Small Towns
Congratulations to the Russia Raider baseball team for a well earned state championship on Saturday. What a hitting and pitching performance when it counted the most. Such accomplishments make small towns so special, unifying the community and enhancing school and community spirit. Sure enjoyed listening to their run on Scores Broadcast and reading about the games on Fish Report. Special call out to Coach Denny (aka Cake) Monnin; he’s older than I am!
In addition to Russia, there sure is an amazing assortment of small towns around the area where I grew up on a farm near Ft. Loramie. Back then, many villages had only a few homes, likely a general store, gas station, church and one room school house to serve not only the town folks but also the surrounding farm families. I’ve written past blogs about many of the small towns, like Minster, Russia, Ft. Loramie and Osgood, primarily because I had cousins who live in those communities. But this blog is dedicated to the other small towns that still occupy special places in my memory bank.
First is Newport, just a few miles south of Ft. Loramie. I grew up before the Country Concert put Newport on the map. Louie’s Bar was the highlight, as Louie would serve 3.2 beer to us under-aged high schoolers. And on special occassions, he’d serve us sloe gin, a British liqueur with a redish tint caused from prune juice mixed with gin. Both beverages had low alcohol content so went down smoothly on our young taste buds! We’d periodically attend Sunday mass at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic church in Newport because Ft. Loramie’s long time pastor and a favorite, Fr. Raterman was transferred there for his last assignment prior to his retirement. I vividly recall the creaky seats and flooring in the church. Our family still holds Christmas get-togethers in the church basement to this day.
And right behind Newport’s church was the baseball diamond that featured an upward-sloping terrace in left field like the Reds Crosley Field and a downward sloping right field to a road. In Little League, the games were fun and competitive between Newport and Loramie. At the time, Newport had quite a battery with left handed pitcher Doug Barhorst and slugging catcher John Gephart, both of whom eventually played college ball. I distinctly remember a walk-off homer by Gephart that flew over the road in right field. Back then and maybe still today, those two excellent teams eventually melded together during high school into a very talented team that in our case, won a County championship.
Next is Anna, home of the Rockets, who always were our biggest nemesis on the basketball and baseball fields. Honda hadn’t arrived yet, so the town was somewhat sleepy, but most of the kids I knew actually lived in the thriving metropolis of McCartyville, a super small town between Anna and Minster. Many, many pick-up basketball and baseball games were held there. The highlight each spring was the St. Patricks Day parade. Most of the residents were German, but on that day, they were Irish. And in the summer, the McCartyville Church Picnic, loaded with games and rides, was held. Fun times! Also close to Anna was Kettlersville, which actually has this unusual Facebook page! Somewhere around Anna is a long abandoned town named Ripley that was a haven along the Underground Railroad, a secret network for African-Americans escaping the slave states before and during the Civil War. And it seems there was a town called Buckland north of Anna somewhere as you head towards Wapak. Played some basketball there, but that’s about all I remember.
Between McCartyville and Ft. Loramie sets the really small town of St. Patrick, where my mother’s home place was located. The church pictured above is now gone except for the cemetery where my grandparents and many other relatives are buried. We always held her family reunion at the former school in the town. Above is a reunion photo taken in 1948.
Next comes Egypt, a town west of Minster. Dad would patronize the Massey-Ferguson implement dealer there. That village also has a strange Facebook page highlighted by the above photo of a belly dancer!. Here’s some history of the town:
In the community's earliest years, travel in the vicinity was extremely difficult due to the muck of the Great Black Swamp. The name "Egypt" was supplied by one of the early pioneers, who is said to have remarked that "this place smells’". Because the people of the community could only attend church in Minster with great difficulty, they made a petition for a church in Egypt; accordingly, St. Joseph's Catholic Church was organized in 1852.
Yorkshire, west of Ft. Loramie, population 96, was a fun town, mostly due to the Goat Farmers softball team that we played regularly; always highlighted by lots of beer afterwards furnished by the local tavern called the E&R Pub if I recall. The Goat Farmers are now just members of a “social club”; softball’s history, but amazingly they do have over 2000 followers!
Heading west from Yorkshire is the town of North Star, population 236. My claim to fame in North Star was as a passenger in a car driven by a friend Ed from Anna that hit a parked car and peeled the fender like a sardine can. I hit my head on the windshield, cracking it, but never had a bump on the head for some reason - hard headed I guess. And nearby is Willowdell, sharpshooter Annie Oakley's hometown. And also nearby is Burkettsville, home of my uncle and aunt who ran the general store in town. My uncle got a job at Corning in Greenville, so closed the store in the early ’60’s. We went to the auction and I recall one of the first items to be auctioned off was a box of assorted shoe polish tins. Mom was the winning bidder at $2. The auctioneer called her the shoe polish lady for the rest of the auction whenever she bid on any other item. She picked up a lifetime supply of shoe polish, as there were still some tins left when we cleared out the family home after she had passed away.
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Frenchtown. another nearby small town, was the home of Earl and Bernice Baltes’ Chrystal Ballroom. Here’s an excerpt from the March 6, 2012 Darke County Journal on the venue:
Do you remember where you were on Saturday evening? If the year was between the late 1940’s to the mid 1970’s chances are it was Crystal Ball. Frenchtown was the crossroads of the Midwest and from Glen Miller, to Guy Lombardo, Louis Armstrong, to the Dorsey Orchestra, and so many others came to play at the famous Crystal Ballroom. But later it was the Baltes Orchestra or the Bumble Bees who wowed the crowds. The fun and music were hometown as were the friendships (and courtships). The Bumble Bees always closed with their trademark song entitled “Green Onions".
Nearby Eldora Speedway was and continues to be a fan favorite. Also really loved Bar E. Here’s a past blog about those times.
That’s it for now, but count on more small town memories next week.
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