EPISODE 5ACE

(Published April 10, 2022--Through Hathaway Manor)
(Updated and Revised July 16, 2022)
(Updated and Revised August 19, 2022)

(Updated and Revised Nobember 20, 2024)

THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR
 

When I attended Riverview Gardens High School, I thought I knew just about everyone in our class. It was only after I actively participated in the organization and planning of our class Reunions and Meet & Greets that I realized how many people from our class I didn’t know or had never spoken with. For those efforts, I have been rewarded with new acquaintances and friendships many times over. Likewise, it has been only after I began working on A Brief History that I realized how woefully inadequate was my knowledge of the Riverview Gardens School District and how little I knew of the neighborhoods where many of my friends and classmates lived and grew up. In fact, until recently, I did not know the actual locations of five of the elementary schools in the District. 

To gain a better foothold in the lay of the land, Cheryl Niebur and I spent several days driving through the District, sight-seeing and exploring neighborhoods (including our own), locating and driving by houses where some of you lived, scouting out all of the schools, searching for places that were once familiar to us, trespassing so that we could find a special property and discovering neighborhoods that we weren’t aware were included in the District. The Byers-Niebur All District Tour produced moments of interest; moments of amusement; moments of sadness; moments of vigilance; moments of surprise; and/or moments of nostalgia—an array of emotions. It was fun to explore. Claiming “expert” knowledge of the District neighborhoods now would be a misnomer, but we learned enough to share a few tidbits with you.  

Reading about Hathaway Hills, Glasgow Village and Bissell Hills above, you probably have noticed that I am a North South East West kind of gal when it comes to directions and locations. Our Magical History Tour also utilizes North, South, East and West in navigating our many neighborhoods. For beginners, given that Chambers Road extends through most of the east-west length of the District from 10000 Denness Drive at the edge of the Village of Riverview to the corner of the shopping center in Dellwood at 10000 West Florissant, I’ll be using Chambers as a major reference point. Is it serendipitous that both addresses contain the number 10000? 

Google Maps tells us the distance from point to point on Chambers is 4.5 miles. Dan Green could have driven the stretch in his 1966 GTO Gold Convertible in 10 minutes. Evelyn Harbison and Sharon Otten could have biked the route in 31 minutes. Ron Greifzu could have walked the distance from his home in Northland Hills, and Carolyn Amick could have walked the distance from her home in Denness Hills, each in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I am not sure how long it would have taken Ken DeBeer and Dennis Greenwood to log the 4.5 miles on stilts! Other notable east-west roads (generally) in the District are Jennings Station Road, St. Cyr Road, Shepley Drive and Lucas and Hunt Road. Major north-south roads that span the District are West Florissant Avenue, Halls Ferry Road, Highway 367 (Lewis and Clark), Bellefontaine Road and Lilac Avenue.
 

SIDEBAR: Prominent landowning families in the District that date back to the 19th Century and the early 20th Century include Bissell, Glasgow, Destrehan, Gibson, St. Cyr, Walker, Gardner, Twillman, Chambers and Bagnell. The Bissells were by far the largest landowners in the region. The original tracts owned by these families subsequently were subdivided time and again over the decades. Some of the names have survived in day-to-day usage while others have disappeared altogether or survived only as names on a plat or deeds filed in the real estate records or as a street or subdivision name. Names do indeed survive families.
 

We’ll start our Magical History Tour on the North side of Chambers and roll up West through all of those neighborhoods from Lilac to West Florissant. Then we’ll make a U-turn (sort of) on West Florissant and roll up East through all of the neighborhoods on the South side of Chambers, all the way back to the Village of Riverview, where our history began. Ready. Set. 

Roll Up

Roll up roll up for the Magical History Tour….

“COBURG” NEIGHBORHOODS

In a roughly rectangular area bordered by Lilac on the east, Bellefontaine Road on the west, Chambers on the south and both Belgrove Drive and Coburg Lands Drive on the north, the big name was “COBURG.” Coburg Land & Improvement Company acquired this tract that had once been part of the original Bissell estate. Shepley Drive runs east and west through the tract and intersects with Toelle Lane, which runs north and south. The railroad tracks also run north and south between Toelle and Bellefontaine. Spoiler Alert: Our High School was developed on a portion of this tract and stands there today. More about that as we roll up and along! 

I have not been able to pinpoint the exact date when the Coburg Land & Improvement Company acquired this immense tract of land, but it is clear the company began subdividing the tract in 1917 (the same year that the Riverview Gardens subdivision plat was filed), and subsequent land transactions and subdivisions were numerous. The entire tract eventually would become part of either the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors or the Village of Riverview. The area was defined initially by many large, irregular shaped residential lots fronting primarily on Shepley, Toelle, Bellefontaine, Belgrove and Coburg Lands. Construction of homes on these lots occurred sporadically over the decades. Several other subdivisions, similar in design and architecture but much smaller in scale than Hathaway Hills, Glasgow Village and Bissell Hills, sprouted in corners, pockets and corridors of the larger Coburg tract during the 1940s through the 1960s, in many instances adopting new names or variations on the Coburg name. It’s likely that many of these subdivisions were built by developers who acquired small tracts of land from the Coburg Land & Improvement Company. All of this housing activity contributed to the expansive population growth in the District. The accompanying maps should be helpful in understanding how this entire area was developed in connection with the growth in the District that occurred beginning around 1950.
 

All of the land depicted on the Coburg 1 map would be incorporated into the City of Bellefontaine Neighbors. The 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision west of the railroad tracks included residential lots fronting on Shepley, Bellefontaine, Coburg Lands Drive (not part of Bissell Hills) and Belgrove Drive. A number of the homes were constructed before 1951. Belgrove Place, a subdivision of seven lots, was created in 1954. Tom Yates and Jerry Schergen lived on Coburg Lands and Nancy Siminis lived on the north side of Shepley close to Bellefontaine Road. The landmark United Methodist Church founded in 1854 is located in the far northwest corner of this 1917 subdivision.

Before we explore the North Coburg subdivision shown on the Coburg 1 map, let’s roll up to the Shepley High subdivision featuring only one street, Gardo Court, situated directly across from the High School. A neighborhood of 32 homes built around 1961, Shepley High is a perfect example of a small subdivision created in a far corner of  the larger Coburg tract, modeled on a neighborhood like Glasgow Village and dispensing with  the Coburg name in the development process. I don’t know of any of our classmates who resided on Gardo Court, but I know that Carol Pratt, Editor of Echoes 1967 and a graduate of the Class of 1967, lived there with her brother John (RGHS 1968). I always thought it would have been fun to live in one of those houses right across the street from the High School!

We are fortunate to count among our classmates two individuals whose families have a rich history with the land fronting on the east side of Toelle Lane, one family owning land north of Shepley and the other family owning land south of Shepley—each within a long stone’s throw of the other. It’s intriguing how the David Manning and Sandy Heise family stories move in quasi-parallel universes, anchored by a grandpa.

With that intro, we’ll pivot and roll up to the North Coburg subdivision located east of the railroad tracks, created in 1922 and consisting of irregular residential lots fronting on Shepley and Toelle. Be sure to study the layout on the Coburg 1 map as you roll up!

Louis I. Manning, Sr., David Manning’s grandpa, is third from the left in this 1910 photograph. David’s great grandfather and great grandmother are to the far right and the other six kids are Grandpa Manning’s siblings. Grandpa Manning was a young boy in 1910. Eleven years later in 1921, Louis I. Manning, Jr., David’s Dad, was born to Grandpa Manning and Grandma Mable. Louis Jr. (Lou) is featured in Part 1 of A Brief History. You’ll recall that he graduated from RGHS in 1939 with Denise Schewe’s Dad and served in Australia in the Army Air Corps during WWII. After the war, Lou returned to St. Louis and married Mildred Newton, a stunningly beautiful woman who he met at a dance by pulling a sleight of hand in order to win her as his dance partner. He had an older sister (Dorothy-RGHS 1938) and a younger brother (Milton-RGHS 1941). Lou’s twin brothers, Richard and Robert, born about 18 years after Lou was born, graduated from RGHS in 1956. Lou grew up on Toelle Lane in a house that Grandpa Manning built in the 1920s. In turn, Lou built David’s family home on Toelle Lane. 

The Coburg 1 map identifies all of the properties that we know were owned by the Mannings at one time. David is not sure where the 1910 photograph was taken, whether it was in the vicinity of Toelle Lane or elsewhere. He is pretty sure that his parents purchased their residential lot from Grandpa Manning’s sister (Lou’s Aunt). This leads us to speculate whether David’s great grandparents acquired the residential lots in the northeast corner of Shepley and Toelle Lane from Coburg Land & Improvement Company at the time North Coburg was subdivided in 1922 or whether Grandpa Manning and his siblings themselves purchased their own lots. In any event, it is a fact that Manning family members acquired and built homes on North Coburg subdivided residential lots identified on the Coburg 1 map.

Commencing in 1950-51, Lou built the family home at  10444 Toelle Lane. He built the house himself (probably with help from family members), and completed the project in 1952-53. 
 

The house featured radiant heat—warm water running through pipes imbedded in the concrete slab floor. There was no basement. Approximately 1,000 square feet housed three bedrooms and one bathroom. In the photo below, David’s sister, Phyllis (RGHS 1968), is supervising the concrete slab pour at age one! David was supervising from the crib.
 

There was a porcelain sink and metal cabinets in the kitchen. The house was cooled by a window fan pulling air through Lou and Mildred’s bedroom. A one-car garage faced north, hidden from the street by David’s bedroom that ran parallel to the garage on the west side of the house. David said the one-acre lot received considerable attention and he was commissioned by his Dad with discharging most of the chores.

David remembers that his side of  Toelle Lane had few kids his age, except his cousins, Uncle Milton’s kids, who he hung with. Walking to the High School, David cut across the backyards on Toelle and the church property on Shepley facing RGHS, unless inclement weather dictated a longer trek along the paved streets of Toelle and Shepley. After David graduated in 1969 and started his world travels, courtesy of the U.S. Navy, Lou and Mildred sold 10444 Toelle Lane in 1970, and David never stepped foot inside the house again. Subsequently, in the late 1970s or early 1980s, high winds in a severe storm blew over the Shingle Oak in the front yard smack dab onto the house, totally demolishing David’s childhood home. 

A short walk from the Manning home along the east side of Toelle Lane and across Shepley would have led us directly to Sandy Heise’s home at 10318 Toelle Lane. So, let’s roll up on the east side of Toelle and meet Sandy’s family!

Doris Schuischelis (for purposes of this narrative, pronounced Schewe-Shellus), Sandy’s Mom, was born in 1931, ten years after Lou Manning. She graduated from Riverview Gardens High School the year of the student strike—1948 (nine years after Lou Manning), one year earlier than she should have because she skipped a grade by going to summer school. She finished in three years at the top of her class, serving as editor of the weekly school newspaper, Teen Talk.

George William Schuischelis, Sandy’s grandpa, born in 1898, came to the United States as an infant from Prussian Germany. He had three children with his wife Edna (who died in the early 1950s): Doris, Willie (RGHS 1951) and Charlotte (RGHS 1954). In his Senior year, Willie would become Coach Hall’s prize track star.
 

In the mid-1930s (when Doris was about three or four years old), Grandpa Schuischelis and Grandma Edna purchased a small farm fronting on Toelle Lane. Part of the farm became the home of Riverview Gardens High School about 20 years or so later. The farm property included the house in which Doris and her siblings grew up. 
 

In later years, when Grandpa Schuischelis sold part of the farmstead to the Riverview Gardens School District, he also subdivided a portion of his property (part of the 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision) into roughly half-acre lots and either sold or outright deeded three of the lots to his children. Take a look at the east side of Toelle Lane on the Coburg 2 map to see the residential lots that Grandpa created.  

Upon graduating, Doris was offered a journalism scholarship, but Grandpa Schuischelis refused the award, viewing it as “charity.” Doris, however, did attend Southeast Missouri State College for one year. There, on a blind date she met the love of her life, Lee Heise, and they married in the summer of 1949. Serving in the Navy Reserves, Lee was called back to active duty in Hawaii soon after the wedding. Sandy was born in December 1951 at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu! Following Lee's military discharge, the family wended its way back to Bellefontaine Neighbors where Lee and Doris built their dream home at 10318 Toelle Lane in 1956.

The house was their pride and joy and greatest achievement. Lee had learned carpentry and woodworking from his grandfather. He designed the blueprints and laid the hardwood floors. Once the house was framed and roofed, he moved his family into the partially completed building and built the house around them…and continued to add and improve for the next 58 years. If Doris had an idea for a change, Lee made it happen.

Grandpa Schuischelis continued to live in his original farmhouse at 10300 Toelle and in time added a second story. In the late 1970s, he sold the house to Sandy’s brother, Terry (RGHS 1976), who finished the second story. On the Byers-Niebur All District Tour, Cheryl and I drove by both houses, which today appear in very good condition. The farmhouse is especially charming. 

Sandy’s Aunt Charlotte (10324 Toelle, next to the RGHS tennis courts) and Uncle Willie (10240 Toelle) had houses built on their respective lots years later. When Sandy was a youngster, those lots were a wheat field and an orchard. The property was all woods behind their houses and the field and orchard. With heavy hearts, Doris and Lee sold their beloved home in 2014. Lee passed in 2017; Doris joined him in 2020, less than three years later.

For both Sandy and David, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were next door or nearby. Both had parents that grew up on Toelle Lane and graduated from Riverview Gardens High School. Each had a father who built his or her childhood home. Both could walk to high school by cutting through their own backyards. David and Sandy grew up in families with ties to the land. Their experiences provide an interesting contrast to the experiences of others of us growing up in the District in neighborhoods like Hathaway Hills, Glasgow Village and Bissell Hills with a patch of ground and multiple friends at the ready. It’s all pretty cool how we amalgamated all of our experiences into a high school experience in the years to come!

Take a breather and take a peek at the Coburg 2 map above. Now, let’s do an about-face and roll up to the south side of Shepley. Development of Shepley Hills, a 14-lot subdivision between Toelle and the railroad tracks on the South side of Shepley, began in 1948 and continued through the early 1960s. Nancy Reinhold lived in Shepley Hills next to the Eberle Estate property adjacent to the railroad tracks. The late Sue Nieber (Cheryl’s dear sister) and the late Gerry Eberle, both 1960 RGHS grads, married in the early 1960s and lived in their home on that property.

Back on Toelle Lane, we can roll up to Bella Hills on the west side, where our classmate and Sandy Heise’s childhood friend, John Beaury lived. The plat for this neighborhood of 70 homes was filed in April 1956 and included streets named Bella, Font, Neighbor and Trio, as well as Toelle Lane. Prior to buying their home in Bella Hills, John's parents bought a home in Bissell Hills on Ashford Drive (not far from the Maloney brothers, Jim and Butch), most likely (as John surmises) soon after John was born in April 1951. Buying a new home in Bella Hills afforded the Beaury family a larger home. While living in Bissell Hills, John attended Gibson Elementary from Kindergarten through third grade and entered Riverview Elementary in fourth grade. He remembers that, as close neighbors, he and Sandy enjoyed spending many hours of free time together. John also remembers Sandy’s Mom as a warm and kind person. Sandy relates that growing up she really didn’t have any girlfriends in the area. It wasn’t like living in Glasgow Village or Bissell Hills where girlfriends were a very very very short stone’s throw away. Like Pat Lingenfelter, Sandy started school at a private religious school, Grace Lutheran Chapel. She began attending Riverview Elementary in third grade, about the same time that construction in Bella Hills began. She believes that she and John became such close buddies because they were both new to Riverview Elementary, they were in the same class, they were part of a band carpool and they lived so close to one another. Shared history—the ties that bind. Others from our class who lived in Bella Hills were Ron Curtiss and Nadine Azzanni.

Next door to Bella Hills is a subdivision called Pine Meadows, a condominium community that was developed over a period of 40 years (1954-94). I have no memory of Pine Meadows but was surprised that plans were filed as early as 1954 for condominium-style living in the area. The earliest condominium development in North County that I remember was Hazelcrest near Graham Road and I-270, constructed in the early 1960s.

Roll up for the History Tour!
 

A quick look at the Coburg 3 map above shows a beehive of housing activity in the area east of Toelle Lane from the southern property line of our future High School to Chambers Road. The area tallied a total of 182 homes, 38 in Bellefontaine Neighbors and 144 in the Village of Riverview. The houses included in the 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision on Dorothy Avenue and McCartney Lane are most likely the oldest homes in the group, though that property was platted long before houses were constructed on the lots. These homes number 65 and are located in the Village of Riverview. Gary Cotner lived on Dorothy and Sally Mann and Milton Baronovic lived on McCartney. You also can see the location of Dorothy Fey’s first house between the two streets at 531 Chambers. 

There are three Coburg Ridge subdivisions: The first is called Coburg Ridge, located just around the corner from Grandpa Heise. Comprised of 31 lots, the subdivision plat was filed in 1942, with streets named Cosie, Glorose and Dorothy, all in the Village of Riverview. The second subdivision, called Coburg Ridge #2 (plats filed in 1956 and 1959), is a neighborhood of 38 homes in Bellefontaine Neighbors on streets called McCartney, Topaz, Alcove and Lilac. Debbie Hanson and Gary Scott lived about five houses apart in Coburg Ridge #2. These two subdivisions abutted the High School property to the north. Coburg Ridge #3 provided 17 more homes in the mix and came online in 1955 on McCartney and Lilac in the Village of Riverview.

The Pelster subdivision plats were filed in 1951 (9 lots), 1952 (10 lots) and 1953 (10 lots), and the homes were constructed in the Village of Riverview on McCartney, Lilac and Chambers. Shirley Goldschmidt lived on McCartney in a house that was part of the 1951 Pelster subdivision.

These small subdivisions illustrate the further resubdivision of the original 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision, which included the 65 residential lots shown on the Coburg 3 map. The three Coburg Ridge subdivisions, together with the three Pelster subdivisions, likely were built by developers who acquired the respective properties from the Coburg Land & Development Company (or a successor), resubdivided the properties as residential lots, built new homes and contributed further to the housing boom of the late 1940s and the 1950s. Each subdivision brought us new members of the Class of 1969.

If we roll up to the west side of Toelle Lane south of the Pine Meadows subdivision, we’ll find a tract of land with irregular lots zoned for commercial use, as are the lots across the street at the northeast corner of Chambers and Toelle. The lots on the west side are located partially in the Village of Riverview and partially in Bellefontaine Neighbors. The Coburg 3 map shows the boundary between the two municipalities. Bellefontaine Neighbors hugs the railroad tracks, just down the hill from the Riverview Gardens High School in 1951. On the Village of Riverview side toward Chambers Road is a very special park….

IN REMEMBRANCE

Officer Brad L. Schultz, Jr. was the nephew of our classmate, Al Schultz. Brad was a patrolman with the Riverview Police Department. On Tuesday morning, December 14, 2004, he received a call to assist the Bellefontaine police in the pursuit of a stolen vehicle. Headed south on Lilac with lights and siren going, Brad crested a hill. A mom with a car full of kids was pulling out onto Lilac directly into the path of Brad’s patrol car. Rather than hit the car and risk severely injuring or killing the family, Brad swerved and hit a telephone pole. The patrol car flipped and struck a house near Lilac and Adrian Drive, causing the car to burst into flames. Brad was thrown from the car and died instantly.

Brad was only 29 and was the first Police Officer killed in the line of duty while serving with the Riverview Police Department. Friends spoke of him in superlatives:

He is one of those guys that you are proud to say you know.

We loved BJ and had a lot of fun with him. He sure was an ACE of a guy.

He was a super super guy, one of the true good guys out there, and I am stunned and deeply saddened. 

Brad was a great guy and fun to hang out with, especially at bowling and card games—and hanging out afterwards.

The family called him “Little Brad,” even though he stood over 6 feet tall. And though Little Brad always said he didn’t want children of his own, the family discovered after his death that Brad spent any extra time he could talking with kids in pre-school.

It’s meaningful, too, that Brad was a Riverview Gardens High School graduate (RGHS 1994), just like his Dad, Brad L. Schultz, Sr. (RGHS 1973), his Mom, Susan Heffernan Schultz (RGHS 1973), and his Uncle Al. 

Al related that Brad’s death was a devastating loss for the Schultz family. Even today, so many years later, the family’s tragic loss is hard to fathom. Our hearts go out to Al and the Schultz family.

The Village of Riverview saw fit to dedicate a park to Brad’s memory. Brad L. Schultz, Jr. Memorial Park is a one-acre park located in the Village of Riverview, as shown on the Coburg 3 map. It includes a picnic pavilion, playground equipment, benches, a drinking fountain and green space. The park is maintained by the Village of Riverview. When you are in the area, please remember to stop by and pay your respects.

Roll up roll up for the Magical History Tour!

It’s time to catch our first real glimpse of Bellefontaine Road, one of the loviest thoroughfares in the District. The Coburg 4 map shows a tract included in the original 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision, extending east from Bellefontaine Road to the Railroad tracks and stretching south from Shepley to and including the Gamma Tree Service Company. Gamma is still there. Comprised primarily of long narrow residential lots, this tract also features a single gas station plunked down in the middle of it all to serve the thirsty needs of our parents’ automobiles. Note that a part of this tract was further subdivided in 1988 as Shepley Estates. Across Bellefontaine, you can see remnants of Bissell Hills, as well as the situs of the General Daniel Bissell House, an historic Federal-style home.

Roll up

That’s an invitation!
 

Just south of the Gamma property is an interesting neighborhood comprised of four different subdivisions: Villa Capri Manor (1959); Everglade Estates (1960); Modde Manor (1961); and Bellefontaine Gardens (1970). The entry sign on Cadora Drive leads us to believe that the entire neighborhood is known as Villa Capri Manor, which is the case for the homes fronting on Cadora, Tramonte Court and parts of Maraldo Place and Elba Lane. But a closer investigation reveals that some of the houses on Maraldo Place, Elba Lane and all of the houses on Everglade Court belong to the other three subdivisions. There is an aggregate total of 89 homes in the four subdivisions, with the following breakdown: Villa Capri Manor-30; Everglade Estates-6; Modde Manor-26; and Bellefontaine Gardens-27.

The distinguishing characteristics of the homes in the combined subdivisions are spacious lots, either one or two car garages, three bedrooms and at minimum a full and half bath in each home, and brick and masonry facades, with partial frame exteriors in some cases. The streets were paved with asphalt and sidewalks were non-existent, attributes often found in some upscale neighborhoods in St. Louis County (including Green Acres and Surrey Corners). Larger square footages (typically ranging from 1230 to 1400 square feet) could be found in the Villa Capri Manor homes. Barb Drews lived on Elba in the Villa Capri Manor subdivision. The six Everglade Estates homes generally were 1000 to 1200 square feet with one car garages. Modde Manor homes, in which Stan Deptula and Don Obergoenner lived, originally were constructed with 1026 to 1080 square feet and one car garages. The price point also was higher than a typical three-bedroom Bissell Hills home. When Don’s parents purchased their home on Maraldo Place in July 1964, they paid $20,500.

SIDEBAR: Speaking of one car garages, it was in the Obergoenner’s one car garage that Don built the ship for our Senior Homecoming Float. According to Senior class sponsor Mr. Duncan, soon after the Senior float committee decided on the theme and a rough design of our float, he paid a visit to the industrial arts building and asked the teachers to name the person in our class who they would recommend to design and build the ship that would be displayed on the float platform. The unanimous answer: Don Obergoenner was our guy. Obe-One! Mr. Duncan approached Don, who agreed to take on the arduous project. 
 

Don’s first task was to look up “pirate ships” in the  family’s World Book Encyclopedia. He studied the pictures and formulated an initial design, which included the ship, the masts, the rigging and the sails.

The wagon on which we built our float was loaned to us by a farmer, most likely through arrangements made by Mr. Duncan or the school. The wagon was an old-fashioned farm hay wagon, the type we rode on when we had hayride parties. Next, Don drove to the farm out Florissant Road a few miles north of I-270 to take measurements of the wagon in order to design and build the ship to scale.

There were universal rules to be followed by all of the classes when building their floats. That year, expenditures could not exceed $50.00. We also were under time constraints within which we could build the float. I’m not sure how many days we were given, probably 10-14 days at the most. Finally, I believe it was imperative that the students physically build the float and all of its elements without the assistance of adults (parents and teachers, in particular). Adults could assist with figuring out logistics and donating materials. Otherwise, building a Homecoming float was an all-in student project.

When it came to building the ship, that is exactly what Don did; he designed and built it himself. Don indicated that the design phase was fairly easy. It took no more than a couple of evenings to draw up the plans for the ship, masts, rigging and sails. Once he completed the plans, Don showed them to Mr. Duncan, who thought they looked great and blessed them.

Don built the ship in the family’s one car garage on Maraldo Place. First, he cut to size plywood and 2 x 4s (donated by his Dad) in the basement of his home. Next, he built the ship in three pieces, all of which fit comfortably inside the garage. He designed the bow or front of the ship generally in the shape of a cone, using thin flexible plywood. The middle part of the ship was a simple box. The stern or back of the ship was the most difficult to construct because of the numerous angles. After constructing the individual sections of the ship, he was ready to transport them to Betsy’s house, a little less than a mile away from his house.

At this point, heavy duty logistics kicked in on the weekend immediately before our Homecoming weekend, scheduled for October 25-26, 1968. Arrangements had already been made through the school with a North County tractor company to donate the use of its tractors to each class at RGHS. Don and Mr. Duncan picked up the tractor at the tractor company on Saturday morning. Mr. Duncan then drove the tractor to the farm and Don followed him in Mr. Duncan’s car. At the farm, they hitched the wagon to the tractor and Mr. Duncan drove the tractor with the wagon to Betsy’s house. Don followed in Mr. Duncan’s car. Several classmates had gathered at Betsy’s house to help move the wagon into the garage. When that was completed, Don and Mr. Duncan returned the tractor to the tractor company. This time Don drove the tractor because it was cold and Mr. Duncan was chilled to the bone. Mr. Duncan followed in his car.  

In the meantime, Don’s Dad borrowed a pickup truck from a friend to transport each section of the ship to Betsy’s house. That required three trips by Don and his Dad, who drove the truck, plus a couple more to transport the equipment and material for the masts, rigging and sails. Once the three pieces of the ship were lifted to the top of the hay wagon in Betsy’s garage, Don bolted the three pieces together and then bolted the fully assembled ship onto the wagon with the help of other classmates.

Don distinctly remembers Betsy’s parents returning home on Sunday from a few days at the Lake with genuine looks of surprise on their faces when they saw the wagon and the ship and so many people in their garage. He clearly remembers Betsy’s classic pronouncement to the group then gathered in the garage: “Oh, I didn’t tell them we were going to do this again!”

Once the ship was in place on the wagon, we had until Thursday night to paint the ship, attach all of the adornments and add the finishing touches: tissue paper in chicken wire, lettering, an anchor, a pirate’s head and hands, a medallion for the back of the float, a pirate’s flag and a conquering RAM among them. Don remembers transporting the RAM in his Mom’s station wagon to Betsy’s house, but our memories have failed us regarding the identity of our female classmate who designed and made the RAM. We would love to hear from anyone who can help us solve this riddle.

Don could not have stressed enough what a tremendous organized undertaking and effort the members of the Class of 1969 demonstrated in creating our float. Large and small contributions came from many classmates. In agreeing to design and build the ship, he never anticipated things would evolve as they did or the degree of participation he would experience. He treasures the experience! He also expressed gratitude toward and admiration of his parents. His Mom gave up her station wagon for about 10 days and took the bus to work so that he could have a car to drive back-and-forth to Betsy’s house and use for numerous errands. Don also commented that his Dad and Mr. Duncan were highly organized individuals from whom he learned a great deal during the process. 

On Friday after school, with Don supervising, a group of boys pulled the wagon out of Betsy’s garage onto the driveway and spent the next few hours—until 10 or 11 o’clock that night—assembling and mounting the masts, rigging and sails. Don created the masts from tent poles that his Dad loaned the class. As a dedicated Scout leader, Mr. Obergoenner had a considerable supply of camping equipment, including those sturdy tent poles. Don created the sails from old sheets that his Mom donated. They assembled the masts on the ground and lifted them into place onto the ship. The main mast was about 15 feet tall, and Don used a step ladder placed in the center of the ship to affix the masts and anything else that needed steadying.

Then reports (or rumors) began circulating that some Junior Class boys were going to try to vandalize our float. Don and another classmate (he wishes he could remember who) stayed up all night to guard the float. That’s the first all-nighter that Don ever pulled on a school assignment!

Finally, Saturday morning arrived and Mr. Caquelard arrived at Betsy’s house with the tractor he had picked up at the tractor company that morning. Mr. Caquelard had volunteered to help the boys hook up the float to the tractor and drive it to the High School and in the parade. Don followed them directly to the High School. It was a beautiful, glorious day, and all was right with the world.
 

Later that afternoon at Meyerkord Memorial Field when our float was announced as the Little Brown Jug winner during the half-time presentation, a group of guys hoisted Don onto their shoulders and carried him to the front of the float to celebrate. It was a most exhilarating moment for Don and the Class of 1969. What an extraordinary effort!

And the aftermath?? We Got The Jug! Don didn’t make it to the Homecoming Dance Saturday night. He was so exhausted after the week and the day’s festivities that he went home and crashed by 8 o’clock! Mr. Caquelard drove the float back to Betsy’s house after the football game. Then he returned the tractor to the tractor company. Don and others returned to Betsy’s house on Sunday to disassemble the float. A couple of days later, Don’s dad borrowed his friend’s pickup truck. Don and his Dad hooked the wagon to the truck and towed it back to the farm. When all was said and done, I think we can agree it was a spectacular whirlwind affair!

Roll up roll up for the Magical History Tour!

Let’s roll up to Bellefontaine Road, where the Coburg 5 map shows 11 lots that are part of the 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision. On the Byers-Niebur All District Tour, Cheryl pointed out the story-and-a-half white frame rental house on the corner of Bellefontaine and Cadora where she and her husband, Paul Lapinski, first lived after they married in February 1971. Oh, the memories!

We are on our way to wrapping up this part of our Magical History Tour, but not before we visit the Steinmann property. The plat for the Steinmann property identified on the Coburg 5 map was filed in 1928. Based on an abbreviated legal description provided in the St. Louis County real estate records, I believe the Steinmann parcel was created via a resubdivision of the 1917 Coburg Lands subdivision. Within the Steinmann subdivision are six commercial lots along Bellefontaine Road. The Dairy Queen that we frequented in Junior High and High School is still there. 

With regard to the Meyerkord Floral Shop, Don Hutchison has reflected, “[t]heir floral business served all our HS formal activities, proms & dances where corsages and boutonnieres were customary. Then there were the weddings and their attention to detail and personal service which gave us that special hometown Riverview feeling that we took for granted until now, looking back in appreciation.”

Finally, the lot at the northeast corner of Bellefontaine and Chambers has been home to a service station for decades. When Echoes used to sell ads that appeared in the back pages of the yearbooks, an ad for Steinmann’s Sinclair Station appeared more than once. An Echoes 1957 ad lists Walter Steinmann as the proprietor. 
 

By the time we were in High School, the proprietor was Mike Hunter’s uncle, who had aptly renamed the station Hunter Sinclair.
 

SIDEBAR: Sometimes inspiration comes to us at unexpected times in unexpected ways. Several years ago at a Hammerstone’s Meet & Greet, Mike Hunter and I were talking about school days and he mentioned that he worked for his uncle at the Sinclair Station the last couple years of High School. Eventually he quit the job because his uncle (his boss) refused to schedule him off for some school activities on Saturdays. The exchanges with his boss about his schedule prompted him to think seriously about bosses in general. Even at that early age, he thought that perhaps a practical way to eliminate bosses from his life was to work for himself. It wasn’t long before he transformed his thoughts into action. Mike has been self-employed for over 50 years. At age 20, his first business was a detail shop—cleaning dealership cars. He sold that business after several years. Next, he and our classmate Chuck Muich operated Bi-Rite Auto Parts at Lindbergh and I-270 for seven years and sold that business when the national chain stores began saturating the St. Louis market. In the 1980s, he bought a St. Louis Post-Dispatch distribution route and negotiated a lifetime contract. Thirty-three years later in 2019, the Post-Dispatch bought out his contract. Today, Mike operates Boschertown Grand Prix Racing located on North Highway 94 in St. Charles. He has owned the 64-year old business for 14 years and hasn’t retired yet. Who knows? Maybe we’ll have a Meet & Greet at the BGPR someday! It all started with Mike’s job at the Sinclair Station located in the Steinmann subdivision of Bellefontaine Neighbors—the job that unexpectedly served as the impetus for all those entrepreneurial endeavors yet to come. 

Roll up

To make a reservation!

Finally, we arrive at the site where the one-room Science Hill School was physically relocated many years before a modern brick school building was constructed in 1926 for grades 1-8 in the District. Riverview Gardens High School was founded in 1927 and  the site grew to 9.68 acres on the Steinmann parcel. Building additions flourished  in the 1930s. With the Moline School District annexation in 1949, grades 7-12 were firmly entrenched in the school building. When the High School relocated to Shepley Drive in September 1957, the school then served exclusively as the Junior High School in the District. In 1961, when Central Jr. High opened, the school building served exclusively as East Jr. High. By the time I attended East Jr. High beginning in September 1963, all of that history was less than a blip on a screen to me. I remember hearing vague rumors that the building used to be the High School and I found that to be quite a fantastic proposition.

Let’s bid a fond farewell to the Coburg Neighborhoods, leapfrong over Bissell Hills and roll up to Castle Point!

The Magical History Tour

Is waiting to take you away!

 CASTLE POINT
 

As we roll up to Castle Point, we encounter several distinguishing characteristics of this fabled subdivision. It is the first subdivision in the District we’re rolling up to on the west side of Highway 367. It is the first subdivision we’re rolling up to that was situated in the Moline School District annexed by the Riverview Gardens School District in 1949. It is the first theme-based subdivision platted and recorded in the District: a neighborhood with streets that bear royal titles. Streets generally of masculine gender run North and South: Castle, Prince, Royal, Duke, Earl, Lord, Count, Baron, Viscount, Monarch and Empire (the last two of which could have feminine connotations, as well). Streets generally of feminine gender run East and West: Baroness, Countess, Duchess, Princess, Empress, King, Chambers and Gardner (the last three being obvious outliers). It is a neighborhood designed almost exclusively on a grid. Like Bissell Hills, part of Castle Point is located South of Chambers, but in Castle Point the overwhelming volume of platted lots and homes are found on the north side of Chambers. A small section of Castle Point along the Chambers Road corridor was incorporated into the Village of Moline Acres in 1949. 

Take a moment to review the Castle Point subdivision map above. Three plats were filed. Recorded in 1928, Plat 1 covered approximately the eastern third of the subdivision and included Castle, Prince and Royal (with even numbered addresses). Plat 1 also incorporates a plot of land running east and west along the northern Chambers right-of-way and the triangular plot of land south of Chambers bordered by Castle and Gardner. By my count, Plat 1 includes 343 residential lots, give or take. Lloyd Watts, Mary Jo Garrett and Ruth Allen lived in homes situated in Plat 1 on Castle, Baron and Gardner respectively.

Plat 2, recorded in 1929, stands firmly in the middle of Castle Point and includes the streets of Royal (with odd numbered addresses), Duke, Earl and Lord (with even numbered addresses). By my count, Plat 2 includes around 467 residential lots. Several of our classmates lived within the Plat 2 boundaries, among them Sue Johnson, Dale Miller, Al Schultz, Pam Cooper, Wayne Lanier, Harry Zimmerman, Bruce Koch, Kathy Frazer, Joe Strasser, Sharon Crow, Mike O’Brien, Rose Keating, Ted Boyer and Bob Nickles. The next time you see Bob Nickles, ask him to chew the fat about his teenage escapades with Ted Boyer and Lloyd Watts in Castle Point, including the infamous Plymouth Fury cruising incident!

Recorded in 1931 (the first year that Riverview Gardens High School produced a graduating class), Plat 3 took in the balance of Castle Point, including Lord (with odd numbered addresses), Count, Baron, Monarch, Viscount, King, Empire and Chambers. Monarch and Viscount would eventually provide access to Hathaway Manor from the area pictured in the lower southwest corner of Plat 3. Plat 3 also included an irregular shaped parcel at the Northeast corner of Chambers and Halls Ferry with residential and commercial lots. By my count, Plat 3 includes 430 residential lots, more or less. Among our classmates who lived in Plat 3 homes were John Africano, Randy Snodgrass, John Finley, Pat Dollins, Marsha Zaraza, Curt Bourg, Tom Handlang, Paulette Hacker, Jill Dean, Steve Harris, Mike Lada, Linda Young, Lynn Sudhoff, Bill Schulenberg and Marilyn Bova.
 

Now, let’s overlay the Castle Point subdivision plats on the 1937 farmland photo. Abracadabra! It’s fascinating! There are approximately 1,240 residential lots depicted on the overlay map. While a substantial number of lots in all three plats measured 40’ x 130’ or 50’ x 130’, B.P. Owen also created larger lots throughout the development to accomodate buyers that might want to market or build a home on a more spacious lot. A few lots also were reserved for commercial purposes.

When did home building on these lots really start to gather steam? A few newspaper accounts give us some clues.

On September 5, 1947, the St. Louis Star and Times published a short notice: 

New Company Formed, Will Sell 827 Lots In County Subdivision

A new company, St. Louis Subdivision & Building Co., has been formed and has acquired 827 lots for homes in the old Castle Point subdivision, on the north side of Chambers Rd., between Halls Ferry and Highway 99, St. Louis County. The new concern is owned and operated by George N. Daugherty, a lawyer, Louis W. Peters, a building contractor, and M.E. Buckley, a street contractor. Improvements now are being made on the lots and they will be sold for moderate-priced homes.
 

On July 16, 1950, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch posted the following ad:

THEY ARE

2 AND 3 

FOR MR. AVERAGE

$7400 TO $9200

G.I. — 10% DOWN

3 SIZES OF HOMES ON DISPLAY DAILY
 

On October 25, 1953, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published an  article which included the following excerpts:

Formal Opening for Subdivision In County Today

Formal opening has been planned for today for a subdivision development…by a merchant builder of more than 700 lots in the Castle Point subdivision, an area that was laid out a long time ago and only partly built up through the selling of lots to individuals. The undeveloped area was taken over early last year for building of homes by Harold F. Harrison through his St. Louis County Co….Harrison is installing small homes at considerably less than $10,000, each along Duke, Earl, Count, Lord, Royal, Princess and Castle Drives….The tract is in the Riverview Gardens School District….Harrison had expected to do more than 300 houses this year but won’t make more than 175….Frame homes on slab, with septic-tank sewage disposal, gas heat, county water, utility rooms and carports are the rule.
 

In the six-year span that these ads appeared, there were starts and stops. I surmise that the 827 lots acquired by the trio of Daugherty, Peters and Buckley were located in Plat 2 (467 lots) and Plat 3 (430 lots). Though the aggregate total of 897 lots exceeds 827 lots by 70 lots, it would be easy to argue that those 70 lots most likely were owned by individuals who had already constructed a home on their respective lots, as discussed in more detail below. Apparently the trio’s company, St. Louis Subdivision & Building Co., had difficulties launching and/or sustaining its plan to build houses on the 827 lots it acquired. My guess is that the company built about 127 houses over five years and then sold its remaining lots (700) to Harold F. Harrison in 1952. Dedicated development finally appears to have gotten underway in the early to mid-1950s. A 1955 aerial photograph provides the proof.

A close examination of this photograph reveals uniform home construction on both sides of Duke, Earl and Lord between Baroness and Duchess; on both sides of Duke and Earl between Duchess and Empress; sporadically on Duke and Earl south of Empress; and on Duke and Earl north of Baroness. Little, if any, home construction had occurred north of Chambers on Royal, Prince or Castle. In the area west of Lord and south of Duchess, there are fewer uniform housing patterns, evidenced by numerous patches of farmland. The rooftops of homes constructed in this area also suggest a variety of styles and footprints. The photograph leads me to conclude that the lots in this area were the first to be bought by individuals who built their own homes (as described in one of the ads above) beginning in the decade of the 1940s.  “Merchant builder” Harold F. Harrison provided the push needed to bring Castle Point to fruition in the 1950s, the same as other developers had done in Hathaway Hills, Glasgow Village and Bissell Hills. 


 

Joe Strasser’s parents bought their home at 10504 Earl Drive in 1955. The picture of Joe’s house is vintage late 1950s. The driveway still was gravel, as were the streets. That’s the Strasser’s 1953 Chevy in the driveway! Joe’s house backed up to the houses on Duke. By this time, the developer had started building on Earl north of Baroness. The location of Joe’s house is identified on the 1955 Aerial photograph above and other photos in this Episode 5. Joe’s recollection is that most Castle Point houses were two bedrooms that sold for $10,000 in the 1950s. Some did not have basements. Joe didn’t much like early years in Castle Point because there was not much for kids to do. Parks in the neighborhood had not yet been created and there were no stores within walking distance. Because both of his parents worked, Joe spent summer days with his cousin at his grandparents, who lived in University City. Parks and stores within walking distance were plentiful there, giving them much more to do. Things would definitely improve with time. With school starting and more kids moving into the neighborhood, Joe was a natural for garnering friendships and a group of buddies (Hunter, Sauerwein, Hasemeier and Pohlman in High School). Joe was an only child, as was Sharon Crow, who lived across the street on Earl, and Joe reflected that Sharon was the closet thing he had to a sister growing up. 

Described as a four room bungalow with 2 bedrooms, one bath and a full basement, Joe’s home contained 770 square feet of living area. Joe’s Dad died in 1980 and his Mom continued to live in the Earl home until 1985, when she moved to Florissant. She sold the house for $28,000 and, in Joe’s estimation, made out pretty well. 

By the time we started High School in 1966, 35 years after Plat 3 was filed, most of the western two-thirds of Castle Point had been developed with single-family homes, covering most of the ground of Plat 2 and Plat 3. Plat 1 property remained largely farmland. Construction of Lewis and Clark Elementary had been completed and the school opened on Plat 1 land between Prince and Castle. A few houses had been constructed on Castle in the southeast corner and along Royal Drive south of Duchess.
 

A very unscientific survey of the the 1967-68 RGHS Buzz Book tallies around 50 students from the Class of 1969 who hailed from Castle Point, the equivalent of 8% of our graduating class. Like other subdivisions in the District, Castle Point was instrumental in meeting the demand of our families for affordable homes. More building was yet to come, especially in the area of Plat 1. Plus, a sizable shopping center between Castle Point and Highway 367 would stimulate further growth in the community.

In fact, further growth in the community was right next door to the west. Monarch, Viscount, Empress, Princess, Duchess, Countess and Baroness would all roll up into a new neighborhood called Hathaway Manor.

Roll up

To make a reservation!

HATHAWAY MANOR

The first thing I ever learned about Hathaway Manor is the hard truth it taught me. Hathaway Manor took away my best friend when I was only 11 years old. Tears flowed the last day of 5th grade at Glasgow Elementary and, just like that, Patty Geller was gone. It seemed like a cruel fate for two young girls in the summer of 1962. Leaving that trauma for the moment, I am taking the opportunity 60 years on to conduct a more clinical examination of Hathaway Manor.

Hathaway Manor is a massive subdivision. Hathaway Manor is located in unincorporated St. Louis County on the north and south sides of I-270. Between 1955 and 1963, the developer Vorhof-Duenke filed 23 Hathaway Manor plats. Vorhof-Duenke built Hathaway Manor houses in both the Riverview Gardens and Hazelwood School Districts. Vorhof-Duenke built 562 Hathaway Manor homes in the Riverview Gardens School District. I have not figured out how many Hathaway Manor homes Vorhof-Duenke built in the Hazelwood School District. Suffice it to say, we are rolling up only to that part of Hathaway Manor within the boundaries of the Riverview Gardens School District.
 

On display in the Hathaway Manor home is the mid-century modern American design movement. The design is modern in style and construction characterized by clean simple lines and materials without decorative embellishments. The 56 Hathaway Home has it all: the Harvey-Hill Air-Conditioner, Electro Static Filters, Ultra-Violet Sterclamp, built-in countertop gas stove, grill and oven, studio ceilings, breakfast bar, fireplace, three bath plans, two kitchen plans, a dishwasher, and washer and dryer. As with Hathaway Hills in 1949, the Vorhof-Duenke team had it together in 1955, offering the latest in modern conveniences.
 

Sandwiched between Castle Point and Halls Ferry Road, Hathaway Manor fielded 26 streets in the Riverview Gardens School District, seven of which originated in Castle Point. The subdivision map above suggests a natural divide between the north and south ends. The north end is supported and wrapped by Hudson Road. The south end profiles long vertical streets, two of which extend into the north end. The Castle Point 1955 aerial map above shows an expanse of farmland before the developer broke ground. The Castle Point 1966 aerial map above shows a beautifully plotted Hathaway Manor. Most of the Hathaway Manor homes in the Riverview Gardens School District were constructed in the early days from 1955-1959. 

With Vorhof-Duenke, we once again encounter the “Hathaway” name (as in Hathaway Hills). Vorhoff and Duenke were consummate pros. They had a clear idea of the type of homes they wanted to build. They primed their design and construction plans. They designed their subdivisions with skill and precision. They were meticulous about details. They had vision. After thinking it over, I venture a theory that Vorhof-Duenke chose the name “Manor” as a natural complement to the royalty theme established by the Castle Point subdivision. It wasn’t just a word they plucked from the firmament. In the Middle Ages, manors were created as a unit of English territorial organization consisting of an estate under a lord. Is my theory far-fetched? Maybe. Then again, maybe not!

 

The maps above outline the Hathaway Manor plats applicable to the Riverview Gardens School District. In the north end map, Plats 3, 5 and 15 also include lots within the Hazelwood School District, but these maps incorporate only those lots of each plat within the Riverview Gardens School District. Notice the jagged edge at the north end. Each jag represents two families that live next door to each other, one living in the Riverview Gardens School District and the other living in the Hazelwood School District. The jagged edge illustrates how it could make a difference where our parents bought our homes!

Houses in Plats 3, 4 and 5 in the north end were the first to be built in 1955 and 1956. Cindy Shivel, Rudy Dodorico, Barb Young, Danny Cavanaugh and John Riggle lived on Ibis, Murat, Hudson, Halls Ferry and Vorhof within the Plat 3 property. A cluster of classmates lived in the boundaries of Plat 4 on Hudson, Hallwood, Canfield and Edgefield: Alison Wynn, Mike Cimicata, Judy Kissane, Tom Hulsey, Janice Cooper, Kathy Wines, Diana Hatch, Barb Tiemann and Tim Heitz. Ruth Wigger lived on Hudson within the Plat 5 property. 

Moving to the south end of Hathaway Manor, we find four platted areas. Construction got underway in 1956 for homes in Plat 6. Classmates who lived here on Viscount, Monarch, Countess and Edgefield were Van Meredith, Rick Hobusch, Pat Hurwitz, Debbie Carr, Gene Ude and Patty Geller. Construction followed in Plats 7 and 8 beginning in 1957. Cyndy Whitacre, Alan Kreienheider, Art Lowes, Mike Wehrheim, Jerry Wildman and Jerry Sauerwein lived on Viscount, Edgefield, Monarch and Duchess within the border of  Plat 7, and Nancy Hayes, Bob Calkins, Pat Narozny and Frankie Bonuso lived on Edgefield and Monarch within the border of Plat 8. 

In 1958, Vorhof-Duenke moved westward with Plat 10, 

where Stewart Wade, Amy Baker, Linda Butler, Stan Swarts, Carol Kattenbraker, Tom Mueller, Diana Fair, Lee Bridges, Tom Goszewski and Dave Langley lived on Cedarhurst, Orbitt, Sagamore and Pannell. A shout out goes to Donna Mayer (RGHS 1970) who also lived on Sagamore!
 

The price shown for The Cheshire model above is $16,450 for 2200 Square Feet and 1 1/2 baths. The ad first appeared in the RGHS yearbook Echoes 1957. Houses were growing in size and price. Design was geared to the elegance of modern living. Some of our classmates were getting a taste of the mid-century modern lifestyle, whether they knew it or not! But to get a taste of what it really was like to grow up as a kid in Hathaway Manor, let’s return to Patty Geller.

In describing how she weathered the move from Glasgow Village to Hathaway Manor, Patty perceived that she was very lucky once she finally emerged from the basement at 10315 Edgefield. Her two younger sisters had already ventured out and were playing with a girl across the street who told them there was a girl Patty’s age who lived around the corner at 10241 Viscount. Cyndy Whitacre was Patty’s first friend in Hathaway Manor. Through Cyndy, Patty met Susan Meyers from Bissell Hills. Cyndy and Susan were in Girl Scouts together. Cyndy asked Patty to play on her softball team that summer of 1962, and Patty met several other girls from the neighborhood who were on the team. Nancy Hayes, Alison Wynn, Barb Young and Barb’s cousin, Donna Mayer, played on the team, managed and coached by their Dads. 

That school year, her closest friend became Linda Fitzgerald, who took Patty under her wing. Linda also lived on Edgefield next door to Van Meredith and Patty spent loads of time at her house. At the end of 6th grade, Linda’s family moved to Arizona. By that time, Patty also had become good friends with the other girls on the softball team because all of them were so friendly towards her. Theirs was a core group of girls that rode bikes, crawdad fished and played outside all of the time. It was during the summer of 1963 that Patty and Alison Wynn became especially close friends. Patty remembers spending many hours at the homes of Alison, Barb Young and Nancy Hayes.

The girls even held a carnival at Donna Mayer’s house on Sagamore. Patty believes Marsha Mayer (RGHS 1967) may have been the fortune teller. They donated the money they made to Muscular Dystrophy through the Corky the Clown TV show. Patty says the carnival definitely was a carryover from Glasgow Village days.

As for her home on Edgefield, Patty felt the Hathaway Manor home was basically the same as the Glasgow Village home, except for a few minor differences: air-conditioning, a garage, a patio, a partially finished basement, CARPETING and a half bath (in addition to the full bath). Patty remembers that the neighborhood was well established when they moved. Even a few Cardinals baseball players lived in Hathaway Manor, including Hal Smith, Dick Groat and Dal Maxvill, though Dal lived on the Hazelwood side.

When they first moved, Patty’s Mom sent her to the grocery store on her bike (just like in Glasgow Village). Upon returning from the store, Patty couldn’t remember which house was hers because all of the houses had brick and a garage and she didn’t know her address. Scary stuff!

All in all, Patty couldn’t have asked for a better transition from Glasgow Village to Hathaway Manor. The Hathaway Manor girls piled in on friendship and welcomed Patty with open hearts! Four years after our tearful farewell,  Patty and I reconnected in High School and have remained friends for life, in spite of numerous separations and moves over the years. Shared history—the ties that bind!
 

Hathaway Manor friends Patty, Cyndy and Alison were still playing softball together during the summer of 1969 after we graduated—eight summers of softball was a true testament to friendships that began in 1962. Patty, Cyndy and Alison are standing second, third and fourth from the right. Other classmates are Linda Bergmeyer (standing far left), Susan Meyers (standing third from left) and Sue Reynolds (standing far right), all from Bissell Hills, and Deb Hanson (kneeling second from right) from the Coburg Ridge #2 neighborhood. 

After musing on such sweet tales of friendship, now might be a good time to take a break and reflect on all that has come before.

The Magical History Tour is hoping to take you away           

Hoping to take you away….

THE END OF EPISODE 5ACE
 

THE MAGICAL HISTORY TOUR

IS CONTINUED IN EPISODE 5BOT....

Where we’ll roll up to the neighborhoods 

west of Halls Ferry and north of Chambers!!!!

NEXT STOPS: Capitol Hill to Northland Hills!


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