PERO TOMAS 06

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Weekend Holiday

Did everyone have a good holiday? I did the un-heard of, I actually took a holiday on a holiday! That's right, no projects planned this Labor Day. No big scheme to cross something else off the to-do list. Just a bit of relaxing and visiting!

 We went to visit my sister and celebrate a birthday. It was such a lovely time! Lots of talking and laughing, good things to make and eat, a book shared aloud (one of our favorite things to do when we visit!), and a bit of sewing sneaked in. Also, another favorite thing to do while visiting! Somehow it works so well. I don't worry about carving time out from my regular schedule and can just relax and get the project done.

My favorite on-the-go project? The Sorbetto shirt! I have been working on a few new ones for fall. Once the sewing machine is out, we get all excited! Out comes fabric and patterns and a few more projects get added to the list. So not only did I get a shirt made for me but one and part of another for my sister.

(I have been so bad about taking pictures...... these are the last of the zinnias.)

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Help with the Sinclair Station and/or Campbell's Store

Location of Campbell's store, next to the library

One of the fun things that has happened since I’ve been writing the blog is that by default (and partially by intent) I’ve set myself up as, well not so much an “expert”, because I don’t claim to be that, but maybe as a clearinghouse of local history information. In that capacity, I often find people emailing me with questions about people, places, and events from MCH’s past. Sometimes I can answer them, sometimes I can’t, and sometimes –like now— I think, “I’ll bet someone else knows about this!”

The most recent query relates to a property that apparently served numerous roles during the early to middle part of the last century. It's a white house, with some obvious additions added on over the years, located on the northeast corner of Old Capital Trail and Wollaston Road, directly across Wollaston from the Kirkwood Highway Library. Anyone who's gone to the library over the years has gone right by it countless times but, like me, probably had no idea that the house had it's own unique history. Problem is, we're not real sure exactly what that history is.

A family member of the current owners contacted me and asked if I knew anything about the history of the property. I don't, but we're hoping someone out there does remember something. The current family came into the property in the mid-to-late 1950's, when it was purchased by Vickers (Vick) and Mary Campbell. They had previously lived on a farm near Richardson Park Elementary, but decided to buy this property instead of that farm.

What we know about the house right now is mostly in the form of stories and vague memories, but I'm hoping to find something more concrete. Taking into consideration what sometimes happens to family stories over the years, this house is said to have at one time or another operated as a general store, Sinclair gas station, truck stop/restaurant, school, and served as a polling place.

I'm continuing to look for anything I can find that might shed some light on this house, but if anyone can remember anything helpful, or if you have or have seen any items or pictures relating to it, please let us know. As with some of the stuff relating to Stanton, we're kind of stuck in a local history gap, or void, here. There's decent documentation of the 1800's, but not so much of the early 1900's. I know more about what was going on in 1870 than in 1940. Hopefully with this story and with others, we can help to fill in some of these gaps for future generations.

Edit 1/11/18: I still haven't found and good photos of the place yet, but here are a couple of aerial shots that might at least give an idea of what the area was like at the time. These were both taken in 1937. They are close-ups of pictures of the newly-opened Delaware Park. For ease of identification, I've circled the site of the store.

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PERO TOMAS 05

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Eric East

Eric East

for Andrew Christian

http://www.andrewchristian.com/index.php/eric-east.html

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Hello, Book, My Old Friend

Yes, it's sideways. Don't ask.

But there can be no grave for Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. . . . Shall they not always live in Baker Street? Are they not there this moment, as one writes? . . . Outside, the hansoms rattle through the rain and Moriarty plans his latest deviltry. Within, the sea coal flames upon the hearth and Holmes and Watson take their well-won ease. So they still live for all that love them well: in a romantic chamber of the heart, in a nostalgic country of the mind, where it is always 1895.
                                -  Vincent Starrett, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes 

There is something special about the books we loved when we are young. Picking them up again takes us back, and never more than when can hold in our hands the very volume (paper, ink, and binding) that we read as a youth – or one just like it.  

I already owned two paperback editions of Vincent Starrett’s ground-breaking The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes when I saw a copy of the 1960 University of Chicago Press hardback edition at the Black Dog bookstore in Zionsville, IN, over the weekend. But even though I’m not a collector, I didn’t hesitate to buy it for my Sherlock Holmes library.  

This was the edition in which I first read the book, borrowed from the public library sometime in my pre-teen years. And as I turned those pages Sunday and Monday, rereading a masterwork, I relived the thrill of learning for the first time about the Baker Street Irregulars, William Gillette, and so much more. 

E-books are wonderful. They are lightweight and the type is never too small. I find them ideal for travel, in particular. Many of own book sales are in e-book editions. The ability to download and start reading a book at any hour of the day or night is a great gifts of the twenty-first century. And, of course, the content of a book is the same whether it appears on a page or a screen. 

But for me an e-book will never have the nostalgic pull that comes from the smell and touch of ink on paper – especially when it is the familiar edition of a book that I loved in my youth and still do.

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