Greetings winter survivors! It's been a tough one, hasn't it? February and a good part of March have been brutal for us seniors. However, winter is now over, and we have a lot of good weather to look forward to.
The weather didn't seem to bother us during our younger days. I remember walking to Auburn Senior High School for three years in the 1930s in all kinds of weather.
Auburn Senior High was a three-year school with 10th, 11th and 12th grades, which later became East High School and is now East Middle School.
I walked from Jefferson Street in the west end, a 45-minute walk.
My route included the downtown section of Genesee Street, which brings me to the subject of today's column, downtown Auburn of the '30s.
In those days, Auburn had a very large downtown for a city of its size, about 20 blocks.
Today, I'm going to cover the busiest section of downtown: Genesee Street from Green Street to Market Street.
Genesee Street had several high-traffic department stores: The Big Store, Hislop's, Schulte-United and J.C. Penney.
Also very busy were the two 5-and-10-cent stores, Kresge's and Woolworth's, and Newberry's 5 to 50 cent store.
Grocery stores included Market Basket, Loblaw's Groceteria, American Stores Co., The A&P, Mohican Market, E.N. Ross Grocery and others. The A&P was originally called the Great A&P Tea Co. I believe that A&P stood for Atlantic and Pacific.
The following drug stores were also in that section of Genesee Street: Hewitt Pharmacy, Whelan Drug Co., Donovan & Merriman, Daw's Drug Store, Sagar Drugs and Weld Drug Co.
Jewelers included Fulton, Brodt, Liberman, Rudolph, Crosman and possibly one or two others.
There is still a Crosman Jewelry Store, but I'm not sure if any of the others are still in business.
Furniture stores were Square Deal, Traub's and H.R. Wait. Hardware stores were P.M. Herron, Smith & Pearson and Woodruff & Murphy. I frequently had occasion to shop at the hardware stores.
There were also several book stores on Genesee Street. They were Allen's Book Store, Colwell Book Store, the Book Nook and possibly others. I remember buying school books at Colwell's.
Has seeing the names of these stores brought you back memories? They probably have, but I better stop here as too long a list at one time could prove to be a bore. I'll have more the next time, including clothing stores and restaurants also from downtown Genesee Street.
My next column will close out this subject, as I don't intend to venture beyond this section of downtown. To do so would require too many columns on one subject.
To come up with some of these store names, I had to do a little research.
I'm glad I did because whenever I came across a familiar name, a bell would ring in my mind and bring back memories.
I hope that those of you, whose memories go back to those days, have had the same experience.
That's about it for now. So long until next time.
Carmelo Signorelli is an Auburn resident who enjoys reminiscing about the good ol' days
Auburn Senior High was a three-year school with 10th, 11th and 12th grades, which later became East High School and is now East Middle School.
I walked from Jefferson Street in the west end, a 45-minute walk.
My route included the downtown section of Genesee Street, which brings me to the subject of today's column, downtown Auburn of the '30s.
In those days, Auburn had a very large downtown for a city of its size, about 20 blocks.
Today, I'm going to cover the busiest section of downtown: Genesee Street from Green Street to Market Street.
Genesee Street had several high-traffic department stores: The Big Store, Hislop's, Schulte-United and J.C. Penney.
Also very busy were the two 5-and-10-cent stores, Kresge's and Woolworth's, and Newberry's 5 to 50 cent store.
Grocery stores included Market Basket, Loblaw's Groceteria, American Stores Co., The A&P, Mohican Market, E.N. Ross Grocery and others. The A&P was originally called the Great A&P Tea Co. I believe that A&P stood for Atlantic and Pacific.
The following drug stores were also in that section of Genesee Street: Hewitt Pharmacy, Whelan Drug Co., Donovan & Merriman, Daw's Drug Store, Sagar Drugs and Weld Drug Co.
Jewelers included Fulton, Brodt, Liberman, Rudolph, Crosman and possibly one or two others.
There is still a Crosman Jewelry Store, but I'm not sure if any of the others are still in business.
Furniture stores were Square Deal, Traub's and H.R. Wait. Hardware stores were P.M. Herron, Smith & Pearson and Woodruff & Murphy. I frequently had occasion to shop at the hardware stores.
There were also several book stores on Genesee Street. They were Allen's Book Store, Colwell Book Store, the Book Nook and possibly others. I remember buying school books at Colwell's.
Has seeing the names of these stores brought you back memories? They probably have, but I better stop here as too long a list at one time could prove to be a bore. I'll have more the next time, including clothing stores and restaurants also from downtown Genesee Street.
My next column will close out this subject, as I don't intend to venture beyond this section of downtown. To do so would require too many columns on one subject.
To come up with some of these store names, I had to do a little research.
I'm glad I did because whenever I came across a familiar name, a bell would ring in my mind and bring back memories.
I hope that those of you, whose memories go back to those days, have had the same experience.
That's about it for now. So long until next time.
Carmelo Signorelli is an Auburn resident who enjoys reminiscing about the good ol' days
The Citizens' Say
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