Northwest Indiana Discussion

I wrote the following little essay a while back about the neighborhood where I grew up.

I had a fantastic childhood on Woodward Avenue during the 1950's and 1960's. God blessed me with wonderful parents; Dad worked hard and was devoted to his family, and Mom stayed home and kept house. I am very grateful that Mom didn't work outside the home and that she was there for me every day after school. Mom and Dad took me to church every Sunday. I could not possibly have had a better set of parents.

Here's my story about my neighborhood...

My mom and dad moved to 6432 Woodward Avenue with their six and a half year old son, yours truly, very late in 1955. That is where I would spend the remainder of my childhood. Since I was so young when we moved there, virtually all of my childhood memories go back to Woodward Avenue. It was a wonderful place to grow up.

My neighborhood was in the shape of a right triangle whose legs were Calumet Avenue on the west and 165th Street on the south. The hypotenuse of this right triangle, which formed the northeastern boundary, was the set of Monon RR tracks running from northwest to southeast between Calumet Avenue and 165th Street.

One of the streets included in my neighborhood was Crescent Place, which runs parallel to the Monon right-of-way (The tracks are gone now.). This is the site of the new Maywood School. The houses that were on the east side of Crescent Place when I was living in the neighborhood were torn down to make room for the school.

Woodward Avenue was my street. It is only one block long, the 6400 block, and runs from 165th Street to Cleveland Street, with Crescent Place intersecting it at an angle at the north end, near Cleveland St. Woodward runs parallel to Calumet Avenue and two blocks east of it.

The next street to the west of Woodward was Euclid Avenue, which was only two blocks long, the 6300 and 6400 blocks.

The western edge of the neighborhood included the 6300 and 6400 blocks of Calumet Avenue.

I was a frequent customer of Sweitzer's Bakery, located on the west side of the 6400 block of Calumet Avenue. The bakery was attached to Burgers Super Market on the corner of Calumet and Cleveland. I went there often to get my "fix" of chocolate brownies, which were covered with a thick layer of chocolate icing. The ladies who worked there called me the "Brownie Boy." Burger's moved to 165th and Columbia, and Sweitzer's either moved or just closed up entirely.

Also on the west side of Calumet Avenue’s 6400 block was Van’s Barber Shop, where I usually went for my haircuts.

Our next-door neighbors to the south were the Tonkovich's. You could not ask for better neighbors. There was Fritz and Stella, the mom and dad, and their six kids. Now the two oldest girls, Julia and Patsy, were out on their own and not living with their folks any more, but they were often over there for visits. Mickey, Sharon, David, and Kathy were there when I lived on Woodward. The Tonkovich's were fine people, and it was a joy to live next to them.

I saw Fritz, Patsy, Sharon, and Kathy on my recent visit to Hammond. Stella had passed away, and I believe they said that she died in 1997. How sad that I let so many years go by with no contact with any of the Tonkovich's. It HAD to have been at least since 1977 or 1978 that I had seen or talked to any of them. Why do we let people whom we care about slip into our past with no attempt to maintain communication with them?

Between the houses at the northern and eastern end of our neighborhood and the Monon tracks was a vacant field. Immediately behind the houses on Cleveland Street was an area where the neighborhood kids played sandlot football and baseball. There was an alley behind those houses, but there was also a little dirt road that ran parallel to the alley and a little further out into the field, and which tied-in with the alley at the eastern and western ends of the block. It was between the alley and that road that we played touch football, and this was also the "infield" for our baseball games.

There was a big cottonwood tree in that field just to the east of our ball playing area, and some of the older kids in the neighborhood built a tree house in it. Jimmy and Pepper Rodda were the chief architects. Those boys lived at the end of Crescent Place, where it ties in with Woodward. Their old house was one of the ones torn down when Maywood School was built. Pepper was two years older than I, and Jimmy was a couple years older than Pepper.

Another great attraction in that big field was the remnants of some kind of building. Only sections of the concrete floor and foundation remained from the building, and the soil had been dug out from under some of these sections. This was the perfect place to play army! The dug out areas served as cover from the withering fire brought to bear on us by the enemy and was a good place to care for the wounded.

I miss those days of my youth in the fifties and early sixties. Life was sweet, and I had a super good childhood there on Woodward Avenue.

Now, tell me about YOUR neighborhood.

I grew up in Crown Point Ind. in a neighborhood where there were probably 15-20 kids all around the same age give or take 5 years. We played what we called "night tag" almost every summer night. There was a corner in the neighborhood with a pole that held the street signs. One person would guard the pole while the rest of us would hide in the neighborhood and try to make our way back to the pole without getting caught by the pole guard. We spent entire evenings doing this. Let me tell you there were several little "puppy loves" developed during this game. You know, hiding in the same place with the opposite sex and then one thing would lead to the other. But only kissing I'm sure. Anyway, it was a great time in my childhood and it is what I always think about when thinking about my old neighborhood.

being a bit younger my story isnt quite as nostalgic. but ill give it a go.


my parents divorced when i was about 4 years old. my mother, an aspiring teacher at the time wound up moving us in with her mother in a large green house right across from the little red school house in hessville. while i didnt spend my whole childhood there, or in hammond (eventually we moved to griffith where i went to school) I do have some fond memories of that time for reasons ill explain in a bit.

from the age of 4 to about 8 i lived with my mother and grandma in the big green house on orchard drive across from hessville park. there used to be several houses on the street, but over time the church, olph which owned nieghboring land, bought most of them or tore down the ones they already owned while planning to build there new church on the land.

one by one the houses of my nieghbors came tumbling down. i was particularly saddened at the age of 5 when my best friend of the time, michael and his family, moved away leaving the next door property vacant for which the new olph church presently sits.

I went to caldwell school, which was convieniant since my grandmother was also the crossing guard at the school. that meant it was pretty easy to get too and from while my mom would go off to teach her own classes. my grandmother sat at that same corner for every school day for nearly 30 years before she retired in the early 90's. she took the job for the insurance shortly after she was widowed by the death of my grandfather in the mid 60's.

now not having any nieghboring homes on adjacent properties, one would think i wouldnt have had much of an appreciation for the neighborhood i spent some of my formative years in. but nothing could be further from the truth.

living across the street from a park, meant i was pretty much across the street from grand central station for 6 and 7 year olds. i pretty much lived in the park during the summer and warm weather weekends. there was always some festival going on or senior league games. it may not seem like something to do now...but at the time watching the bigger kids play baseball and shagging foul balls for them seemed like an entertaining thing to do. thinking back on it now. there was the first time i got stuck in the crabapple tree around age 5. there was the time i got into my first fight with a kid picking on my little cousin. now that i think of it, most of my youthfull firsts, happenned in that park. remember my grandmother lived there long after i moved, so i often returned to the park later in life too. eventually i recall having my first ciggerrette there to impress a certain girl. and my first kiss too with that same girl. (now kids you really shouldnt try to use that)

local taverns used to have softball games literally right in front of our porch. my grandmother loved to spend afternoons just sitting in a rocking chair listening to the cubs games and watching the men play softball. and i loved to sit out there too because it was a chance to here my grandmother tell me what was going on with everyone else in our large extended family. i think thats when i first became a cub fan listening to vince lloyd and lou beudrieux talking about the likes of jose cardenal, rick monday and george mitterwald. and im almost certain that porch is where i first learned the fact that larry bittner was the last remaining player from the old washington senators organization.

as i mentioned i had a pretty large extended family. all told 14 cousins all within about 10 years of each other in age. living at my grandmothers house this meant weekends were always family events. the cousins would come over and we;d wind up walking to the corner (now teachers federal credit union) for ice cream, although i cant remember the store. or on the corner of 171rst and arizona to sitnicks candy store...wow i can actually remember penny candy now that i think about it. or if we were really adventurous wed walk up to pow wow on 169th for a bite to eat (no mcd's or bk back then).

but what i really remember about that time was getting to know my grandmother. having lived in hammond nearly 50 years before her passing last april. she was truly a hammond charector. while i know much of this may not make much sense to you....if you'll allow me to post a eulogy i wrote for her than..... i think maybe you will get some of the flavor i experienced during my youth in hammond.

The woman we are remembering today lived an incredible life. born in a small town that wasnt even a town yet in 1909 grace toomey had to learn to work hard early in life. she helped build the family business, tomeys resort on cedar lake doing a little of everything to keep the guests entertained. she cooked and cleaned, tended bar, did whatever needed to be done, and to hear her tell it hustled some pool back in her youth to help make ends meet. obviously none of us in this room actually knew her back then. Which may explain the overly romantic image she sometimes painted to all of us when telling of her life at that time. obviously growing up at a vacation resort in the middle of nowhere during the teens and 20's couldnt have been all that pleasent. But whennever she talked about it even the complaints were fond memories. she said it made her tough, and strong, and prepared her for life.

eventually she met my grandfather. pete. who i was never fortunate enough to know. after twins came completing there family of 5 children they decided they needed a bigger home so they packed up there belongings and moved to a new house. the home we all know as grandmas house.

money was tight so grandma worked at hiawatha gardens, also a toomey family business. She was a working mother before there was such a term. she cleaned, cooked, worked and still had to scrimp and save. and somehow she endured. and later in life when she passed on her recollections, i never once heard her complain without a whistfull look in her eye. sure she'd tell stories which sounded like trying times such as when her son burned down the chicken coop or used his sister joan as a dart board but still she'd always end the story with a positive note such as those were the days or her trade mark Oh god!

Its ironic that she never really had enough money untill later in her life. most of us here never new her when her finances were a struggle.

but all of us grandkids have had a taste of her life back then. literally. im not sure how many people nowadays have ever experienced home made syrup. and lord knows what she used to put in her chop suey.

and then when the kids were just about grown, she was dealt the hardest blow of all. her husband died. suddenly a house that had been filled with noise since she moved in must have felt quite empty to her. but she went back to work. the job most of us grandkids remember her as, a crossing guard down the street at caldwell school. and some how she endured.

when my parents first got married. she opened her home so they had a place to stay. when they got divorced she did it again for my mother and me and helped raise me. in fact many of us grand kids personally benefitted from the importance grandma put on helping her family by staying with her for extended periods of time.

i can still remember when i was very little when my mother worked her second job in the evenings grandmas list of favorite tv shows which of course became mine because i was on her lap most of the time while she watched them. there was ironsides and that cute guy with the sideburns on hawaii 5-0. the rookies and barnaby jones. i dont really remember what we talked about back then but i still find myself wondering whatever became of that rachel from one life to live.


and then there were words and images that were uniquely grandma, ma, or grace to all of us. things that evoke different memories in the minds of all who knew her. things like
pinnochal. spaghetti and candy corn on bunco club night, homemade bread, the davenport, her homemade humidifyer (hesitate) a pan of water on the hot air vents.. chefarobe, cream spaghetti and salmon patties on fridays. pancakes, the last rotary phone in use in the state of indiana, those wine bottles that were in the basement for at least 30 years, nerf basketball in the kitchen, we never told the price of anything. glory glory halleluja on the piano. pin curls, numerous shades of red. which almost prevented one cousin in law from joining the family. when she first met grandma she was cursing up a storm about a recent bad die job. i guess she thought granma was a little crazy and was worried it ran in the family.

watching hessville go by from the porch. a partridge in a pair tree at christmas and poker in the backroom, sitnicks candy store. lady, rocky, patches, and yoda the three legged cat.whiffle ball where in the tree was a ground ruled double and bird bath was second base. goulash, square bowls, the mislabled faucet, chrisy was stevey and lisa was jenny and karen was kelley. ping pong paddles, although we never saw a ping pong table, the ice cream place on the corner, graham crackers and frosting, mayonnaise cake, dwayne upstairs, her friend joe, irene, juanita, bobby, aunt marg, aunt florence, and tiny, that darn flowergarden clarence and i spent are childhood cleaning out.

that reminds me. i remember one summer shed been after us all year to work on that garden. finally she offered to pay us to do it, so clarence and i spent a whole day in 90 degree heat cleaning it out. and she wound up giving us two dollars.

Another thing that was uniquely grandma was her unusual form of insulation for her home. shed just jam old rags into the cracks of her doors. karen was telling me how one night when her and laurie were little they were staying over. and they feared grandma was going to punish them once and for all when she started stabbing the rags into place.

she was very sensitive about her cooking. everyone always tried to tell her how great there food was. clarence tells the story of how one time he told her how much she loved her dumplings (which were pretty good by the way). then one day his dad decided to splurge and brought home steak and lobster. clarence says grandma and his dad really enjoyed it, but he'd never know how good it was himself. you see granmda had made him a special plate of dumplings that night.

as you can probably tell the one constants in grandmas life was her family. nothing meant more to her in life.she worked to support her parents and siblings, then her husband and children, and eventually even there children.

all of this culminates today in the family you see in this church today, the wilsons. to date there are 29 of us who can trace are bloodlines directly to her and many more who have joined voluntarily by marriage. and it seems like there are more of us every year. in my last stint in grandma's house i think i became luckiest of all in the family because i actually know how proud she was of each and everyone of us. Grandma didnt always tell us so directly. but believe me, i know how much she loved everyone in this room. how proud she was of all of our achievements. how much joy she got out of hearing and telling stories about each new great grand child.

and i know how proud she'd be, how proud and thankfull i am, of how so many of you sacrificed in this past year to make sure that she had the best care possible.

All of us here today know grace wilson by a different name. to some its simply grace or mrs wilson. to others mom, grandma or grandma grace. but we all remember her for the simple things that she appreciated so much. sitting on a porch looking at her beloved park. a simple bouquet of flowers for the kitchen table, or listening to the cub game on the radio to her lou buedreu, jack brickhouse, vince loydd and later harry carey and later ron santo.

speaking of the cubs they say that in chicagoland you are a cub or sox fan by birth passed down from father to son. my dad's a diehard sox fan. its a testiment to granmas presence that i am a cub fan.

when i lived upstairs the two of us shared a signal everytime the cubs did something good. she'd hit the cieling with a broom to tell me to make sure i had the game on. on sunday night, the day she had passed on, when michael barret hit a grand slam to beat the cardinals some fans started throwing brooms on to the field. to most watching i know that was just a sign of someone who'd been overserved celebrating the pending cub sweep of the cardinals. but to me it was a signal that grandma was watching.

and i know that she is. and right now she's saying they shouldnt be making so much of a fuss over me. the casket is too expensive, there are too many flowers..... but behind all of that i know she's thinking deep down how happy she is to have so many children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends who after 96 years still feel they are being cheated by her passing at such a young age.

Thanks, Party42 and Oracle, for sharing your childhood memories.

Wow, I really enjoyed reading all that you wrote, Oracle. I have fond memories of my grandmother, too, but she lived in KY, where I live now. I spent entire summers with her when I was 8, 9, and 10 years old back in the late 50's.

You two have some great memories, just like I do.

Tom

okay, my turn. I grew up in Hammond and was born in 1958. The biggest memory of mine is how many kids we had on the block to play with. We would play frozen tag, leap frog, hop scotch, sometimes swim, kick the can and just play until the street lights came on. I remember my mom and the neighbor ladies would sometimes sit on the porch, drink coffee and talk while us kids were playing. Now, you are lucky to see any kids playing in the neighborhood or anyone sitting out on their porches.

I also remember me and my girlfriends would walk to Woodmar Mall, shop around, and then eat at either Walgreen's Restaurant or at Newberry's. Now, Woodmar is gone.

Yeah, Hammond4life, kids used to get together and play outdoors. They spend too much time indoors, by themselves, and playing electronic games nowadays. We grew up in the best possible time period, I do believe. I was a few years ahead of you, since I was born in 1949. I would not trade the childhood I had for a chance to grow up at any other time in history, or in any other place than Hammond.

Tom

Same here, I wouldn't give up my childhood and memories for anything. We never had cell phones, pagers, call-waiting, television remotes, computers and all that fancy stuff. The only pager we had was mom whistling when I got away and dinner was ready. We all survived!