38. Remembering Winchester While I Still Can-Glen Coffman

I found this in a box of 'stuff' at the museum. There is no date, but possibly Mr. Coffman wrote this in the 1980's? Does anyone have information on him? We would like to hear from you.


A Few Things I Remember While I Still Can.

 I'm almost 74 years old and writing about the time I was growing up in Winchester till I was 19 and I married Betty Jean and moved to Union City.
  My mom had a beauty shop in the front room of our house with Mary Burkhardt also a beautician helping her. Four doors west of us, Art Jackson had a shoe repair shop.
  Pardon some of the spelling of some peoples names; The Best family had a grocery store on the North side of the square with wood floors and wrapped meat in wax paper and tied it with a string. Their son John, an only child, was a WW II casualty, one of several from the Winchester area.
  There was a bowling alley above a hardware store on the North side of the square downtown. Going up a wide stairway at the top, the alleys were on the left and the Masonic Hall was on the right till it caught fire and destroyed it.
  Roy Durbin had a taxi business, later sold to Mrs. Foust on the NW corner of N Main & W North streets which was a DX service station. Opposite corner was Paul Ables Buick garage later sold to Gene Moyer from Union City and across the street from it was A.D. Hinshaw's grocery. The Chevrolet garage was next door to the Jail across the alley.
  South of Hinshaw's grocer was the Cozy theatre, then Carpenters auto parts supply, next at the alley was a Shell gas station operated by Fred James, he and another fellow used the grease gun and greased a kid's behind. They were fired and later the station was torn down and Jim Bowman built his loan office there. Still South across the alley was Cox's photograph place, next to it was Gutherys leather tanning store that also made anything you needed made of leather. When the bank next to it on the corner of W. Washington street and North Main was robbed, Mr. Wagner, a truck driver that lived in Winchester, was a main character that helped stop the robbers North of town, from getting away.
  Mr. Pat Davis, having only one arm, had a popcorn stand in front of the Lyric theatre. His sons, Bob and John and daughter Mary Alice helped run it. Beside it was a drinking fountain. It was one of four drinking fountains that was around the square, one in the center of each block. The overflow ran into a round bowl near the bottom of the pedestal where pets could also get a drink.
  Family Dr. Moroney had his practice in the front room of his house across the alley behind Engles music store on East Franklin street and Mrs. Moroney had a women's hat and apparel shop on the west side of the square. Across the street from Dr. Moroney's home was Lykin's printing shop, west was the telephone office and the operators were upstairs using the old fashioned plug the wires into the switchboard to your home and any other telephone number. Most people were on party lines, and you had certain short and long rings to let you know they were ringing your number, but you could pick up the receiver and listen in on other conversations, knowing good and well other people were going to listen in on yours also. Calling California sometimes took almost an hour. Dr. Painter had his office in the front of his home across the street from the restaurant on east Franklin. Dr. Robison and his nurse, Mrs. Wilson, was above the Lyric theatre.
  The Amen tabernacle was on the East edge of town. They raised the sides of the building for ventilation and inside it had wooden benches from one end to the other. Always large crowds attended.
  Lucky Teeter and his Hell Drivers came to Funk's speedway each year. Carnivals and side shows were held in the field west of Bunsold's market. Mrs. McCammish had a black electric car that looked like a pumpkin with glass windows all around it. Forward or reverse was determined by which way you faced and which way you pushed the stick you drove it by.
  The newspaper office was on the north end of the By-Lo furniture store building next to the alley. The offices were upstairs and the presses downstairs. North across the alley was the Youth Center managed by Howard White and his family. Howard also managed the outdoors portable skating rink across the road west of Funk's speedway in the summer time.
  The Dixie fruit store was on the south west corner of the square on Meridian street. A Gambles hardware store next to it. Puckett's meat market next to it that sold their famous salt cured hams and other pork products that was done on their farm in the barn.
  The fire station on West Franklin street, a Mr. Mills was the Chief for many years. Across the alley from it was a barn like building that bought fur pelts of many different kinds of animals from trappers.
  The kindergarten was beneath the city library and was taught by Mrs. Simmons for many years. The McCammish glove factory where Wick's pies is now, also made clothes for the dead.
  The hospital was a 4 story building with 15 steps up to the front door on the north side. A small Shell station west of it was also a small grocery in behind the two hand pumped gasolene pumps with their tall glass bowls on top that fed gas to your car by gravity. A Mr. Hinshaw owned and operated it. He had to be in his 80's then.
  West of the Overmyer foundry was the city dump at the north end of town where I could go and sort through it for maybe something I could make something out of it. Or just to shoot rats. East of the foundry across North Main street was a Crosley car dealer, later selling Nash's. There was lover lanes around the waters edges of the gravel pits N.W. of town. There was an ice house on the east end of  the Goodrich elevator at the railroad tracks on N. Main street. They made blocks of ice there. You could buy it there, or have it delivered to your house by Mr. Byrum with his horse and wagon.
  A coal yard at 300 W. North street was also ran by Mr. Byrum. He sold it by the ton and if you couldn't haul it yourself, he brought it to your house and shoveled it into your coal bin by hand, a scoop at a time.
  Used oil was sprayed on gravel streets and driveways to hold down the dust. Augsburger had a cycle shop out on Beeson Drive. He sold Harley Davidson motor cycles, Schwinn bicycles and Evenrude outboard motors. Patterson had a recycling scrap yard on Beeson drive that bought paper and metals during the war effort. Caddies at the golf course carried the bags before carts you pulled were used and then the electric and gasoline golf carts came into style.
  Mr. Gillum, a piano teacher, drove a light yellow Buick that had 2 chrome notes on his front fenders behind the wheel wells. And of course, the three old maids that taught at the Willard school. Cornelius, Ford and Reynard, who later married a farmer from Ohio after she retired.
  Roy Beachler had a bicycle repair shop east of the Rainbow restaurant where there is now a pizza place. Next door to it next to the Friends Church was Dr. Davis who had a dentist office in the front of his house. Across the street Spradling brothers had a Pure oil gas station with a Phillips gas station next door ran by Paul Jones and Lyle Overmyer. Esther Baker, a relative of Mrs. Engle, drove from Muncie three days a week to give swimming lessons at the round Goodrich swimming pool next to the park with first it having a water moat around the outer parameter for little swimmers and eventually they filled it with play sand for several years till kids kept throwing the sand into the water and the sand was removed. Red and blue colored lights surrounded the pools edge for effect when swimming at night till ten. Round windows in the center isle, under the water level so life guards could check for swimmers in the deep end that might need help, or beyond help. That never happened though.
  The roquet court in the park was where elderly gentlemen played with short handled roquet mallets that had soft rubber on one end and a hard surface on the other end. The court was very smooth with a light sandy surface and cement walls around the edge for bank shots. The balls were smaller than regular croquet balls and were made of hard rubber. The wickets were laid out same as a regular croquet court but with smaller openings. The game had the same rules as croquet. Lights were strung across it one end to the other for night playing. The walls are still there, but the court itself has been filled somewhat and grass is growing in it now. It was always busy. A pipe that ran cool artesian well water 24 hours a day was at the bottom of the hill next to the tennis court.
  When there was no north and south bypass around town, all traffic came through downtown. The inner urban line that ran straight through town down the center of Washington street from Muncie to Union City. It ran farther than that both ways, but that was the main concern of the Winchester riders  Some rode it all the way to Indianapolis.
  Mac McGlothlin had a Sunoco gas station on the east edge of Washington street, later made into Brouse Brothers Oliver tractor sales and it is now a NAPA auto parts dealer is there. Orville and Cecil Brouse sold Plymouth and DeSotos on the east edge of town. Roy Durbin got the first DeSoto convertible after the war. Al Comer had a Sinclair station on the west end of Washington street with a big dinosaur sign at the side of it.
  The Winchester cemetery no doubt has twice the residence now than it did when I was growing up.
  Everett Cox had a small airport east on Greenville pike. Took passengers and also gave lessons. He had a Waco double winger and a couple of Taylor Crafts. His wife managed the books. When there was an air show, there would be an airplane idling on the runway and Everett would emerge from the office in a woman's dress and bonnet, crawl into the plane while the announcer was howlering for her to stay away from the plane, but of course he got in and did a couple of spin arounds and then all of a sudden he was airborne doing crazy things.
  I know there was a lot more things going on back in those days, but this was a quick note of things I could recollect right now.
  Thank you for your time reading this and hope you can also remember some of these places. I know I got more around town than most people because I had several paper and magazine routes. Plus I liked exploring new areas. After I got my drivers license, it was exploring new cities. The poor ole 41 tan DeSoto of the folks sure took a beating. It was a whole story in itself, nothing to brag about, just telling you the way it was.  Thanks for listening,  Glen Coffman
[Just the way he wrote this, spelling and all.]