Don’t we all enjoy memories?

I have received many wonderful memories from many readers over the years. I love going back and rereading them so I decided to share them with you. Enjoy the trip back in time!

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My name is Chester Shoemaker, of Oronogo. I was born in Galesburg, Mo., on Jan. 8, 1922. I enjoy reading the memories of people in and around Webb City.

My dad had a grocery store in Galesburg. In 1928, every Monday morning, he would bring the chickens, eggs and cream to town and pick up more supplies. I was only 6 years old, but I got to tag along.

He would take the chickens and stuff to C.A. King Produce on Daugherty Street (later the location of Elmer Johnson Produce). We always got to Mamie Sturges’ Coney Island Cafe about noon. (The southwest corner of Main Street and Broadway, the location of Farm Bureau now.)

Webb City Wholesale Grocery was in the West End where the Streetcar Power Plant was located (northwest corner of Madison Street and Broadway – now Skateland).

The last place we would go was the old ice plant out north by Independent Gravel Co. to get three 300-pound cakes of ice to take back to the store. We would cover the ice with sawdust to keep it from thawing. We did this in a 1928 one-ton Ford truck.

A chicken dinner sold for 25 cents!

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– My Aunt Lois and Uncle Dorsie performing at the Civic Theatre’s talent show. Going to Webb City Drive-In without a car. Telling ghost stories. And who can forget the outside toilets!

– Driving to a quiet side road, stopping the car, turning the radio up real loud and jitterbugging in the street.

That’s the kind of fun today’s generation will never get to experience!

I especially remember the good and kind police chief, Earl Bunch, who later became my father-in-law.

Shirley Riggs Bunch, Smyrna, Tenn.

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My husband and I remember going to the Civic Theatre and getting in free for 10 or 12 pop bottle caps. We aren’t sure of the brand, but think it was R.C. Cola.

Ike and Linda Woodrow, Webb City

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On payday, we would go to Bradbury-Bishop’s and have a chocolate sundae. I also remember that at about the same time Webb City had a “street sweeper,” an older gentleman (everyone seemed old to us at the time) who pushed a cart along the street and would use his broom and scoop shovel cleaning up the streets.

I also remember the Civic, Larsen and Junior movie theaters. Kids could get in for 10 cents. I thought it was terrible when I turned 12 years old and had to pay 35 cents to get in.

Before we started working, I remember selling pop bottles for 2 cents each to get money for the picture show. (With my selective memory, I don’t remember who the pop bottles belonged to.)

Remember Smiley Burnett coming to the Larsen for pictures and autographs? Who was Smiley Burnett’s sidekick? Was it Roy  Rogers or Gene Autry? (He was with Gene Autry until Gene went into the service, and then he rode with Roy  Rogers.)

I also remember the old swimming pool at Hatten Park. It did not have a filtering system and had to be drained, cleaned and refilled, twice a week. We could get in free if we helped clean the pool. I remember swimming in the water-filled Sucker Flat and Daylight Cave mining holes. My friends, Robert and A.B., were brave enough to jump off the high cliffs, but Bert and I were too chicken to jump. Robert and A.B. later became airborne Engineers in the Army.

I also remember the Webb City Drive-In theater. I would go to Monte’s Creamy Cup across the street from the theater and get a foot-long hotdog and chocolate malt for 52 cents and go crawl under the fence at the drive-in to see the movie. Does anyone remember “Blackie,” the police officer hired by the drive-in to try to keep us out? He ran us off more than once, but we kept coming back.

Now, I’m getting tired of remembering and will close by asking if you remember Bill Owen’s Bar-B-Q, which later became the Madison Inn? I really hope people keep writing their memories and sending them to the Sentinel, as I am sure everyone enjoys them as much as I do.

John W. Powell, Class of ’58