Our first mailing address in Anderson was 934 Main St. That was my uncle’s store, then known simply as The Floor Store. Everything was forwarded there until we took up permanent residence at 300 East Cross St. in North Anderson.
Our old Cross Street apartment is still standing. Uncle Robert’s store, however, is now a parking lot.
To get to North Anderson from the store, since Mom didn’t drive, we walked a half block and crossed 10th Street, then boarded an orange and green Indiana Railroad bus, dropping our dime in the slot (a bell would ring twice).
I caught the bus frequently at that location from shopping trips, basketball games at the old Wigwam or whatever. If we needed to get warm we’d go inside the Uptown Recreation bowling alley near the corner. I bowled there a few times in my youth.
An old hotel occupied the northwest corner of that intersection and a pet store the southwest corner. The old Anderson Daily Bulletin office stood vacant on the northeast corner.
The Indiana Railroad buses are long gone. You can still catch a CATS bus, much smaller and more modern, to various locations during the daytime hours; the fare, of course, is considerably more than a dime.
Uptown Recreation also is gone. It burned to the ground one frigid night, and I watched the firefighters finish up their all-nighter as I walked to school the next morning. The old Wigwam also was destroyed by fire in 1958. The replacement Wigwam, then the second-largest high school gym in the state, now stands empty.
The pet store was replaced by the downtown post office. The hotel was demolished for a parking lot. The old Bulletin building is still standing, now used as a halfway house for offenders. The police station and city court occupies the area where the bowling alley used to be.
Those are only some of the landmarks from my early years in Anderson. Interestingly, every house but one that I have lived in is still standing.
But the route I have used to go downtown from the time I moved to Park Place has also changed considerably. I lived on East Third Street, which is now University Boulevard. The only direct way downtown then was to go to Eighth Street and cross the Ninth Street bridge, which angled across White River from Athletic Park to the old Pennsylvania Railroad tunnel.
The bridge was replaced by the Eisenhower Bridge. The viaduct is gone, as are such landmarks as the Tunnel Bar, the Pennsylvania depot, the Everybody’s Oil offices and service station and Mabel’s. What was Mabel’s? If you don’t know, you really don’t want to know.
And of course the downtown has changed too. But somehow all this remains in our memories as we think about Anderson’s past and ponder just what the future may hold.
Jim Bailey’s reflections on Anderson’s past appear on Sundays. His regular column appears on Wednesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at jameshenrybailey@earthlink.net.
Columns
Related Photos
-
Jim Bailey
Discussion
January 26, 2013
Jim Bailey: Initial landmarks disappear from Anderson landscape
- Columns
-
- Primus Mootry: Juneteenth an African-American celebration of freedom For growing numbers of African Americans, today is Juneteenth, a day to celebrate the end of slavery and historical new beginnings as free citizens of the United States of America.
- Jim Bailey: A time to be Frank about imposing situational censorship Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once declined to offer his definition of pornography but added, “I know it when I see it.”
-
Emmett Dulaney: We are the Potters
When I was an undergraduate student, I took a film appreciation course for easy credits. One of the films we had to watch was "It’s a Wonderful Life" and I will never forget what I did when that class session was over.
- Charo Boyd: Many older people continue to rock on past retirement age Generations ago, retirement was thought of as a time to take it easy — a time of rocking on porch chairs and reminiscing about the good old days. But that’s not the case with the current generation of retirees.
-
Scott Underwood: You can help us determine value of news
News judgment is one of those difficult-to-define senses that springs partly from intuition and partly from experience.
-
Maureen Hayden: 'Dual sentencing' an option for juveniles tried as adults
Monica Foster is a longtime public defender who’s been pushing uphill in the legal system for a long time, so when she says the General Assembly is making progress protecting the rights of the disenfranchised, it’s worth stopping to listen to her.
-
Tim Kean: Hunger in East Central Indiana 2013
We just received our new Map the Meal Gap 2013 report from Feeding America. This allows us to see at the county level how many people are classified as “Food Insecure” meaning they are not sure if they will have enough food to last the rest of the week.
-
'Big Joe' Clark: Taxed today and gone tomorrow
Large swings within the market have become more common than many of us would like. As investors see an increase in volatility their natural reaction is fear, which can lead to emotional decisions within their investment accounts.
-
Jim Bailey: Old sportswriters never die, they go into syndication
Time passes and careers come to an end. But some people, such as Mike Lopresti and yours truly, find ways to continue exercising their creativity at their own pace.
-
Theresa Timmons: Dishwasher drama amounts to lots of waiting
Everyone has a significant date stuck in their heads. For me, there are a couple of dates. The day my sons were born. The day Andy Griffith died. The bombing of the towers in New York. And the day that had a huge
- More Columns Headlines
Fmr. TWA Flight 800 Investigators Want New Probe
Raw: Heat, Spurs Back on Court Ahead of Game 7
Dolce and Gabbana Convicted of Tax Evasion
Paris, Prince Depositions Used in Jackson Trial
Coiffed Cattle Get Their Close-up
In Berlin, Obama Channels Cold War Activism
Police at Patriots Tight End's Home for 2nd Day
Fed Suggests Bond Purchases Could Slow
AP: DOJ Broke Own Rules Seizing Phone Records
Raw: Baby White Rhino Debuts at Australian Zoo
Time Lapse: Rebuilding Bridge Post-collapse
Ohio Woman Accuses 3 of Holding Her Captive
Hunt for Ex-Teamster Boss Hoffa's Remains Ends
Aug. Trial Set for Ohio Man in Triple Kidnapping
Car Crash in NYC's East Village Injures 8
