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This message forum is an ongoing discussion about anything and just about everything ... within reason.  One thing our class was good at was having opinions.  Almost 70 years of life experience certainly qualifies us as experts on most everything!   Ask a question ... give an opinion ... share some insights ... it's our web site, it's our forum.  That said, it's probably not a good idea to get into arguments about politics, religion, and the like.  While we're experts on everything, we also have a wide range of values and beliefs. This site belongs to all of us ... the whole range ... and we are not here to isolate, alienate, or subjugate anybody.  Of course insults, humiliation, sophomoric barraggadocio, and demented humor is expected behavior among some of us less mature people.
 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Sally, those "nasty snapping turtles" were part of the reason I refused to swim in the river near my uncle's farm in Portage, Wisconsin. One year while fishing (my dad's passion, so we all had to do it) I caught one of them and it scared the daylights out of me when I hauled him up onto the bank. He was about 1 1/2 feet wide and slightly longer. He hung upside down in a tree near the well pump (had to be 'til sundown was the lore) and we were warned not to go near the (severed) head. Yuk! My aunt made turtle soup - reported to be delicious - but it would have to have been the last edible morsel on earth to have driven me to go near it.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Boy, he's a beauty.

Were I to catch one now, I would be happy to eat him - maybe even do the cooking (if I had a large enough pot, and somebody else did the butchering part). We ate crocodiles in Australia (actually quite tasty) and all kinds of weird things in China (I learned that it was better not to ask what it was, and was always happy when it was in pieces that didn't have any appendages or eyes looking up at us).

How many of us up North ate squirrels or rabbits....remember the little pellets of ammo that sometimes clinked on the serving plate? Be careful not to crack a tooth!

Carol Albers (Pederson)

I guess I only got as far as venison and pheasant, Nancy.  Dad liked to hunt.  We had a pretty big garden, so I enjoyed a lot of fresh, mostly raw veggies.  We were organic.  We had a real ice box for many years and hauled a chunk of ice in our trunk  from the ice house in Kempster.  We usually went to the meat market quite often and a nearby farm for fresh eggs and chickens.  Picked a lot of berries too.

Now as to Villard Ave., I guess my memories are again food related.  Shorty's of course.  I remember having a great chocolate sundae there-not custard either.  There was a super bakery west of Shorty's-great cream filled coffee cake.  Sure miss the real bakeries Milwaukee used to have, although my waistline doesn't need them. Rog remember s Kozel's Department store.  I don't remember it.  Was there a Winkies on Villard?  And also the theater,  Saturday movies.  Big stuff!

Meribeth Hodges (Engelfried)

This whole conversation has been so fun.  I was remembering the old North Milwaukee fire house.  It was located south of Villard on  35th.  It was closed in the early 50's and converted to apartments.  We lived there for awhile and now in thinking qbout it, I don't know how we fit. When we moved to 28th and locast I went to Clark St school.  I had one of the outside enclosed fire escapes.  Then moved again and then to Carleton.  Boy what memories!!

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

 I haven't had too much time to visit the forum in the past couple days, and wow! so many more great memories! I  definitely remember Winky Dink, Marian; I spent my summers at Pelican Lake, which is near Antigo, and about 15 miles south of Rhinelander. Carol and I discovered we both roller skated at Post Lake. I also remember gatthering wild blackberries and blueberries. We caught quite a few perch, blue gills, crappies  and sunfish in the Lake. We would go out at night with flashlights on our lawn in Milwaukee to stock up on night crawlers, and brought them to the lake with us for bait. Rhinelander is quite a bit west from Peshtigo, which is just south of Door County, a bit south of Marinette. If you ever get that way, the Peshtigo FIre Museum is very interesting and well done. There was a huge firestorm in Peshtigo, which burned the whole town. It was the same day as the Great Chicago Fire. Garry, thanks so much for the Hank Williams song! I also remember him singing "Jambalaya" on the radio. The songs of that era (pre-rock 'n roll) often had funny words, that were intriguing to a kid, even if you didn't understand  them. 

Jim Cejka

Carol,

Kozol's was a department store on the south side of Villard between 35th and 36th, a door or so east of the dime store.

Across the street was the shoe store that had one of those shoe fitting X-ray machines. Watch your toes wiggle from the inside out.

The Theater was the Ritz. 10 cent Saturday matinees.

And Shorty's had the best fresh grilled hamburgers around. Even toasted the buns.

And then there was one of the original George Webb's on 35th just south of Villard. Remember the 19 cent hamburger? Free hamburgers if the Braves won 12 in a row? 

Garry Sellers

Go to Suzie Maertz's last profile before she passed away.  It has a video of 35th and Villard in the early '50's and Bay Shore under construction.  It was taken by her father, who is still alive, who owned Maertz's Department Store.  It was actually started by her grandfather.

Barbara Blair (Brenzel)

Suzie's grandpa was quite a character.  We used to go visit him at times when we'd go to the store.

Barb

Marilyn Griffith (Bauer)

We just returned from a road trip to Colorado. The reason was for my husband, John, to fulfill a "bucket list" wish. After watching Doo Wop concerts on PBS for many years he wanted to see a live show. The first show we could find was in Denver. So we spent a week revisiting old haunts around Colorado - we spent a few years living in Denver when we were really young, stupid and broke living in married student housing while John attended graduate school at the University of Denver.

Saturday night found us at the Paramount Theater with several hundred other 50's and 60's music fans - old ones. The artists rocked the theater. If we closed our eyes we could imagine ourselves where we were when we listened and danced to their music. What a night!

THE ULTIMATE DOO-WOP SHOW

Saturday, October 27, 2012
8:00 PM
Paramount Theatre
Denver, CO

8 Artists – Over 200 million records sold

AS SEEN ON PBS

STARRING LIVE…..

JIMMY BEAUMONT & THE SKYLINERS
Since I Don’t Have You, Pennies from Heaven, This I Swear, It Happened Today

THE VOGUES featuring 
BILL BURKETTE & HUGH GEYER
You’re the One, Five O’Clock World, Magic Town, Turn Around Look at Me, My Special Angel

THE DIAMONDS/DAVID SOMERVILLE
Little Darlin’, The Stroll, One Summer Night, Zip Zip, Ka Ding Dong, Walking Along

BARBARA LEWIS
Hello Stranger, Be My Baby, Make Me Your Baby

THE VIBRATIONS
Hang on Sloopy, The Watusi, Peanut Butter

RANDY & THE RAINBOWS featuring RANDY SAFUTO
Denise

THE VOLUMES
I Love You, Gotta Give Her Love

RAMA LAMA BIG BAND
Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

John Leopold

OK everyone... I need some help. I looked at The Edison photos Fred posted and I can't figure out a couple of things (great photos by the way). Specifically, if the date is correct (1959), what are so many of you doing at Edison? Wouldn't these be photos from the end of freshman year at Custer? And, why aren't any of us from west of 76th St in the photos? (Nancy, Ray, Jon Stanel, John Gilbert, Tom Pfenning, Tom Borth, Tom Schmerda or me? (Or is it I?)  They must be homeroom photos because there's a teacher in each one and this is probably just a portion of a larger set so I guess the big questions relate to the date, school and origin. I emailed Fred but I guess I need more clarity. Thanks...

Marilyn Griffith (Bauer)

Okay John - I thought the same thing! I still have a copy of the 1959 Custer Warrior - pulled it out and discovered among several other folks - you, me and the N. 64th St gang - Bev Barry, Barbara Schmidt, Marian Tootsie Brigham - were at Custer that year. Don't know why some of us that spent 7th and 8th grade at Edison were sent to Custer for 9th grade. Probably for the same random reasons we were bused all over Milwaukee after attending Hampton Ave school - Luther Burbank, Garden Homes, etc, etc. 

Dennis Unterholzner

I've been lurking here for the past month and not only getting nostalgic, but also getting my memory jogged  looking at the pictures and reading the various comments.I was part of the Browning condingent and graduated from there in June, 1958.  I remember that after 6th grade a number of students were sent to Edison, probably based on where they lived. Didn't see them for two years and then suddenly they reappeared at Custer as freshmen.  Friends I played with in the neighborhood went to Lancaster school on 68th street, but never went to Custer.   I lived on 71st & Villard and never understood how the school district determined who went where.

Marian Schopp (Bringe)

Also, those of us at Browning Elementary were given the choice to stay for 8th grade or transfer to Edison for 8th grade.  Then we were told to stay at Edison for 9th grade and start at Custer for 10th grade.  We just did what we were told. 

Garry Sellers

My recollection was that until the early '50's those of us who technically lived in the Town of Granville went to Milwaukee schools. There were pockets of Granville scattered around the north side.  But the post-war baby boom just crammed the Milwaukee schools so they looked for every out they could find.  At the time, the old Custer (becoming Edison later) was overcrowded AND old.   So they looked for us Granville kids and said get out of our schools (Carlton for one) and bused us to Browning ... 3 or 4 miles away.  (Remember at the time Silver Spring was a two lane road with no sidewalks just worn paths? And around 51st or 60th and Silver Spring was a big horse ranch.  Was that the Joy Farm?)

Then Milwaukee annexed the town of Granville in the late '50's and began building the "new" Custer".  I think it opened in '57 or '58  (my sister graduated from the old Custer in '55 or '56) giving them room to ship us now Milwaukee kids to Edison.  Some of the Granville kids went to Grantosa on the western side of the area while some of you were always in the Custer zone. I guess Edison was your Jr high too but it seems too far east for some of you.  The idea was to create a Sr and Jr High ... but there was still a crowding issue at Edison.  So the "regular" Custer kids who always lived in the Custer zone went to Custer as freshman and us east sider kids stayed as the first class of 9th grade at Edison. At least that was what I was told.  We were not happy!  No football, baseball or other school sports  ... only basketball.  I believe after the freshman of '59 at Custer there were no more freshman classes.

It all came down to overcrowding and how to level the class sizes.  Don't assume logic or a brilliant plan and certainly do not factor in personal impact.  The  late '50's had to be a nightmare for school planners.

John Leopold

Thanks everyone. All your comments were beneficial in helping me piece this together. I have a few more questions that I think only someone from the neighborhood could verify. My family moved to that huge development built between 1954 and 1956 (Hampton to Fond Du Lac Ave and 76th St to 84th St) in early 1955. Nancy's earlier blog description of the neighborhood in its infancy was spot on. I think I went to Browning for the later part of 5th grade (Spring 1955) and was bussed to Luther Burbank for 6th grade (Fall 1955- Spring 1956) then bussed on to Edison for Junior High for 7th and 8th grade. (Best teacher ever... Miss Voss. Music) The only reason I think I went to Browning for a little while is that I have recollections of a playground altercation with Wayne Oneska and I recall that the blacktop portion of the playground on one side was essentially a steep hill. As a kid who came out there from the city I thought the grass field portion of the playground was the coolest thing ever. But for neighborhood baseball nothing matched Gilbert's Field on 76th and Fond Du Lac or the Telephone Company's field for football.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Wow - we really were shuffled around to a lot of schools! I just got a memory flashback from Garden Homes: does anyone remember Miss Kapp? She was wider than she was tall, had short wispy hair (in a comb-over, long before D. Trump), was tough as nails, and loved us all to death. She took the class to the Field Museum in Chicago and to see the  Bahai temple in Evanston.

John Leopold

Nancy - did you go to Browning or Luther Burbank during that time? I do remember going to Chicago on a fieldtrip and going in the submarine and (was there a coal mine?). I thought that since we're from the same neighborhood maybe we went to the same schools. But, it's possible our parents were given choices. It's all gone, except fragments but is kind of an interesting puzzle to try and piece back together.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

John -  Our family moved to 80th and Herbert at the end of my fifth grade year. We were in a really new section -maybe you were already in that neighborhood and so went to another school. I was bussed to Garden Homes for sixth grade. Boy, did they ever NOT like the kids bussed in - you'd think we were some kind of bums from a bad 'hood. I can only imagine how we would have been received had we been black to boot.

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Oh -  yes John, there was (and still is) a coal mine. Quite realistic, too, making you very happy that you never had to work there. I think putting a live human being in such a place borders on criminal.

It seems that a trip to Chicago was a typical grade school rite of passage in Milwaukee in the 50's. Pretty special for me, as it was my first time out of Wisconsin. So different from the lives of our daughters; and now our grand daughter with a passport before she was even one year old!

Marian Schopp (Bringe)

John mentioned Wayne Oneska.  I too had an "altercation with Wayne Oneska." He was being very mean to me. I wore my roller skate key on a string around my neck.  I took it off, swung it around and hit Wayne in the head.  He said he would kill me.  I begged my parents to let me stay home from school the next day.  My parents said my big brother would watch out for me and protect me.  But Wayne acted like nothing had happened. Lucky me!

Ray Thompson

@ John Leopold.--Ya I also remember Wayne--Had more than one confrontation with him. You really brought back meories about Gilbert field and especially our football games at the telephone company. We could have put together a team to take on anybody--Missed you my friend.

Terri Levenhagen (Hoornstra)

Thanks, Sally, for the interesting Milwaukee history websites. I would love to order  the "Making of Milwaukee" series. I just went through the thumbnail photos of the variety of buildings in Milwaukee - different styles and different eras of history. I especially was interested in the photos of Parklawn right after it was built - surrounded by countryside. When we lived a few blocks away (my grandparents lived there) it was surrounded by homes - so I was wondering when it was built. 

Time to hear from a Congress School alum! Our 6th grade class was among the first few classes to go to Edison for seventh grade. Previous to that, Congress had been K through 8 - with the 8th graders going right on to high school. It was a LONG WAY and we had to take the city bus and transfer, even!  We stayed at Edison for 9th grade, and the photos posted on the Old Time Photos Gallery are the 9th grade homeroom classes. I do remember that some got to go to Custer for 9th grade, but we had to stay at Edison, which was pretty overcrowded. Our homeroom was in the Cafeteria, along with another homeroom (Cafeteria A and Cafeteria B). We did love our homeroom teacher though - Miss Freshwater. We also had "TV Science" - watched a science teacher teach lessons on TVs mounted on the corners of the ceilings. 

I also remember going into the submarine and the coal mine replica at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. My favorite was the almost life-size Colleen Moore's doll house with incredible miniatures of EVERYTHING. I think that was in 8th grade. 

Speaking of boundaries: we lived on the east side of 51st Blvd. and the west side was the Town of Wauwatosa in 1953, when we moved there. There was no boulevard yet, no sidewalks, and there were drainage ditches along all the streets. Congress School was in the Town of Wauwatosa, later annexed to the City. 

Carol Albers (Pederson)

Ok, I am confused.  I remember a Miss Kapp (8th ?) from Edison, Nancy.  You discribed her perfectly!  And I thought she took us on Chicago trip which included Yerkes Observatory.  I don't remember actually going in there, but I know we had a picnic nearby.  I thought she even came to Miss Freshwater's "Coketail Party"?  Could she have changed schools??

Terri, I lived on 51st street, north of Hampton.  My grandmother live on 51st south of Hampton.  Interesting.  I went to Hampton School on 52nd between Hampton and Villard. K-6th.  Then onto Edison.  Speaking of Miss Freshwater, I remember most of the guys in homeroom had a crush on her.

I need Ellyn Steinbach Sorensen or Kathy Warchow Radtke to help me out here about Miss Kapp!!!!! 

Nancy Davison (Boerger)

Thank you Terri and Carol for getting me on track vis a vis the timing of the Chicago trip and Miss Kapp. No wonder I thought I'd forgotten everything about Edison - I put some of it into the wrong school !

Jim Cejka

Carol,

Miss Kapp was an English teacher at the old Custer (my mother had her in 1934 or 35). She was held over and taught 8th grade English at Edison. Yes, she was as described. Remember her always tucking those little white hankies up her sleeve? Yes, she went with us to Chicago (where we temporarily forgot Mrs Kopecky the librarian, who also went along) and to Yerkes Observatory. The picnic was at the lakeside park in Lake Geneva.

We were in Miss Kapp's class when the Braves won the pennant. The facade cracked and she was dancing around and hollering with the rest of us.

And no, the boys in Cafeteria A homeroom didn't really have a crush on Miss Freshwater. It was more of excessive drooling caused by the emergence of adolescent hormones.