GROWING UP IN SOUTH DAKOTA 

BY GRANDMA RITA 

The Corn Palace was right near Grandma's house in Mitchell.

PART ONE:

I thought I would fill you in on some of the houses we lived in.  The first one I remember was a farmhouse near Howard  - about 40 miles from Mitchell.  I remember the porch and how Joan and I would go out in the yard and pick weeds and have little "parties"  with our dish sets.  All my relatives were poor and I think my Dad had bigger plans. We moved to a small house in Mitchell right next to the Corn Palace.  My Dad bought a building with a Mr. Lucken who had the bakery part of the shop and Daddy had the meat market. We were living in another house at this time that had a huge garden.  I remember how we kids used to go out and pick off the potato bugs from the plants. Mother grew all sorts of vegetables. I especially liked the tomatoes.

A South Dakota butcher shop 100 years ago.

I think it was just before the depression (I was about 7).  By this time - apparently we had more money at this time because we had a house with an indoor bathroom, running water and a furnace.  Wealthy indeed! Then I think the depression hit and we moved to another  house.  Not as nice but mother always saw to it that it was kept clean.  Famous words - "You can be poor but you do not have to be  dirty."

When I was about l2, we moved to North Main where we lived many years. Every spring Mother would climb on the dining room table and scrub the walls and ceilings with a hardy brush and strong soap.


The coal stove in the dining room produced a lot of coal fumes in the winter.  She would wash and starch all the curtains.  By Mother's Day everything was spotless. How did we manage - ll of us in a small house?  I can't imagine but we did it.

Nine Children Look Like This.

When I left home to join the Waves, I drew a salary working for the Navy Dept.  I sent money home to put in a bathroom and a bedroom up in the attic.  As we kids moved out and married there was a lot more room.

PART TWO:

Back again for the second installment on THE HOUSE ON MAIN ST.

At this time - the latter  30's, we somehow managed in cramped surroundings. Mother was still having babies - Bill was born when I was about l4.   Joan and I kept the place humming, cleaning, ironing (even ironed the pillow cases and Daddy's hankies). And Mother was doing all the canning, cooking and baking. Consequently, none of us knew how to cook when we got married.   We had to learn - I resorted to reading Betty Crocker's cook book.

Betty Crocker Cookbook

Daddy had long since lost his meat market - my parents never talked about these things or how poor we were, probably to keep us from worrying.  Unknown to any of us mother was saving up money to buy our house.  The rent was $l0 a month.  Mother began making little crepe paper butterflies (you could pin them on curtains. ) Very pretty. I think she sent away for instructions.  The body was a tiny clothespin. She used paints and gold gilt paint.  And for this work, she charged l0 cents each or 3 for a quarter. We kids made the rounds of Mitchell selling them.

Also,  in the fall when rich hunters descended on the state to go pheasant hunting, Mother cleaned their pheasants (I guess they then froze them).  She got very good at it and  could clean them fast.   She charged some incredible sum, maybe .l5 or .20 to clean each pheasant.  This, too, brought in some money which she must have put away for buying the house one day.

Pheasant.

We almost always had a Sunday dinner, special, with pies or a cake, and a white damask tablecloth on dining room table.  Don't ask me how ll of us were crammed around that table. The rest of the time we ate in the kitchen and had two planks between two chairs for most of us to sit on.  Whether it was a big pot of bean soup with neckbones (DELICIOUS), or stew or fish in the summer, a lot of pheasants in the fall and winter, and all those hundreds of vegetables canned down  in the cellar, and fresh bread once a week. It wasn't as good later, but I do remember the wonderful aroma of that bread.  The biggest surprise of my life was where did all that food for ll people come from?  Daddy would always provide and WE NEVER WENT HUNGRY.

Traditional Home-Canned Food.

Mother was known for her gorgeous flowers every summer.  She even lined the vegetable garden with marigolds. And I will never forget how we kids hauled in buckets, loads of flowers on Saturdays to Holy Family Church to be put on the altar for Sunday masses.

Holy Family Church, Mitchell, South Dakota. 

Then - we girls, one by one, left home and  of course, there was a lot more room, especially with the bedroom made from the attic.  And it was great having a real bonafide bathroom in one of the two downstairs bedrooms.

After Mother died, (we were in Sao Paulo at the time), we were transferred to Jidda.  About I year later,  I found that I was pregnant and since the place was primitive, we wives would go back to the states if we got pregnant.

1950's Maternity Clothes

We would have our babies here.  I went with Linda and Suzy to live with Daddy, Pat, Bill and Larry in THE HOUSE ON MAIN ST. After 6 months Bob joined us and we transferred to Calif. (he commuting to Mexico, across the border, each day. Also, Daddy  came out to live with us and sold the house.  Each of us got a few thousand dollars.  Erwin probably could have gotten more for it but  he did the best he could. The big garden alone was worth quite a bit. They were going to build a gas station on the plot where our house stood.

NAPA Auto Parts Store in Mitchell in current vicinity of 1006 North Main.

Our house was taken a few blocks away and left to deteriorate.  I am glad I didn't see it then.  I had remembered a house, poor for sure) but it was home.  When I would go on vacation to my grandfather's farm, I remember being so excited when the week was over, and couldn't wait to get home again.  I knew there would probably be some pie or cake left for me, as it would be a Sunday.  Even now when I hear the song "Going Home" I feel tearful.

PRESS THIS LINE OF TYPE TO HEAR "GOING HOME"

Well, to cut this story short, one vacation when we were visiting Joan and Erwin, we decided that we were going to GET EILEEN. She was the jokester of the family and had pulled her last joke. We decided to drive over to the HOUSE  which was lying on its side. Eileen snatched the sign l006 North Main from the front of the house and we left. Erwin had contacted a buddy policeman to play a joke on Eileen. So here we were sitting at a table outside at Joan's, when a policeman comes up with a warrant for Eileen's arrest for taking a sign off of an abandoned house.  Stealing, in other words.

Eileen almost choked on her food and got very red. I pretended to be crying since we two were planning to go back home together, (probably the next day and Eileen was headed for jail.) I peeked at Joan and she was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down her cheeks, (looking like sad tears).  After Eileen was presented with the papers about her arrest and saw Erwin's name on the bottom, she almost blew a gasket.

That was the last story I have about THE HOUSE ON MAIN ST.  I hope you were enlightened and not too bored.

PART THREE:

Hey, I forgot the most important part of my little story. 

The big news of all - (when we were at  our  Main St. house) Mary decided to arrive a bit early.  She was adorable and everyone loved BABY MARY.   Still do.  And she will always have a special place in my heart.  Her Daddy met her when she was around 3 months old. They had finally decided to send him back to join us when the original plan was for a few weeks.  I think your Dad also had a special place in his heart and I always felt Mary was her Daddy's girl.

So there you are, Linda, and now you know what happens when you send me an e-mail asking about the HOUSE ON MAIN ST.!!!!!!!!!