Memoirs of Norbert E. Gnadinger, Sr. Volume 1

1921

We will now enter into that era of Germantown neighborhood history which was remarkable. It was refereed to as the year of the “population explosion”. In 1921, there were born the fifty to sixty girls and boys I would attend St. Vincent dePaul School with six years later. Some did move in from other areas. These are my memories and my history beginning in this year and I have the right to further confound the reader.

Helen Anna Buchter was born on May 6, 1921 at Camp Dix (later Fort Dix), New Jersey in Burlington County, New Hanover Township in the Base Hospital. The attending Physician was Capt. William N. Maloney. Her parents are: Mary M. (Lang) Buchter and Louis Emory Buchter. He was employed as an Instructor, EPR, on the Army base. What is my reason for listing Helen at this juncture without warning? I have two reasons. First, I am polite. The female is always listed first. Second, she is older than I am by a month and twenty one days. She does have seniority.

I must tell a couple anecdotes first about this birth before I leave Helen until we have both just turned seventeen. At the time of the birth of Helen in the Base Hospital, there were only male babies being born. After Helen was cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket as they usually do, it is said that Dr. Maloney carried her into each ward of the hospital showing everyone that here was finally a female born in the Maternity Ward and he had delivered her. Helen was baptized there on the army base but we cannot locate the record of it. Evidently Mamie and Louie Buchter were waiting for the birth of Helen before going home to Louisville for a short time later they boarded a train for home. It is said that Helen cried all the way home and everyone in their car took turns trying to ease her hurt. This is how she developed her powerful lungs (?).

The time has finally come to tell Mom to finish her last load of wash and hang it on the outside clothes line. Someone, probably Robert or Bernie have already been sent to Dr. Keaney’s office on Shelby St. to warn him that birth was to be very soon(as soon as Mom finished the washing). Aunt Rose was standing by. Frank, Mary Catherine, Stanley and Carl were probably sent to a neighbor’s house until it was all over. Pop was at work (?) You couldn’t get a day off for something so commonplace as a birth. The doctor has pulled up in front of the house in his Model T Ford (?) and now everyone in the neighborhood knew the time had come. Norbert E. Gnadinger was being born. There was no sound of blaring Trumpets, just the howling of a newborn baby whose rear end has just been slapped. This occurred on Monday, June 27, 1921. I hope for Mom’s sake that it was a cool day and an easy birth. I never heard that she complained, but she never had another baby after that.

That night there was a “Kaffee Klatsch” (in English, “coffee with gossip”). This group probably included Mom and Pop, “Tante”(Aunt)Rose, most of the kids, Mrs. Rapp, Kamber, Schneider, etc., Jake Hellman (?) and possibly, others. They were here to discuss the new baby. First, a name was needed. Mom said I was to be named after Father Norbert Voll, a friend whose family also lived on Ellison Ave. (Norbert, a good French Saints Name, June 6). That ruled out the others such as Alphonse, Anton, Benedict, Charles, Ulysses, etc., which had been suggested. As the coffee flowed, other comments were made about the baby, such as: “Even with all the wrinkles he’s sort of cute” and “Why is his nose so long? None of the others looked like that.” and “he doesn’t have much hair but what he has is dark.” and “Don’t you think he cries more than the others did at the same age.” and “He’ll probably have blue eyes.” and “Did it have to be another boy?” and “We’ll surely need a larger house now.” and “I’ll breast feed him just like I did all the others.” and “We have plenty of boy type baby clothes left over from Frank.” and “Do you think he will be the one to become a priest?” and “Mamie”, you had better get some sleep. You had a busy day today.”(Mamie is German for Mary). That brought the Kaffee Klotsch to a close. No gossip this time. In spite of all the wild rumors about Mom doing the ironing the next day, I’m sure “Tante” Rose made Mom stay in bed for the next ten days for that was the custom of the times. I was a normal baby. All I did for quite some time was eat and sleep (and mess my diaper). (8/18/2000)

Across the street from C. Lee Cook Co. on Kentucky St. and between 7th and 8th Sts. was the old Eclipse Park. At that time, the Eclipse Park was the home of the Louisville Colonels Baseball Team where my uncle Ed. Gnadinger played (?) back around 1902. People going to the game usually used the 4th St. streetcar and took a shortcut west through what they called “baseball Alley” (This is the present alley next to the Memorial Auditorium). Before occupying this site across from C. Lee Cook, the team played on a field at 28th and Broadway Sts. and was called the Louisville Eclipse (28th and Broadway was where I worked for 38 years for Tube Turns, Inc). In 1923 the Louisville Colonels moved to a larger and most improved stadium near Third and Eastern Pkwy. named Parkway Field. Fortunately for them they planned this early for the old Eclipse Park burned down completely in 1922?????

Steam powered vehicles were downright dangerous, dirty and labor intensive. I don’t intend to claim that I know much about this form of power. I do know you have to build a fire to produce steam to drive the power unit. Even I know this means you have to carry water and fuel of some sort. Can’t you see a present-day Computer Programmer stepping out into the garage, lighting his kindling wood, piling on more fuel to get more heat and then standing back for about a half hour until he got a head of steam and can steam off to work blowing his whistle along the way. This way was also dangerous. The only automobile model I remember was the “Stanley Steamer”. What! you say the Stanley Steamer is a carpet cleaner. All I can say is “what goes around, comes around.” There was a Stanley Steamer Automobile. (George’s wife, Mildred ”Mickey” [Carmody]Cooper was born March 8, 1921)

At this point I believe I should add in a disclaimer (?). This is not the exact word I need at this point but it sure sounds good. While I am writing some of my memories I will add some technical points. I will not claim to be an expert on all of these subjects. I have a varied background in many technical subjects and I am a journeyman in but a few. If I’m not sure of some point, I look it up in references. If I still am not certain of a point, I’ll leave it to your expertise.

Now, I must get back to the trucks and automobiles. Two auto parts stores which were in business then and still are today are Ewald Springs and the Fulton-Conway Co. on West Main St.. The Monarch Auto Co. is still selling Ford-Lincolns at Brook and Broadway (closed in 2002). The Great Depression of the 1930s forced most of the dealers into bankruptcy. In the early 1920s, the following were the light and heavy trucks which were sold locally: the Oneida, the Indiana, the Ford, the Parker, the Republic, the White, the Maxwell and the Chevrolet. I could remember only four of the truck names. There were many, many automobiles being manufactured at that time including the electric and the steam cars. Again, these were sold locally. They included the Anderson Six, the Apperson, the Briscoe, the Buick, the Cadillac, the Chandler, the Chevrolet, the Cleveland, the Dodge, the Essex, the Ford, the Sayer Six, the Haynes, the Hudson, the Hupmobile, the Jordan, the Kissel, the Lexington Minute Man Six, the Marmon, the Maxwell, the Oakland Six, the Overland, the Packard, the Reo, the Saxon Six, the Templar, The Willys-Knight and the Winton Six. I can remember seventeen of these model names. (8/23/2000)

Later in my young years I ran into Carbide again being used during our 4th of July celebrations as an explosion and noise maker. I stayed away from it because I was a little afraid of it. Most people in our neighborhood used the residue of Carbide after acetylene was produced. Mixed with water(it was now harmless) we would brush it on our concrete porch railings and foundations to make a beautiful white finish. There was an acetylene processing plant on Payne Street where you could get all the Carbide you wanted, free. For the uninitiated, Acetylene and Oxygen, under pressure, are combined, forced through a cutting torch using a special tip, ignited and used to cut ferrous metals such as iron and steel. Watch out for the splatter of hot metal if you try this and protect your eyes from the glare if you are welding with this procedure or with Electric Welding.

I must bring 1921 to a close by making this statement about my brother Frank. For the past three years, Frank was the number one baby in the family. Mom would say: “...and here is my baby, Frank” as introduction. He would hear this statement no more. Up until I was thirty-eight years old, the year Mom died(1959), if Mom was introducing me to someone new, she would always us that same phrase, “...and this is my baby, Norbert.” Sorry, Frank, but I really enjoyed and appreciated it (Aunt Lille H. (Rupp) Gnadinger, wife of Uncle Ed. died June 8, 1921).(8/24/2000)