Three Houses

Dad just recently talked with Moira about the street he lived on in South Buffalo. Both of our parents loved to regale us with tales of the old neighborhood - they grew up close together but moved in different circles until they met in their early teens.

Mom & Dad loved to sit at the dinner table and just talk and talk and talk of the old neighborhood, old friends, places and experiences. If you added one of Mom's sisters and/or our grandmother (Dad's mother) to the mix the talk would go on for hours, with lots of laughs, some sadness and plenty of "gee, I never knew that!"

During the summer we'd see a steady stream of visiting relatives passing through our South Jersey home, and this table talk provided some of the background noise of our lives as we grew up. Endless cups of coffee, frequent 'adult beverages', too many cigarettes, and talk, talk, talk. I miss it (all except the cigarettes)!

Here's Dad:

"Three houses in a row on Edson St. (in South Buffalo): Harens, Werners, Millers.

In the Haren house there was always tea brewing. In the Werners house there was always wine (they came from Alsace-Lorraine region (of Germany) and in the fall someone would bring in bushels of grapes and their relatives would come to start processing). The Millers always had coffee brewing on their old wood burning stove. The Harens, had an electric stove upstairs and a gas in basement which she (Dad's mom - our Grandmother Mary Imelda) used for canning.

Werners had a phone, Millers and Harens didn't have one. I'm not sure when Harens got one. (Side note - I remember Dad talking about how in the neighborhood the houses were so close together all you had to do was stand on your porch and yell for whoever you wanted to talk to. They'd come out on their porch and yell back. So nobody needed a phone for 'local communications' 😀)

In winter the Millers put their car on blocks and drained it where it sat all winter. The Werners kept theirs in their garage. The Harens finally got their car after WWII.

Streetcars had a 3 cent mark just as you entered. If you were below mark you road for free. For 3 cents you could ride all day and have free transfers if you knew where to get transfers. You could carry on as many packages as you could get in before he closed the doors."

Thanks Dad, and keep the stories coming!