The Erie Canal Delphos was a small sleepy, quiet little town. Big shady streets, sidewalks made of hugh slabs of qurried stone, and many of the streets were still bricked. For a quarter you could get into the movies on Saturday and another dime would get you some popcorn. I must have been around 3 to 4 years old when I lived on South Main Street in Delphos, Ohio. My dad was the manager of a shoe store. Schiff Shoe Store was the name of it. Years later I would work for them also. Across the street from us behind the neighbors houses was the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal was one of the coolest places. I spent many, many days on the banks of that canal. It ran straight through the middle of town, in fact it was the county line between Van Wert County and Allen County. My grandmother was born in Van Wert County and my grandfather was born in Allen County. This was my mother's parents.
The house we lived in on main street was nice I remember. It had 2 bedrooms and a bathroom in between on one side of the house and on the other side it had a frontroom, diningroom, and kitchen. It also had a basement and a attached one car garage. The property extended for a short ways. The city block was disected by an alley which cut it in half and then another alley which cut it into quarters. We lived with an alley to our side and an alley to our back. I remember a garden being outback and clothes hanging off the colthes line. Right beside us across the alley lived a family and he was the principle of the only high school in town. They had one of the best climb up and eat cherry trees in town in their backyard. Once those cherrys were ripe I was in it constantly. It was between me and the birds. I used to be able to go out my back door to the alley, take a left and follow it all the way to the end where it stopped at the street.
Right to my right was a little neighborhood store. Similar to the one pictured above. Back then for a penny you could get 3 pieces of candy. If I remember right they would give you 2 maybe 3 cents on every soda or beer bottle you brought in so they could recycle it. Just before you got the to the store, on your left in the alley was some of the biggest and best ruhbarb I have ever eaten. It grew along the backside of a garage and it grew the whole length of it. If you were to take a right out of the alley on to the street and keep going you'd run into a place called Water Works Park. It was always full of people and kids.I started kindergarden while at this house. But moved by first grade. While we lived here we had a very rainy spring and the canal crested. the water came across the street and poured in through our basement windows. My parents were franically trying to get our belongings out of the basment. My folks were trying to carry the washing machine up the stairs and when my mom went to step on the bottom step it was gone. It had never been nailed down to begin with and when the water level rose it just floated away. Power was gone, the place was a mess for awhile. They took us kids over to the grandmothers in Lima for a week or so because they had a lot of cleaning up to do. While at my grandmothers house I was standing on a stool and it tipped over on me and I landed on a bent stool foot with my throat. It made a nice little laceration, deep too. I still carry the scar. My grandmother flipped out. She took one look at it and I thought I was a goner the way she was carrying on. All the way to the hospital and in the ER. I can't remember when she finally calmed down. Must have been a few catgut a 6 to 8 stiches and I was on my way home. I was only to have milkshakes and Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup. Break my heart Just so happened my grandmother made both very well. I remember being exposed to my first cap gun while I lived here. I didn't care for it. I just wanted to play with the gun but my parents said the only way I could play with it way to learn to shoot the caps. I eventually did.
While I lived here I learned to toss rocks up in front of bats while they were flying around street lights and get them to dive after them. I saw my first spring time robin. I watched a spinder lay her eggs and stand over them until they hatched.
Life in Delphos was good...
Photo credits:
"Erie Canal" Courtesy of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water. Web site: http://www.dnr.ohio.gov/water/canals/MEcanalbooklet.pdf (see page 17)
"Thos German" Courtesy of The Delphos Historical Society Web site:http://www.delphos-ohio.com/history/town.htm Window to the past - Old buildings - Main Street by Bob Holdgreve
