FINAL PART: Lindenwald in the 1940s and 1950s

By David R. Burkart

This is the tenth, and final part, of a series of excerpts from David R. Burkart, who spent his life as a youngster growing up in Lindenwald during the 1940s and 1950s.

I think Leo and Bob’s Barber Shop at Fairview and Benninghofen avenues must be long gone. Almost certain would be that Leo and Bob are long gone, along with the constant conversation that took place there. I think mom would rather have starved than for us to miss our every other week (or so it seemed) haircuts.

 

There was some problem about me getting lunch at St. Ann in the first grade. So mom and dad worked out a deal for me to walk to Mary Ann Cole's house on Hooven or Clinton near River Road for lunch. We more often than not had Moose Brand limburger cheese sandwiches for lunch. Mary Ann was my third cousin, as was Louise Schuerfranz.

Dottie Sue Hendrickson lived near what became Richard's Pizza in the 1950s. We often walked to school together and I even carried her books at times. We were the two smallest children in our classes when she went to St. Ann. Her family left for the West Side around 1950. She and Mary Ann and Louise became cheerleaders for Notre Dame and Hamilton Catholic high schools. Just as a side note, ND was for girls only and HC for boys only.

After Dottie left the area, I often walked Carol Fath home on Hooven Avenue near the railroad. Carolyn Jackman lived directly across Forest Avenue from us. She didn't go to St. Ann. Her brother, Jim, and I often sported knots on our heads from rocks or dirt balls thrown by the other. As I got to be a teenager, Carolyn became my heart throb. I don't know if she ever knew that. I went away to St. Gregory Seminary in Mt. Washington for high school and a different life for 4 years. Marion Isgrow lived near the railroad on our same block. Her dad owned Isgro's Restaurant on East Ave. I think she was a cheerleader with the others later on.

Most of the things I remember about Lindenwald have changed except St. Ann, and that has probably changed also to some degree. I have changed too. I don't know that I would want to go back to those times. Louis and Bob Scheurfranz had a printing shop (Allied Printing) on the corner of Weller and Zimmerman avenues east of the railroad. I worked there after they were long gone. I kept my camera handy on a shelf near the side door and got a number of interesting shots. I got Amtrak occasionally when it was running late. I got a picture of a dedicated train of military tanks on special flat cars with 6-wheel trucks. As a pre-teen I almost got a job near St. Mary's Cemeter,y where I would have used a hand-operated machine to insert a penny in a package of cigarettes so that they could be sold out of vending machines without short changing the customer. Talk about times changing.

I hope you have enjoyed this series of memories. I sincerely hope you might contribute to it when you get a chance. Thanks for your interest.