Culbertson Grade School - Joliet, Illinois - 1949-1955
Memories of David Ullian Larson
Culbertson Grade School is in Joliet, Illinois. It is still open for
business. Now it is T.E.Culbertson Elementary School (Thomas Edwin Culbertson).
Back when I was a kid we walked to school. In the rain, in the snow. We
walked. No moms in SUV's lined up for blocks to transport kids a few blocks. If
we had a token we could ride the city lines busses. But that was rare.
Culbertson Grade School was probably eight blocks from where I lived at 214
Anderson Avenue. Could I have even walked home for lunch? Probably. I am not
sure about that. I know I rode the band bus at lunch time on some days. The band
bus picked up kids at various grade schools all over Joliet and took us downtown
Joliet to Central School where practice was held in the basement of an old
building. The Joliet Grade School Band was a big deal, then. Tryouts, concerts,
marching band, competitions. I still have medals I won from those days. And I
also have the year books that were put out with pictures of the band members. I
also remember band camp at the Boy Scout Campground. We slept in tents and
practiced music all day for a couple weeks each summer.
Culbertson is where several memories are based from my early childhood.
Here's a collection, in no particular order, of stuff which I seem to
recall. There was no kindergarten when I went to school. Two years later my
brother Terry did get to go. And Howdy Dowdy was Big. I still say Howdy when I
greet people. Go figure.
In school, I often spent punishment time standing in the hall after doing something
bad. I wasn't a terribly bad kid in first grade. But I could already read and math was
easy. So I spent time in the cloak room or in the hall after getting into
trouble. The hall was the best because I could drink what ever milk I found in
the small glass bottles that were put in the hall. Not everyone would drink
their milk. I can still recall the concept of milk money each week.
The movie on penmanship was fantastic. I still like the feel of a real ink
pen. I can write better with one to this day. I ran the movie projector to show
the movie on penmanship. I must have been a geek even then to know how to run
the projector. I could not have been older than 8 because I can recall running
the projector in second grade room. I saw that movie several times. We probably
saw it in Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Grade.
One teacher always said safety saf-e-ty so we would learn to spell it
correctly. I still think of it that way. And the a rat in the house may eat the
ice cream for arithmetic. No spell check then beyond the dictionary and the
brain.
I got all A's on my report card only once from Miss Long. That was Third
Grade.
Weekly Readers were great. I mostly liked the pictures.
In winter when the roads were covered with snow, I often tried to hop cars and get pulled home while holding onto
the bumper. Dangerous, sure. But great fun. Those innocent times will
probably never return for anyone. The bus was 5 cents or a token. I would rather spend my 5
cents on a candy bar. Yep. A candy bar was 5 cents except a Carmello which was a
dime.
On the walk home there was always something interesting to see or do. The
shoe shop had a tall stool near the counter. When I went in there to pick up or drop off
something, (yes we did have shoes repaired in those days), I was put on the
stool and called King. I guess the men did that there to keep us kids quiet
while they worked.
They did it to every little kid who came in the place.
Sometimes I would go behind the school where household items were dumped
down a steep hill.
Not food garbage. But stuff like radios, yeah. Or other electrical appliances. I
would dig through the trash looking for something to break or fix. Either way. I
was a dump rat in those days. The dumping went on for years. And the slant of
the dump was ferocious. A real cliff. The more danger, the better. I probably
imagined I was climbing a mountain or something. You know how kids are. My
mother never knew we did that sort of thing. She has passed on so I can let out the
secret. We also looked through the trash in alley ways on the way home thinking
we would find something great. Once we found a stack of National Geographic
Magazines. I saved the pictures of sea shells for years. Don't know where they
are now. But I do have a huge collection of actual National Geographic going
back to the early 1900's when they were black and white.
Wouldn't you know that
once my collection of National Geographic magazines got huge there would be something like a CD set of discs with
every magazine on them that was ever printed with search and all. I have a set. One fact is
that the CD does not have the advertisements on them. So the old magazines are
still better for holding and reading. You get the full flavor from the actual
thing. They also have a smell to them that is nice. A virtual National
Geographic is something good to give as a gift, but I prefer the actual thing.
The CD stuff is good, though, because I can not seem to get the magazines from
the war years.
The barber shop across from the Methodist Church in Ingalls Park seemed to
always have a foul smell about it. That is probably because the guy who ran the
shop burned the hair he cut in a pile behind his 12 foot by 12 foot shop. It was
a brown building large enough for one chair. I don't think I ever got my hair
cut there. We were always glad to see the road crew come through so we could
pick up a fresh piece of black tar to chew. I know we did that but do not know
why. There was also an ice wagon from time to time. And a guy who walked every
street ready to sharpen scissors and knives. Back then people fixed things
rather than get new all the time. That might be because people didn't have money
to buy new.
Other memories from the old neighborhood:
I remember picking asparagus for farmers up the street for 35 cents per hour
with a dandelion digger. And going to the neighbors house at the Perona
Grocery Store to watch television when it was new and we did not have one. We
also did not have indoor plumbing until about 1952. The outhouse was in vogue in
those days. That seems like a million years ago. Yet is was only 50.
We had great baseball games in a field at Park Road and Washington Street
until the Dairy Queen was built. It was diagonal from Gilkerson Ice Cream
Parlor. I never could see why another ice cream place was needed so close to the
other. So we lost our ball field to progress. I did a lot of grass cutting for
neighbors. The mover was the push kind with a rear bag. Kids then took a roller
skate, a piece of 2x4 and an apple crate and made a scooter. I never did have
the real thing. Just the home made variety. I had a few bicycles and even a new
one in 1956. The next new bicycle I ever got was in 1998.
Our house at 214 Anderson Avenue in Ingalls Park had fruit trees in the back
yard and lilacs on the fence row to the alley. Us kids would build forts as fast
as we could. And we would try to rescue wooden boxes from the fire pile behind
the store to make stuff. My grandfather Ullian was always willing to listen as I
explained what I wanted to build. And he would help hold pieces together as I
nailed them together. He would tell me to be an architect. I should have
listened to him.
I was a stamp collector, beginning in 1954. I would go through the trash at
the office building downtown Joliet where I took my drum lesson looking for
stamps I needed. And I belonged to a book club which had Isaac Asimov as an
author. I think it was science fiction mostly. I also belonged to a book club
for mysteries which I do not like now. I read Boys Life from cover to cover
every month wondering where I was going to get the 15 cents that was required to
get yet another package of used postage stamps from all over the entire world. I
still collect stamps to this day. My other hobbies were to put stuff together
and try to get what ever it was to work. Kind of like now. I liked ice skating
which I did on the ponds down by the railroad tracks near the Little League Ball
Field. Perhaps the best part of that was lighting a fire while we skated. One
time I put my shoes too close to the fire and burned them beyond use. I tried to
wear my Grandfathers shoes to school the next day and listened as everyone at
school laughed at my shoes. Kids can be cruel. I learned many lessons in those
days. Like tolerance. I'm not graduated from that course yet but continue to do
the homework.
I was in Cub Scouts. My mom was den mother. My dad helped get together all
the stuff we needed for our projects. We met in the basement of the Methodist
Church. We kids did all sorts of crazy stuff. My mom was great at painting
plaster of Paris models. Her stuff looked really great. My stuff was monochromic
with splotches here and there. A notable person in our pack was John Beck (THEN
and NOW) who went on to fame in TV and in the movies. He has been in many many
productions. Strange how a person can go through
a whole life and only know of one person that is publicly notable. Where do all the
famous people come from? I sure haven't met any others.
Click on the year to see the class picture from that years:
Here are the names for this class: (Please excuse spellings. Send
corrections to dularson@bellsouth.net )
Top left to right Eddie Troughton, Stanley Lawerence, Bobby Tibble, Paul
Grauer, Dennis Clark, Jerry Jackson, Billy Fraser, Cecil Caldwell, Jimmie
Spicker, John McDonald, Wayme Smeets
Center Row left to right John Kearner, David Larson, William Chaney,
John Beck, Sharon Potter, Linda Brady, Nancy Archibald, Robert Kursell, Frankie
Lindberger, Charles Gilbert, Robert Grencher
Front Row left to right Patty Gabel, Pamela Blessing, Marilyn Williams, Lynn
Cassa, Sharon Selby, Patsy Prim. Rosan Beebe, Joann Leonard, Joy Whitmore, Terry
Kelly, Marilyn Hunter
Susan Meyer was in the class but not in the picture.
Second Grade 1950-1951 -I can not seem to locate this photograph. If anyone
has this item, I sure would like a copy to add to this collection.
Third Grade 1951-1952 - I would like to
add names but am at a loss for some of them. I'll do my best. Any help would be
appreciated.
Fourth Grade 1952-1953 - I would like
to add names but am at a loss for some of them. I'll do my best. Any help would
be appreciated.
Fifth Grade 1953-1954 - I would like to
add names but am at a loss for some of them. I'll do my best. Any help would be
appreciated.
Sixth Grade 1954-1955 -I can not seem to locate this photograph. If anyone
has this item, I sure would like a copy to add to this collection.
And for a recent picture of the school, click
HERE.