MAIDEN ROCK PRESS Text Box: MAIDEN ROCK ON SATURDAY NIGHT 1940’S AND 1950’S Harriet Johnson Rothe and Barbara Johnson Sand memories of shopping with our parents on Saturday nights in Maiden Rock. ***Getting Ready: Days before we collected eggs, washed them and put them in an egg crate. We got ready when the folks milked the cows. Always wore “good” clothes that were probably made out of feed sacks that Dad got chicken feed in from Erling Larson at the J.G. Dill elevator in Maiden Rock that Mom sewed for us. We were ready to leave the farm but first had to blow out the lamp, tie up the dog, get in the car, Mom, Dad, Harriet, Barbara and drive five miles to Maiden Rock. ***Maiden Rock: Cars were angle parked on the lake side and many people left home early so they could get a good parking spot to watch and talk to people as they strolled by. Dad spotted some friends and sat on the cement ledge in front of Pete’s’ Café (Pete Kresbsbach) owner. We went with Mom to Frost’s store owned by Elmer and Vinnie Frost and their son Bob worked there. Mom traded the eggs for groceries and gave her shopping list to either of them and they would gather the groceries on her list, no one would get their own groceries, Frost’s would put what they could back in the empty egg crate. We would stand and stare at the cookies that were in a display case with glass doors so you could see the cookies and only wish we had some as we only got homemade ones. Mom would hope the $5.00 she got for the eggs would cover all the groceries because if there was any change left over we would then go to Plum City to the movie. When we got home and Mom unpacked the groceries there was always a treat from the Frost’s for us and a lot of times it was the longed for cookies for each of us .A special memory at Christmas time was a mechanical Santa that was in the store window that would nod his head so if you asked Santa if you were going to get a new doll for Christmas Santa would nod yes!! Santa was in the store window at Christmas until the store closed. You also could call in your order and it would be ready for you and in the 50’s when Bob took over the store and you called Bob would answer the phone by saying “Frost’s Emporium”!! ***No fresh meat in Frost’s store so if you needed meat you had to go to the meat market run by John and Clarabelle Maier and they had a case full. You could also rent a locker to store your processed meat in. We thought that was quite an adventure as you were given a key and Maier’s had a key so they would go in this freezing locker room and use our key and their key to unlock the locker then we could take out as much meat of ours as we needed and come out so cold but always wanted to go in with Mom. The beef or pork that was sold in the Meat Market was slaughtered in the “Slaughter House” that was behind the ball park in “Rattlesnake Hollow”, now the Fairmont Minerals Sand Mine. *** If we didn’t go to the movie Mom would go to either Julian’s Corner Store or Ralph White’s store for “dry goods” as Frost’s had mainly groceries. You could get anything you wanted in those stores, underwear, dishes, boots, thread, material (now called fabric), toys and White’s had hardware, paint and all necessary household items and both of those stores had groceries also. Everything except groceries that you bought was wrapped in brown paper from a large roll on the counter and tied with string from a string holder that was in the ceiling of the stores. Mom would take the string off the package and roll it in a ball for use around the house. We always stayed by Mom and don’t remember talking to anyone, if you can believe that, but did smile at other kids that we knew. We don’t recall of any kids ever running around in the store and all were well behaved but sometimes someone would cry because they wanted something and couldn’t have and didn’t get it!! Mom would take her purchases to the car and we would wait by Dad because we would all go into Pete’s café for a treat of ice cream or a hamburger & sometimes we had to wait for a booth to sit in because it was so busy. We think a large cone cost five cents!! *** Sometimes on Saturday nights there would be men sleeping on the sidewalk and no one teased them or taunted them because they had been in town too long in one of the bars. The folks taught us that we should always be polite to everyone even the ones that had too much to drink. They often would stagger down the street and give us change for our piggy banks! ***Saturday nights in Maiden Rock were very busy. Flora Hara and Anna Morgan would play the Accordian and sing gospel songs on the Bank of Maiden Rock corner. We don’t remember who ran the projector but in the play ground on special Saturday nights they showed movies in black and white on the south stone wall and everyone would sit on the cement ledges or the ground to watch them. There would also be folks visiting on every corner of the town. In the 1950’s there were Evangelist meetings in the school gym called “Youth For Christ” and the town would be full of cars from one end to the other and the gym was filled to capacity. ***We would like to hear from others about their memories of Maiden Rock as our memories may vary from yours. It was a bustling town for many years and we feel fortunate to have been a part of it and Maiden Rock will always be “home”!! Text Box: Harriet Johnson-Rothe MAY 2009Text Box: Barbara Johnson Text Box: Harriet’s “Feed Sack” Dress Text Box: Old Maiden Rock Postcard Downtown (not dated) Text Box: Rattle Snake Holler Slaughter House at the bottom.