Memories of North Saint Louis in the Early Fifties

Our house was built on 1904, on a 100 foot deep lot, with a one lane wide unpaved alley in back. The deep lot was because there was no plumbing there then, so the outhouse was back by the alley. The alley was there so the trash men could collect people’s garbage. There was also a chicken house back there and in several backyards in the neighborhood. Next door the old chicken coop was still in the yard, but was used for storage. There was what we called a lady cigar tree by the chicken coop next door. I thought if they were lady cigars they were good to smoke. That turned out to be false. They did look like long slender cigars, but they were horrible to try and smoke. Our lot had the old chicken coop torn down and burned in the back yard when I was a kid. I still remember that day. The foundation and railroad ties used as sills were still there and served as a pirate ship for me. Two loose ties served as cannons on my make-believe pirate ship. In those days I was a fence walker, using any fence nearby as my personal high wire act.

  

I never liked walking around the long way to my friend’s houses by the streets, so any yard between my house and theirs that didn’t have an alley gate for me to cross through, was a challenge as I hopped fences and strolled on through the yard. Life was pretty good in those days. I didn'took much like a fence jumping, fence walking, smoking rebel in those days, but I was, at least in my own mind.