| James McNitt's text |
Bill McNitt's annotations |
| At a guess I was 8 or 9 when we moved to 35
Shelby Street. This was an older two family house. We occupied the
upstairs and rented out the downstairs. Lighting was by gas. There was a
gas heater for hot water. Heating was done with a pot-bellied coal stove
in the large dining room, which ran into the front living room with only a
short section of wall separating the two rooms. There were two bedrooms
with an adjoining double closet through which one could walk from one
bedroom into the other.
|
The family first appears at this address in
the 1923 city directory. The house was slightly west of Division.
Currently there is a duplex at this address, but it was built in
1992.
|
| In later years the gas lights would be replaced
with electric. It was my job to go down two flights of stairs into the
Michigan basement to haul coal up in a shuttle. A Michigan basement is one
hollowed out only part way under the house, with no walls except for the
impacted dirt. In the back there were shelves for the canned fruits and
vegetables put up in season, and sometimes canned venison from Dad's
hunting forays.
|
|
| For quite a while I shared the front bedroom
with Glenn, now working in a sales job for Swift & Company. Walter had
gone on to a sales job with the Fordson Tractor Comany in the Detroit
area. This was run by William Ford, Henry Ford's brother.
|
The Swift meat packing company was first
founded in 1855 in Eastham, Massachusetts. It was finally in Chicago,
Illinois, that Swift and Company was incorporated in 1875. In addition to
meatpacking, Swift sold various dairy and grocery items.
Between 1917 and 1922, the Fordson was for tractors somewhat like
the Ford Model T was for automobiles—it captured the public's
imagination and widely popularized the machine, with a reliable design, a
low price affordable for workers and farmers, a widespread dealership
network, and a production capacity for large numbers.
William Ford did not run the Fordson Tractor Company, but William
Ford & Company. was the tractor distributor for Muchigan and northern
Ohio. Undoubtedly Walter worked for William Ford's distributorship
rather than directly for Fordson. |
|
Glenn had a bout with ear trouble, with resulting agony and sleepless
nights for both of us until it ran its course. It left him with a
perforated ear drum, which would one day keep him out of the armed
forces.
|
|
| In later years he was overcome by gas while
taking a bath. Fortunately a friend, the earlier mentioned Forrest Tirnm,
was in the house with him, discovered his plight and rescued him before it
could kill him. It was discovered that a bird had built a nest in the
vent, blocking it off.
|
|
|
The neighborhood was a pleasant one, perhaps slightly seedy. Across the
street and down a bit was a Spiritualist church. It seems to me that I
once attended a service there, but if so, it left no impression. At the
end of the street, where it ran into Division Avenue, was the Liberty
Theater. There for a dime on Saturday afternoons children could see a
comedy, a chapter of a serial, and a movie, usually a Western. All these
of course were silent. |
The Liberty was a brick and stucco theater built in 1916 and seated
614. It closed in the 1950s.
|
|
On the corner was a vacant lot where the neighborhood boys played their
games, baseball, football, duck on a rock, king of the hill and others. I
once organized a complete track meet, with a large stone for the shot put
and a pan cover for the discus. In my back yard I set up a nine-hole golf
course, with tin cans buried in the earth for holes. This was condoned by
my parents, but when I tried to extend one hole into the front yard, the
extension was strongly discouraged.
|
|
| I was enrolled at Sheldon School, about four
blocks from home. Across the side street from the school was the South
Congregational church, where my mother attended services while I went to
Sunday School.
- Sheldon Apartments (formerly Sheldon School) in 2011
- St. Luke AME Zion
Church (formerly South Congregational Church) in 2011
- Dad in elementary school years, missing a few teeth
|
The school was at 1010 Sheldon SE - the
corner of Sheldon and Delaware. The building is now owned by the Grand
Rapids Housing Commission and has been turned into low-income senior
citizen apartments.
South Congregational Church moved from 101 Delaware SE (corner of Sheldon and
Delaware) to the corner of Madison and Alger in 1949 and remained in
existence until 2001. Its historical records are preserved in the
Congregational Library & Archives, Boston, Massachusetts. See
the finding
aid. When South Congregational Church moved from 101
Delaware, it sold the building to St.
Luke AME Zion Church, the oldest African American church in Grand
Rapids (founded ca. 1863). |
| In the fourth grade, when I was 10, 1 started
wearing glasses. This was uncommon for children in those days, and there
were jibes of "Four-eyes" or "Specs" from the other
children. Several pairs were broken over a period of time. On one occasion
a jump rope caught the corner and pulled them from my face. |
|
| An unpaved alley ran behind the house. A double
garage faced on the alley. I used this road as a shortcut when going to
the grocery a couple blocks away. One day, sent on an errand by my mother,
I was flipping a half dollar in the air when it fell down the inside of a
row of cement blocks in an unfinished garage. I returned home and tried to
dig some money out of my piggy bank to replace it, but was discovered. |
|
| Dad bought a lot on Bass Lake, about 35 miles
north. One weekend he took several men from the railroad, and with their
help put up a cabin. At first it was only the bottom half, with a tent
stretched over the top. Later the top half was added. There were two
bedrooms, with two additional beds on the screened-in front porch. At
times all the beds were occupied. Water was supplied by a pitcher pump
over the kitchen sink. It frequently needed priming. Kerosene lamps were
used until later years, when the REA (Rural Electrification Agency) made
it possible to install electric power.
-
The Merrill sisters - Leena Merrill, Emma McNitt,
and Myrnie Merrill - outside the cottage at Bass Lake, 1923
-
The Merrill sisters - Leena Merrill, Emma McNitt,
and Myrnie Merrill - outside the cottage at Bass Lake, 1923 (note the
tent over the top)
-
Two photos of Bill McNitt (left) and friends setting out to fish at
Bass Lake, 1923
-
Bill McNitt (left) and friend show off the day's
catch at Bass Lake, 1923
-
Bill McNitt (right) and firends share a meal at Bass Lake,
1923 (These may be the friends from the railroad who helped build the
cottage)
|
Bass Lake is in Montcalm County, east of
Howard City. |
| Some years Mother and I spent most of the
summer here, with Dad coming up on weekends. I learned to swim and to row
the flat-bottomed rowboat. So susceptible was I to sunburn that I wore a
thin shirt even when swimming. We had many fish dinners from the supply of
bluegills, sunfish, perch and bullheads, even an occasional black bass.
Sometimes we had froglegs as well. In the early days there were only a few
cottages, but as more and more were built the lake became fished out. With
someone accompanying me in the rowboat, I once swam across the lake, using
an awkward sidestroke. It was about a quarter mile, quite an
accomplishment for one more interested in books than physical
accomplishments.
Dad at Bass Lake, ca. 1923; Dad with his great aunt Emeline Woodin Francisco at
Bass Lake, ca. 1923
|
By the time I was growing up, this cottage
had been sold to another family. My father knew the family and rented the
cottage for a week or two many of the summers of my childhood. When
we were there in the 1950s and early 1960s, the cottage still had an
outhouse and the only source of water was still the pump at the kitchen
sink. |
| We probably had others, but the only car we had
that I remember was a Dodge touring car. It was open at the sides, but
isinglass curtains could be fastened on during inclement weather. Aunt
Leena drove a Star four-door, made by Durant. One day when we were riding
with them to Lansing, we hit. a stretch of loose gravel, skidded and
turned over. Mother sustained a gash over her eye, but the rest of us were
unhurt.
Leena Merrill going for a drive with her sisters
Myrnie and Emma and father Roando. |
For more information about the Star touring
car, see Wikipedia
or the Durant Motors Automobile
Club site. |
| In downtown Grand Rapids at the Grand Rapids
Herald plant, movies were shown on Sunday afternoon. Priority was given to
newsboys, but others were allowed in the spacious auditorium. I recall
bringing home the news as posted on a bulletin board outside that
Ex-President Wilson had died (1924). |
The Herald was the morning newspaper in
town. It closed in 1959. |
| There were friends around; Clarence Bosma (with
whom I once had a fight, which I lost), Bob Jones, next door, Dick Suggitt
and others. For a few years the Sebrights lived downstairs from us, with
three daughters, Clarice, around my age, Margaret and Mildred, a bit
older. Thus I wasn't lacking in female companionship. |
|
| For the most part, though, I was
a loner, playing games by myself. I
remember the game of Oz, with travels through Munchkinland, the Emerald
Forest, etc. Another favorite
was a small auto race car game. A
marble rolled down an incline in the center landed in holes with various
instructions for advancement or delays.
I developed a baseball game, complete with a league and complete
rosters of players with batting percentages and other statistics.
A dart fashioned from a
kitchen match with the head removed, with a needle inserted at one end and
paper wings at the other, was thrown at a target with hits, walks, outs,
etc., shown on it.
|
|
| In addition I was a voracious reader, drawing
armfuls of books from the library. Early favorites, the several Oz books,
also the Brownie books, later the Bobbsey Twins and the Tom Swift series,
then on to H. G. Wells, O. Henry and more adult books. Glenn bought for me
Ivanhoe and The Ten Boys from Dickens. I had a subscription to American
Boy magazine which I eagerly awaited each month. |
Dad doesn't mention which library he
frequented. In addition to the Grand Rapids Public Library's main
builiding downtown, by 1925 there was a free-standing branch on the west
side of the river and 19 branches in public schools. The branches in
schools were open to the general public and staffed by city
librarians.
The closest branch to Dad's house was at South High School (0.4
miles). The South High branch library was open six days a week from
8:15 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. during the school year and 12:30 to 9:00 p.m.
during school vacations. Visits to the main library downtown
and its vast collections (1.6 miles from home) were probably less
frequent.
As of 1927, the library and its branches had 300,000 volumes and a
circulation of 900,000 volumes annually.
The American Boy was a monthly magazine published by The Sprague
Publishing Co. of Detroit, Michigan from November 1899 to August 1941. At
the time it was the largest magazine for boys, with a circulation of
300,000, and it featured action stories and advertising for the young boy. |
| Dad by now had gone to work for the A. & P.
at 652 Wealthy Street. He would remain here for several years. I
occasionally helped out a bit there.
William T. McNitt in his A&P grocery store, ca.
1926 |
A&P is a grocery store chain. The first
city directory to show this as his occupation is dated 1925 and the
last is 1927, although he is listed as a store manager in 1928 and may
have still been with A&P. |
| Glenn went on to college at
Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.
His first semester was interrupted by an appendicitis operation.
While he was in the hospital he was visited by the Archbishop of
Canterbury. Because of his
operation and perhaps for other reasons he did not go on beyond the first
year.
|
|
| Walt invited me over to Detroit to go to a
baseball game. In a slugfest the Detroit Tigers beat the New York
Yankees 18-12. This was in the era of Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig on the
Yankees, Charlie Gehringer and Harry Heilman for the Tigers. Babe Ruth did
not hit a home run that day, but many others did. Walt took me to a
chicken dinner afterwards, but due to nausea brought on by the excitement
and the various snack foods consumed at the game, I was unable to eat a
thing, much to his chagrin. |
|
| My collecting activities were confined to cigar
bands, cigar smoking being more prevalent than it is today. |
|
| In the sixth grade I was a member of the
spelling team, and took part in matches with other schools, which we
either won or tied. Too many teams were left in contention for the city
title, so a written exam was held. I did not shine in this, correctly
spelling only 89 out of 100; this however was better than any of my
teammates. |
|
| We had several dogs during this period, few of
whom I remember clearly. There was Barney, a Kentucky Red-bone. There was
another, afraid of his own shadow, who was struck by a trolley car, took
off howling, and was never seen again.
Dad and unknown dog at 33-35 Shelby in Grand
Rapids, ca. 1926; Dad with an unknown cat in Grand Rapids, ca. 1926
|
|
| My only spanking came when I remonstrated too
strongly at the size of a helping of an unloved vegetable doled out to me.
I was sent from the table to await a vigorous spanking by my mother with a
carpet slipper. |
|
| Eventually I moved up into Junior High School,
housed in the same building as South High School. Seventh and eighth
grades were classed as Junior High; ninth and up as High School. It was
only about five blocks from home, only slightly farther than the
elementary school, or "grade school" as it was termed then.
Postcard of South High School in 1925. |
South High School was located at the
southwest corner of Hall Street and Jefferson Avenue SE. The Gerald R.
Ford Job Corps Center of the U.S. Department of Labor currently occupies
the building. |
| No particular memories of Junior High remain.
Since we remained in the same house, the switch in schools was not too
pronounced. I seem to remember one teacher, Miss McNeal (Mrs.?). Our
debating group was awarded a decision by the student judges, and she
objected to it. I objected to her objection, which brought forth personal
criticism. This same teacher once kept me from a class outing after school
for some minor infraction of her rules. Otherwise, I was a slightly better
than average student.
|
The South High School yearbook for 1931
shows this teacher's name as Ina M. McNeal. Census records show that
she was unmarried. |