wasn't crazy about my dad.
One day in the fall of the late 1940's we heard what we thought was gunfire coming from down the street, and ran to see what it might be. The P.U.C. yards were just down on William St. where the Artisan Wells were, for the areas water supply, was surrounded by massive trees, that were filled with Starlings, which were almost like a plague. Someone had the bright idea to bring some men down with shot guns to shoot into the trees to get rid of the Starlings. This was very exciting stuff for us young kids in the area, and it was my understanding that from this small area they picked up fifty bushel baskets of these tiny birds.
There was baseball at Waterloo Park where a semi pro league played. We enjoyed going to the games, and especially liked the hot dogs. The Ball Park was surrounded by a high fence, but we found a way in both to see the games, and later when the games were over, sneak in to gather the empty pop bottles from under the bleachers, where they would be dropped, and turn them in, and then off to Beeze's dairy. Because of very big trees in the area, in the fall there would be massive piles of leaves which we would use to bury cars, and some one got the bright to bury a concrete block, on the sidewalk, and some guy would come along and kick the leaves, to scatter the pile, and we would run away howling.
In the Fall someone would organize a hay ride for the kids of the home, and take the kids out on a horse drawn wagon, with sandwiches and drinks for all. Occasionally when the weather was bad the women of the home would platy board games with the kids and one they liked were, "Sorry" and they had "Parcheesi " Snakes and Ladders, and Checkers.
One of my class mates at Elizabeth Ziegler talked me into joining Scouts. The meetings were held at the Church of the Holy Saviour on Allen St, where a class mate's father [Leonard Bishop] was the minister, and I became a member of the Blue Heron troupe. We did the usual things, learned how to tie knots, use a compass, etc, and every now and then we would go to a Scout camp at Everton Forest at Rockwood near Guelph for the weekend. I was driven there by the father of a friend, in all livelihood, the guy that convinced me to join, with hi m when his father finished work at 6PM on Friday which meant that we would be a little late. When we got there one time all the tent pegs and poles were gone so we just threw a tent on the ground, put our blankets on top of the tent, and another tent on top of the blankets, were quite cozy, and when we woke up the next morning had about 4 inches of snow on top of us. I know what everyone is thinking now, why didn't these bright sparks make some poles and pegs, and I am asking that same question of myself, but we were warm and that is all that mattered. Many, Many years later, like 1999, I learned that Ronald Berger our Scout Leader was in the Orphanage as well.
As can be seen we were not tied down to the home we had activities going on all over the place, in the winter played hockey right on the grounds with all the neighborhood children, would on occasion visit the homes of class mates, sleigh rides in Mrs Devits back yard or be taken out for them, Scouts, and sometimes we would just wander around, and as long as we were home for supper was all that mattered. One of the memorable events in the summer was the Waterloo Band Festival which was put on each year by Mr Thiele a local Bandmaster, who was in charge of the local Youth Band. My brother Mac was a member of his band until Max broke a clarinet over someones head who he got in a fight with. Anyway Mr Thiele hosted this event at which 50 or 60 bands from all over North America would come, and it was a sight to behold. The bands would march from Kitchener to Waterloo along King St. and it sure was spectacular, and stirring event, and for such a small town as Waterloo to host was something. One of the bands that was impressive and a consistent winner in their categorie was the Preston Scout House Band from just down the road from Kitchener.
A branch line of the CNR ran through Waterloo and from Allan St. to Willow St. beside the property, through an arbour of trees and Choke Cherry bushes, to a small rail yard just a couple hundred feet west of Willow St. where there was a freight yard, and a freight shed. When the train came to switch the yards and local factories with smoke belching, we would be sure to be there watching.
One day in the late 1940s on the way to Sunday School the sky started turning black, and by noon became like night time it was so dark. Many of the adults were worried but the kids were fascinated. Some said it was an eclipse of the sun, but others said no it's not an eclipse, because they are predicable, and no one had predicted an eclipse. As I said many people were worried, that is until they found out that the sky darkening was smoke from a massive forest fire up north, with the wind blowing our way.
Because the Kitchener Arena on Queen St. in Kitchener had burned down in the 1940's, the Flying Dutchmen, or later the Rangers would play their home games in the Waterloo Arena until the new one could be built. The new one would eventually be built where the Army Base had been at the top of Borden Ave near where we had lived. My father who was Kitchener's most ardent, and boisterous fan, would take me to the odd game at Waterloo Arena on the edge of Waterloo Park. At times the excitement would get the better of him, and he would be yelling and screaming, many times epithets, at the opposing players. One time in particular a player from the Guelph Biltmores got so exasperated with my fathers yelling at him he started coming over the boards at my father. The only reason he didn't get in a fight that day was that Lou Fontinato's team mates restrained him. I actually liked Lou Fontinato, an had in fact got a cracked hockey stick from him, so I had mixed feeling should a fight occur, because at times I have to admit I wasn't crazy about my dad.
One day in the fall of the late 1940's we heard what we thought was gunfire coming from down the street, and ran to see what it might be. The P.U.C. yards were just down on William St. where the Artisan Wells were, for the areas water supply, was surrounded by massive trees, that were filled with Starlings, which were almost like a plague. Someone had the bright idea to bring some men down with shot guns to shoot into the trees to get rid of the Starlings. This was very exciting stuff for us young kids in the area, and it was my understanding that from this small area they picked up fifty bushel baskets of these tiny birds.
There was baseball at Waterloo Park where a semi pro league played. We enjoyed going to the games, and especially liked the hot dogs. The Ball Park was surrounded by a high fence, but we found a way in both to see the games, and later when the games were over, sneak in to gather the empty pop bottles from under the bleachers, where they would be dropped, and turn them in, and then off to Beeze's dairy. Because of very big trees in the area, in the fall there would be massive piles of leaves which we would use to bury cars, and some one got the bright to bury a concrete block, on the sidewalk, and some guy would come along and kick the leaves, to scatter the pile, and we would run away howling.
In the Fall someone would organize a hay ride for the kids of the home, and take the kids out on a horse drawn wagon, with sandwiches and drinks for all. Occasionally when the weather was bad the women of the home would platy board games with the kids and one they liked were, "Sorry" and they had "Parcheesi " Snakes and Ladders, and Checkers.
One of my class mates at Elizabeth Ziegler talked me into joining Scouts. The meetings were held at the Church of the Holy Saviour on Allen St, where a class mate's father [Leonard Bishop] was the minister, and I became a member of the Blue Heron troupe. We did the usual things, learned how to tie knots, use a compass, etc, and every now and then we would go to a Scout camp at Everton Forest at Rockwood near Guelph for the weekend. I was driven there by the father of a friend, in all livelihood, the guy that convinced me to join, with hi m when his father finished work at 6PM on Friday which meant that we would be a little late. When we got there one time all the tent pegs and poles were gone so we just threw a tent on the ground, put our blankets on top of the tent, and another tent on top of the blankets, were quite cozy, and when we woke up the next morning had about 4 inches of snow on top of us. I know what everyone is thinking now, why didn't these bright sparks make some poles and pegs, and I am asking that same question of myself, but we were warm and that is all that mattered. Many, Many years later, like 1999, I learned that Ronald Berger our Scout Leader was in the Orphanage as well.
As can be seen we were not tied down to the home we had activities going on all over the place, in the winter played hockey right on the grounds with all the neighborhood children, would on occasion visit the homes of class mates, sleigh rides in Mrs Devits back yard or be taken out for them, Scouts, and sometimes we would just wander around, and as long as we were home for supper was all that mattered. One of the memorable events in the summer was the Waterloo Band Festival which was put on each year by Mr Thiele a local Bandmaster, who was in charge of the local Youth Band. My brother Mac was a member of his band until Max broke a clarinet over someones head who he got in a fight with. Anyway Mr Thiele hosted this event at which 50 or 60 bands from all over North America would come, and it was a sight to behold. The bands would march from Kitchener to Waterloo along King St. and it sure was spectacular, and stirring event, and for such a small town as Waterloo to host was something. One of the bands that was impressive and a consistent winner in their categorie was the Preston Scout House Band from just down the road from Kitchener.
posted by Allan at 4:14 PM
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