Heritage of Int'l Falls

Memories of I. Falls...good ones, huh? Let me dig in my memory bank.

I remember being read to as a little girl at the library...I remember the "mother goose" who hung from the ceiling for many years until "mother" was about to come off her "goose" from all the kids jumping up to see who could touch her!

Memorable characters...Darryl Schmidt...I'm sure he still walks around town waving to all the passers-by (regardless of whether he knows the person in the vehicle or not). Of course, you can only tell it's him by his bright scarf, hat and his glasses poking through, otherwise, you can't see his face! :) Orin Simon will always hold a special place in my heart as not only a tremendous teacher, but a spectacular announcer at basketball games. I can still close my eyes and hear him saying, "Coming in for the Broncos, number 22, Shannon Grinsell!"

My dad was a fishing guide for what used to be known as Curtis Island for many summers. I remember many days/nights catching fish off the dock (my sister caught a prize-winning smallmouth bass off that dock), playing pool, and playing that creepy piano in the back room at the end of the hall (and, for anyone who's been out there, who can forget the "shrunken heads" that were hanging all over the place!???!). Terry Johnson, may he rest in peace, was always such a good friend to my dad.

I fondly remember building a twelve-foot calculator out of a pile of snow across from the high school with my AP Calculus class ('99)!!

I was one of the first group of new trainees to get their "hands" on the wall at UHC...only to be removed about three years later! :)

I had many, many fond memories of the Falls...life really is what you make it. And, it was really a great place to grow up. I got a good education (FHS and RRCC) and made a few really great friends. I was born and raised there and it will always be the place that I call "HOME."

My mom and I shopped at Piggly Wiggly and I remember when she wrote a check to Wiggly Piggy. I was certainly excited when I got to move to the UPSTAIRS of Penneys. The mutt races at the park were great! Our dog was always the fastest. (Mainly because my Father-in-law would be standing at the end with a bucket of scraps from the Holiday Inn. My dog would see that white bucket and my kids knew to "just hang on!!!") Honestly, I can do without the "Icebox of the Nation" and the "World's largest thermometer" but Smokey, yeah, he needs to stay put. Bought my first real blue eyeshadow at that Dime store. Broomball and PeeWee hockey games were always fun to watch at the Carson-Lupie skating rink. Remember racing up to Backus and Old Falls High to see the lists of kids on the door to know where to go on the first day of school?? Oh, and I knew as a child, I was getting close to City Beach when I saw (and smelled!) the burner on the "Burner road". And, we could stop and feed the bears on the way. Remember them? Remember going to the Lundstrom's at Backus and watching the Rex burn? That was sad. Places in there still had the original wallpaper! I actually took the census for all of downtown in 1980 and boy oh boy, there were people/characters in ALL of those apartments. Above the old theater, the Rex, the old Frederick, and the Riverside... And, Crazy Daze were AWESOME!! I was in the first Kindergarten class at Falls El and some of my most fond memories have to do with the "old" museum with the classroom, post office, and big wheel. When we drove by the big wood-chip piles, my mom would always say, "There's your bread and butter." Took me a long time to understand the bread/butter/wood-chip thing. Those were the days...

Now THIS is worth reading. Keep up the good work.

Wow!! I think some people are showing their age!! But that's OK, as long as they still have memories.

In every conceivable manner, the family is a link to our past, a bridge to our future.

(Click my link below...remember to turn up your sound! :-)

http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=9fe6e0170795b3c4b580c&utm_source...

Was a south falls boy growing up...Thinking back brings memories of the old holler school, Nesses store, vances store, ******s store and some others that are long gone. We used to shop at the national tea store when it was across from the mando office.(remember)Used to go to the old flame parking lot in the mornings and look for change (that the drunks had dropped). Then with what we had found we would go across the street to ALs A&W and have a burger&fries. We used to hitch-hike to the city beach becuase we would miss the bus at carson-lupie then after we were 9 or 10 we would grap a fishing pole and try to hitch a ride out to tilson creek or jackfish bay to try our luck.AHHHHH,such simple times...
also remember walking up town and going into woolworths just to look at the candy counter.then down the street to ace to see what was new.usually then went down to the theaters (BORDER&GRAND) TO see what was playing. Hoping i could muster up a quarter for Saturday. Then it was across the street to rauschers brothers meat market to see if they had any free samples on the meat counter...they always did... would chew all the way over to ILTIS'
drug store making sure i didn't have anything in my mouth once i got there. would go in with a big grin on my face and that usually brought a return smile with a nice piece of candy. after exchanging pleasentrys it would be over to peoples cafe to see what the cool kids were doing.had my first smoke and sip of wine behind peoples.then back home to plan for the next day...THX

Don't forget: Boes Dairy Bar, Falls Creamery, Airport Cafe, Totem Pole, Lee's Hat Shop, Jack and Jill Childrens Shop, Jimmy Pegaduses Eat Shop, JC Penneys, Veeder's Trading Post, Border Locker Plant, Chatterbox Cafe, Carrolls Beach, Martin's Grocery, Pleiming's Grocery, B&B Motors, Montgomery Wards, Tastee Freeze, Phair's Coast to Coast, Wolfe's Hardware, The Chicago Cafe, The Northwinds Cafe, Wagner's Variety Store, Bellhaven then Anglers now Thunderbird Lodge, Helen's Cafe, Sheehy's Realty, Doc's Dock, Army Surplus, McKenzie's Studio, Leo's Grocery, North Star Laundry, Park Grocery, Parkway Cafe, Rexall Drug, Oveson's Minnow Station, Sher's Jewelry,Ketola's, Harold's for Her and Him, Carlson's Dove, Specialty Shop, S&H Green Stamps, The Western Station,Dr. Walter's Office, Doc Banen's Office, Doc. Milroy's Office, Dr. Cantwell's office over Penney's, Thanks.

How about the Aroma Drive In.

Nagurskis grocery, Pulachicios grocery, Company store, Rex Drug soda shop(along the theater) BJ,s music shop (2), Holiday gas station, Swede Charlies (by Tony Rizzos shop) 5-10 store, Buck Rileys (best skate sharpening in town), bunker hill, Garbage dump across from the present high school, city gardens located at the area of current RRCC, Turennes ice house, new Boes Dairy, and I was not born yet but the old high school that burned down located at the location of the 3rd street playground. Thats 124 and I am sorry for some spelling that I know must be wrong. Also it was out of town but dont forget Harvey Veeders thats now 125 if any one is counting and of course Ed Eks Furs on 7th street which is 126 and I sure miss the old FUR sign by the sidewalk.

Anton and thinkfirst have brought back a lot of memories. Although I loved Marion Nagurski and his store at the corner of 8th Street and 9th Avenue, the great store on that block was Kermit Miller's Market Basket on 9th Street. It had a great selection of candy and, of course, those cheery pies that my meager allowance allowed me to buy once a month or so. The Micheletti clan that has been so important to Minnesota hockey lived upstairs over the Market Basket for years.
Art Hedlund, Andy's Dad, ran the other great store in the 8th and 9th Street area -- 9th Street and 10th Avenue [name?]. When we started the infamous 8th Street Smoking Club, we had no problem finding cigarettes [Rita Nagurski] but it was Art who caught us when we reached up to steal from matches from the counter. Boys knew that this was the grocery store that stocked what passed as men's magazines back in the pre-Playboy 50's.
Later, the best grocery store was Park Grocery where the video store is now. Mrs Keenan tolerated loiterers better than anyone since Larry's Superette and we loved that Shasta. There was a cooler full of Eskimo Pies that served as our couch. Park Grocery was the store that allowed people to buy on credit, a great help when the mill had a strike. And I believe they also delivered groceries.
Taystee Bread and Masters Bread -- Jack Robb and Mr. Bruggemann. Never was packaged bread any fresher than at Pleimlings. I once ate 1/2 a loaf in the two blocks between the store and home.

I remember when the city installed the new sewer pipes in the streets. We would follow the crews around and they would ask us to buy snacks for them at the closest grocery store then giving us the leftover change as our fee. One day Tim and I went down to the river where the discharge pipe was and we deceided to start at that point and climb in the pipe up hill back to 3rd street. Well part way back up the pipe Tim being a lot bigger then myself got stuck in the pipe. I never heard such a racket. Any way, I hurried up the pipe to 2nd street, pushed open a manhole cover and crawled out, hurried down to the river and climbed back up behind Tim and had to pull him backwards back down to the river. That was the last time we went up that pipe. Not the last time we explored the city VIA the sewer pipes though. There is an especially large pipe in front of the old hospital. Well we were riding our bikes by the excavation in front of the hospital. The crews had placed large tires in the excavation as they were about to set off a dynamite charge due to rock at that point. They hollered at us to stay away and frightened me so bad I got scared and fell into the hole on top of the tires. I thought I was a goner for sure. The workers fished me out before the explosion but that was quite a scare and we all stayed away from the crews for a while after that.

I remember the place when it was built. Lonely women went there also. Sometimes lonely men would get in fights over lonely women who were also fighting over the lonely men. Never could figure that out, as a flip of the coin would have settled the matter and all four would have been happy. Of course being as small as I am leaves me with a differant perspective of things.

How about the POP Shoppe where you go in and pick out any flavor from crates along the walls. Gosh I believe it was by where the old A&W was and near the old laundrymat (name?) Also wasn't there a fruit market there for a while that sold different cheeses? How about the Old BEEF and BREW and Arrowhead Bar & Pizza. Fredrick hotel,Rex Hotel,Papa's Cellar, Highway Curb, Leo's Lunch, Rouchers Grocery on main street, Border theater, Drive in. Vondehaars Bowling Alley.It used to sit catty corner from the Rex service station. This in no way reflects my age.