Memories of growing up in Ottumwa, Iowa:

• Thursday nights when the stores were open until 9:00 p.m. and everyone went to town

• The new Evans Junior High School and Mr. Eckley on the south side

• Evans Blue Streaks and school dances

• How about Cherry Cokes at Hoffman Drug?

• A giant frosty mug of A & W root beer for 10 cents?

• A William's Dairy chocolate malt for 25 cents?

• The Courier "with magazines" was 35 cents?

• You put less than 25 cents worth of gas in your car because you were running on empty.

• Franklin Junior High in the east end

• The Eat/Gas in the east end

• The telethon's when celebrity's came

• The Canteen in the alley….."How many can you eat?"

• RICICULOUS Day…and parade

• Williams Ice Cream and milk stores (4 of them)

• Scooping the loop on Friday and Saturday nights

• Drag races out by the airport

• When Ottumwa had stores on both side of the stree for 3 blocks on Main and Second Streets

• The old Rialto and Zephyr theatres

• Sledding at Wildwood Park and Memorial Park

• Everything meant no ketchup at the Canteen. You had to say "everything including…"

• The doll collection downstairs at the library

• The night the lumberyard across from Irving School burned down

• Watching the women wrap your Christmas gifts (for free) in Younker's basement

• Barnyard Bounce & Sock Hops at Evans Jr. High

• Willie's Pit Barbeque

• Ranks Discount Store

• Seifert's & Libson Shops, Hub & Poling's Clothiers and Graham Department Store

• Easter's Super Valu, Hy-Vee, Fareway and Bob's Market (south side)

• Brinegar's Dairy Cream

• Argus Annual Yearbook

• Foreign exchange students

• North and South sides of town.

• Ice skating at Memorial Park.

• Mr. Crow in the warming house at Memorial Park.

• Speed (the person).

• The flood

• Summer band concerts in Central Park.

• Two-stepping at the roller skating rink.

• 4th of July fireworks at the Country Club.

• Walking up Court Hill.

• Free baby root beers at A & W.

• The gas wars, when they were giving gasoline away but we still had to pay only the state tax which was next to nothing.

• Taking the bus and getting to pull the buzzer for your corner.

• Neiswanger's Restaurant pork tenderloin sandwiches.

• Swenson's Bakery-birthday cakes and long johns.

• The little gas station by Horace Mann School where you could get Nigger Babies, candy buttons on the paper strip and wax pop bottles.

• Colonel Sanders Fried Chicken, the first fast food store.

• Catching a train at the station.

• Chief Wapello's grave.

• The California Zephyr.

• The town skyscraper ... the Hofmann Building.

• Jerry, the popcorn man (sold popcorn in a little stand by the tracks north of the Market St. Bridge.).

• The first Pizza store on Church Street

• Walsh kids going to school at the old airport buildings north of town.

• New McDonald's on the west end-hamburgers for 15 cents and French fries for a dime.

• Walking to OHS football games at Schafer Field.

• Allen's Dress Store.

• Cross' Dress Store.

• Bookin's Jewelry Store where everyone registered for weddings.

• The crosswalk on Main and Market streets where you could cross diagonally when the walk light came on.

• The smell of Morrell's on a summer night

• The elevator at Younker's where the lady sat on her stool-closed the gate thingie and then the doors ... many times she didn't quite hit the level of the floor.

• Madden's also had an elevator-in the back and there was a balcony in the back of the store where John Madden sat and watched every thing.

• The old Penny's had no A/C and when you bought something the clerk put the money and paperwork in an oval metal container and hooked it on some kind of a system and it whizzed upstairs to the business office. Then sent your change and receipt back.

• Remember the soda fountain in Woolworth's and the bird that talked that they wouldn't sell.

• The dog statue in the cemetery.

• Dr. Robert's office above McWilliams Drug. He made house calls..

• Hofmann Drug Store soda fountain and the sweet smell when you walked in.

• Dances at the Coliseum.

• YMCA and swimming in the nude.

• Corral Board.

• Detention.

• Creaky wood stairs at Washington Junior High.

• Miniature golf by A & W on N. Court.

• Roller skating at the airport (And Gene Meek).

• Tom Tom Tap.

• The Pink Pig.

• Dancing classes with Millie Horrabin/Lois Rae Watts.

• Millie Horrabin's Dance Recitals.

• Ottumwa Drive-In - need I say more!.

• Easter chicks-some dead at Earl May.

• Mardi Gras-the queen and her court-their glamour pics were displayed in Younker's windows and sent to a famous star who picked the Queen, Princess, First and Second Attendant.

• Molly's.

• The Hub.

• Waiting for the bus at Penny's.

• The Greyhound Bus Station.

• Swinging on the swings at the Reservoir on N. Court and watching the cars go by.

• 1952-53 polio scare.

• Munie pool on the Southside.

• Corn picker Drive-in.

• The round Central Park.

• The shoe store that used an xray machine to fit your shoes.

• The great looking lifeguards at the municipal pool.

• Henry's hamburger place on the Southside.

• United Food Store.

• The Height's fire.

• Rustic Village.

• Ballingall Hotel.

• The smell of Sunbeam Bread when they were baking.

• Home milk delivery.

• Taking coca cola and aspirin for a buzz.

• Soap Box Derby Races

• Summer days at Lake Wapello.

• Carol Morris, Miss Universe 1956, just one of the lifeguards at the municipal pool.

• Allen's book store-had penny candy in big glass jars and all of the Nancy Drew Mysteries.

• The perverted monkey in the little zoo around the bottom of the water tower at Memorial Park .

• The "singing" Vine Street bridge.

• KTVO was the only TV channel we could get.

• Going to the Munie pool and stopping afterwards at "Polly's"or across the street at Hallberg's Grocery-later Cal's Jack and Jill.

• The grand march at the skating rink.

• Guy's Potato Chips

• The colored fountain lights at the train depot

• Ray's Café

• The special blend face powders in Younker's –lavender and green—to mix with their basic powders

• The original U. S. Post Office near downtown

• Sorden's Music

• Square dancing lessons in the YMCA

• Herbie with the yellow Cadillac—and the white wall tires

• Molly's restaurant with the free after dinner candy basket for children with Safe-T pops

• Cheering at a Franklin Jr. High BB game and playing in the band at half time; attire: gored corduroy skirts & ban-lon sweaters w/snapped on letter "F"

• Sunday night Luther league meetings

• and The smell of John Morrell most any night..........