THE WAUPACA COUNTY POST

January 31, 1991

 

Main Street Musings.

 

To The Editor:

            It was with great interest that I read Mr. Guyant’s memory-jogging story about the Cohen theatre and apartment building erected on Main Street in the early ‘20s.

            My family had just moved to Waupaca from Iola into the old red brick jail which stood beside the Courthouse on the corner across from the (new) First National Bank.  Dad was the new sheriff of Waupaca County.  I was only 10 and watched the construction of that building which we thought was quite grand.

            Do any of you remember the little stand operated by a Mrs. Kline and her son on the same location?  It stood on high stilts because of the deep ravine and river.  It was just a little one-story shack which opened right onto the sidewalk.  Seems to me it was sort of a concession stand, but what I remember most was the parrot named “Polly” which always sat perched on the sidewalk and to everyone who walked by, she squawked “Polly want a cracker!”

            Balkansky and Minkoff were two fellows from Chicago who later opened a fruit and grocery store where the Travel Shop is now, and later moved to the Lighthouse corner where it was known for years as the “Fruit Store.”

            Getting back to the theatre.  The first “talkie” I saw was there, and it starred Charles King and Bessie Love about 1928 and as Mr. Guyant said, “One had to walk in and turn around to face the stage.”  Mickey Pope Anderson was the first ticket seller, in a glass projection, I recall.  A talented girl from Rhinelander played skillfully on a big grand piano during various intermissions.  Her name was Catherine Nitke.

            Who of you remember the ever-popular curling rink on the Courthouse Square where the old Chamber of Commerce shack stood?  We kids used to watch the men sweeping those heavy granite blocks down that stretch of ice toward a target.  Oh, yes, there were names like Soren Johnson, Peter Holst, Irving Hansen, Frank Stratton, Harry Rawson and many other prominent businessmen.

            I’m sure many of you remember the old Fair Store – a three-floor department store – the former Schultz Store now beautifully remodeled into several badly needed downtown shops, with attractive apartments planned for later above.  The former store was also owned and operated by Nate Cohen, I believe a relative of Carl.  They lived in a huge yellow house that stood where the Catholic church is located, and owned a Winton Six Sedan, probably the swellest car in town.  At least we kids thought it was!

            In a sadder vein does anyone recall the two little boys who drowned in the water at the foot of the Water Street Bridge? (One of the names was Grogan.)  All of this was about 1920.

            Wouldn’t it be fun to go up and down Main Street and tell about what businesses were existing then?  I remember almost all of them and this was 70 years ago.

            Remembrances of Waupaca,

 

Cal Swenson,

Waupaca.