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The old Superior roller skating rink south of the Burlington Railroad tracks was a wood frame building with tar paper exterior and a series of windows that could be propped open during warm weather to ventilate the rink. To make the experience more pleasant, music from a phonograph was broadcast over loud speakers to cover up the rumble of the skates. During warm weather with the wind from the south, I could lie in bed at 1127 Kansas Street and be serenaded by the skating rink music. During the winter months, the windows on the rink were...
Editor Blauvelt recently ruminated about the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad which ran through Superior and mentioned the railroad, unlike most other railroads, used concrete crossing signs. The familiar “Crossbucks” (an “X” shape with “Railroad” on one blade and “Crossing” on the other) could be found on all Burlington lines in Nebraska. Most crossings did not have flashing lights or gates at the crossings and were at rural roads. The Burlington was always frugal and decided wooden crossbucks would deteriorate and have to be replaced....
Growing up in Superior I was a clutz. Learning to ride a bicycle was an adventure with a lot of crashes! Only when Dick Wall and Tom and Jerry Cooper were enlisted by my mother to help me did I master the balance to ride without mishaps. The recent flurry of interest in the Simic Roller Skating rink brought back memories of another disaster - roller skating. My experience was at the old skating rink south of the Burlington tracks near the Armour Creamery. I tried to learn to skate without success, but I did hang out at the skating rink where...
A common feature found in cars during the 1950s was a device called a “bug deflector.” When the weather got warm and insects were about, often even a short drive would result in a coating of smushed bugs on the car windshield. Gasoline stations back then were full service and when buying gasoline from Marvin Marr’s Sinclair station or from Hill Oil Company, the station attendant would wash your windshield, check your oil and, if asked, check the pressure in your tires. If you didn’t need gasoline, you would have to get the mess off the windshi...
We have been talking about ways to keep a car cool in the hot weather before air conditioning came into use. Of course, the easiest way to feel the breeze was to own a convertible (often known as a “Rag Top”) because it had a cover which could be raised during rainy or cold weather. There were some of them around Superior. Virginia Meier was the envy of most of us as she tooled around town in her Buick convertible. By the way, Virginia’s father was a first-rate mechanic. I had problems with my 1968 Chevrolet Chevelle with the engine cutti...
Before cars were air conditioned, during hot weather, drivers and passengers suffered from the heat. We had a 1938 Ford that had a “nose vent” that was located at the back of the hood and the cover could be raised and lowered to get air flow through the car. Far more effective to move air through the car were small side windows which were called “wing windows.” These were usually triangular, but some were rectangular depending on the body style of the vehicle. All of them had a crank you could use to crank them open, part way open or closed....
Growing up in Superior, I had lots of time to watch cars and trucks on the streets of Superior. One feature which deserves comment would be a common device call “mud flaps.” Many highways in the area were unpaved and had gravel surfaces. County roads were also gravel and when there was heavy rain or snow, the vehicles would wear into the surfaces and mud would result. The rotation of the vehicle’s tires would throw mud backward coating the windshield and front of following vehicles. Most trucks then and today have mud flaps which catch the mud...
As I was watching traffic on O Street in Lincoln, I noticed a small compact with something I had not seen since the 1950s – it had fender skirts. I remember the family 1950 Chevrolet Sedan had fender skirts on the rear wheels. The idea was to make the car look more sleek and streamlined. Of course you could not put them on the front fenders because the front wheels had to turn. Not only General Motors products had vender skirts, but also Ford and Chrysler models. The skirts were metal sheets that filled the rear fender opening. They attached t...
On the old 1930s and 1940s era automobiles there was a pedal at the extreme left side of the floor board which the driver used to switch the headlights from high beam to low beam. When my Aunt Lena got a Buick Super (three portholes instead of the 4 portholes of a Roadmaster) in the early 1950s, her car had an “automatic dimming” feature on it. A device on the dash was pointed forward and would register when a bright light came toward it and dim the headlights. This device was not perfect and often would dim the headlights from the return off...
Remembering back to my many Thanksgiving dinners growing up in Superior, I now realize how special they were. Aunt Lena and Aunt Freda, sisters of my father Paul, were regular attendees. Often present was my mother’s sister, Aunt Laura Koon, who lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. At times, we would also have cousin, Willie Jacobs, who rode the Burlington passenger train up from Atchison, Kansas. My mother, Myrtle Schmeling, was a gourmet cook and started preparing this special meal the night before Thanksgiving. We would start with a Jell-O salad w...
During my lifetime the simple matter of starting the engine on your car has undergone a big change. The 1941 Chevrolet which took my family through World War II and beyond used a starter pedal. On the floorboard of the car from left to right were (1) dimmer switch foot pedal to switch headlights from high beam to low beam, (2) a clutch pedal which had to be depressed to shift gears, (3) the footbrake pedal, (4) the throttle and (5) farthest to the right, the start pedal. The 1937 Ford which my father brought as a second car had a push button...
When I was growing up in Superior, Dr. H. H. Miller was an older dentist who had his office behind the Security National Bank. He seemed old to me and Editor Blauvelt confirms that he had been in practice in Superior since before WWI. He was a character and I saw him frequently when I worked at Security National Bank in the summers. For a period of time, I went to him for dental work. I came to him on one occasion because of a problem with a wisdom tooth. He examined me and told me he thought the tooth should be extracted. He explained that...
Having been born May 31, 1940, I grew up with war being a prominent part of my early life. During World War II, Time and Life magazines were full of battlefield scenes and stories. Fox Movietone News, shown as a “short” before every feature at the Lyric Theatre, also had military themes. Gasoline and food rationing were daily topics at our house. Like many young boys I developed a healthy interest in military things and this included toy soldiers, tanks and airplanes. I noticed that some of the toy soldiers I bought at Hested’s store were...
In addition to digging the dandelions out of the lawn at my parents’ home in Superior, there were other invaders to contend with. As I was digging the dandelions, I was also dealing with them. Another unwelcome visitor was bindweed. Bindweed had long tendrils and it was sometimes hard to find where the plant came out of the ground because the tendrils spread out so far. Unlike dandelions, however, the bindweed did not have a deep root system and could be pulled out rather than dug out. A third variety of unwanted growth was pigweed. I s...
Often while growing up in Superior I would go to the Burlington Depot and watch the motor car trains come through town. The eastbound arrived at 9:15 a.m. and the westbound was through about 5:30 p.m. The trains carried lots of express packages handled by the Railway Express Agency, a lot of cream cans and sacks of United States Mail. As the motor car trains paused at the depot, lots of stuff would be unloaded onto baggage carts. Other baggage carts with outgoing mail, empty cream cans and express shipments were loaded onto the train. The mail...
When I was growing up in Superior, just about everyone’s lawn had a bright yellow flowers which my mother told me were dandelions, a weed that didn’t belong in a lawn. My father, the practical banker, wanted our lawn to set a good example. At that time the only way to control those pesky yellow flowers was to dig them out. This task fell at first to my mother, but, as I grew older, this became a shared task. I was trusted with a sharp paring knife. I would be sent out with a galvanized pail and knife to remove the yellow scourge. My mother sho...
The Easter holiday as I was growing up in Superior included coloring Easter eggs and a time for those yummy chocolate Easter bunnies. As I have aged, I still look forward to the Easter bunny treat, but through the years the solid chocolate Easter bunnies have disappeared. I am stuck with hollow bunnies. Even they have diminished as the chocolate shell is thinner and thinner. If I should be so fortunate as to find a solid chocolate Easter bunny, it will cost an arm and a leg. I still treat myself, but fewer bunnies! At least the marshmallow...
For many years the tall stacks of the cement plant west of Superior sent a plume of smoke into the sky. The kilns that turned crushed limestone into cement operated at high temperatures. In the winter, the smoke plume was thick when the hot air hit cold air. Even in the summer there was smoke coming out of the stacks. The smoke would be blown in a particular direction by the wind. When there was a south wind, the smoke would come north and not dissipate for many miles. When I would come south on Highway 14, the cloud of smoke would be visible...
One of the most difficult tasks for an instrumental band instructor is how to keep band members practicing their instruments during the summer months. School is not in session and the lure of playing baseball or softball, hanging out at the swimming pool or roller skating rink or just taking it easy mean no time to practice playing a band instrument. When fall hits, it would be nice to “hit the ground running” with band members being “fine tuned.” When I was growing up in Superior our high school band instructor, Ralph Spongberg, was well li...
My parents always spent New Year’s Eve with the couple’s club that got together to play bridge once a month. They scheduled the January session for New Year’s Eve. This left me home by myself, although when I was younger Aunt Lena came to stay with me during the evening. We would listen to the radio. At midnight, Guy Lombardo and his orchestra in New York City would play “Auld Lang Sine” and a radio reporter would describe the lowering of the ball at Times Square. Back then there were no fireworks set off as I recall, but some left over from...
Recently I saw a 1950s era Ford stationwagon fully restored to “as new” condition. As a part of the restoration, the stationwagon had white sidewall tires. When I was growing up in Superior, white sidewall tires were popular. These tires cost more than the standard blackwall tires and their presence on a car would indicate an owner who was (1) able to afford the special tires and (2) wanted to indicate his vehicle was above the typical vehicle on the streets. The 1950s white sidewall tires had a broad white sidewall. All was fine with them unt...
Recently, while visiting a Lincoln book store, I found a display of children’s books in a prominent position near the checkout stand. One of the books was a Peter Rabbit book. I almost bought it on impulse. Growing up in Superior, I had a lot adults read books to me until I learned to read myself. There were a number of books about Peter Rabbit and I had them all. I particularly remember my mother’s sister, Aunt Laura Koon, who would spend the holidays with us, reading me the Peter Rabbit series. She was an elementary school teacher at Col...
We had no day lilies at the Schmeling home at 1127 Kansas Street. I remember seeing them around town. The large Kate Scoular house on the southwest corner of tenth and Commercial streets had some and the “ghost house” south of the new, modern home occupied at that time by George Day which would have been on the southwest corner of Ninth and Commercial streets had a little bit of everything, all growing large and unattended. In that yard were large patches of day lilies. Day lilies have a lily-type of flower that comes up on a stalk from ami...
