23rd Avenue
Moline
Stories set here
- Seven Children, Shared Adventures, and Sisterly MischiefDiana remembers Iris cutting hair, Bernie rescuing her from punishment and playing records, and Bob driving four younger sisters to school and building an igloo with Billy Johnson. Carol served as a second mother, led 4-H meetings, and accompanied Diana to the State Fair. Dee was a card-playing companion and peacekeeper. Diana and Barb shared sleeping space, television suppers, prank calls, forbidden games, and adventures with Carol’s car. Family outings included the drive-in, ice cream, carnival rides, and drag races.
- Saturday Auctions, Peanuts, and Picture ShowsDad, Bernie, and Bob attended Saturday auction sales, bringing home things Dad put to use. Afterwards Dad stopped for beer at a Highland-area tavern while the boys enjoyed peanuts and soda pop. Some Saturday afternoons the family went to the Highland Movie Theatre on 23rd Avenue, usually for a double feature. Dad gave each child thirty-five cents for admission and a snack; Roy Rodgers and Gene Autrey were remembered as popular stars.
- Dee Finds Her Calling Behind the Salon ChairAfter graduating from Hurley’s, Dee began at the Powder Puff Beauty Salon in Moline, wearing the legally required white uniform and shoes and shampooing hair while building a clientele. Her first paycheck bought a red synthetic turtleneck at The New York Store that she still wears. After marrying Ernie, she opened the immediately successful Dee’s Beauty Salon in Coal Valley. Her career brought joy and lifelong friendships, including loyal customer Faye Swears.
- The Garden That Fed the FamilyThe orchard and garden supplied fruit, berries, and vegetables that Carol's mother preserved for winter, with help from Grandpa Williams and Iris. Carol recalls shelling peas, snapping beans, apple pies, and the sound of canning lids sealing. About 1950, she helped her father prepare tomatoes for sale to Sam Gnatovich at three dollars a bushel and kept the proceeds. Her father later sold the garden land to George and Evelyn Sajben. In later years, family members could not reproduce their mother's dill pickles and suspected her well water made the difference.
- An Ice Cream Stop at RosellesOn trips with Daddy, the children begged for cones whenever they passed Roselles on 23rd Avenue. Although Daddy often refused, occasional stops brought great happiness. The store sold Sealtest Ice Cream, and some cones contained a “Free Cone” note in the tip.
- Carol’s Extra Basket of Back-Then MemoriesAfter the book was finished, Carol collected memories Bernie said there was not enough room to include. Her nostalgic list moves from Mom reading the funnies, homemade treats, and Dad's comparison of a Studebaker to a two-row corn picker to Bob's Davy Crockett hat, Bernie's stilts, school dances, fashions, childhood games, illnesses, street names, music, and remembered entertainment quotations.
- Bob's Bright Fragments of ChildhoodBob lists vivid childhood memories: neighbors, a gasoline burn while playing with a toy steamshovel, Barbara refusing medicine, Bernie's skating injury, and Tom Johnson knocking out power lines with a falling tree. He recalls visiting the Rodgers in Cordova, swimming at Campbell’s Island, annual Riverside Park picnics, Iris’s wedding, and poker games with Art and Eileen Cordingly. Other memories include orchard camping and spraying, gathering walnuts, toys and homemade kites, fireworks, homemade foods, hauling water when the well dried up, building a house addition, basement heat relief and flooding, coal heating, backyard tomatoes, and the surviving mailbox millstone.
- Learning to Ride and Making an Old Bike ShineBernard loved his repeatedly repainted bicycle. Daddy proudly declared him a remarkably quick learner, unaware that he had already practiced on Iris’ bike with Bobby's help. The children enjoyed spraying gravel with dramatic starts and stops. Bernard learned to ride hands-free, but copying Ray Rohrer's seat-standing stunt left his knee full of gravel. Bicycle errands included buying Mom's Marvel cigarettes at Fredrickson’s Market with no money left for treats.
- Freebies at Herby's Fireworks TentHerby Spahn ran a fireworks stand on 23rd Avenue for a few years, stocking it through trips to Saint Louis, Missouri. His selection included expensive skyrockets, Bob's favorite whistling Bottle Rockets, and M-80's. A chicken-wire fence separated customers from the merchandise for theft prevention and fire safety. Herb rewarded the narrator and companions with freebies for lingering at the fence to attract customers. The narrator admired the colorful wrappers and foreign-looking graphics nearly as much as the fireworks.
Events here
later
Sam replaces his market with a bowling alley
Sam tore down his open-air supermarket and built a bowling alley on the property, called Highland Park Bowl and Wells Fargo Lounge at the time of the account.
Childhood
Bike trips to the fireworks stand
The narrator remembers bicycle trips to the fireworks stand.
for a few years
Herby Spahn's roadside fireworks stand
Herby operated a fireworks stand supplied through trips to Saint Louis, Missouri. He gave free fireworks to the narrator and companions for helping attract customers.
Family corrections
Notes sent in by the family and approved on review. They sit alongside the original record — the book's wording is never changed.
No corrections on file for this record yet.
Suggest a correction