Volume 10 , Issue 10

Alva Square Memories

"The Alva square was home to me for many years. Eating hamburgers in Snyder's Cigar Store was a routine of mine from 1949 until 1955. My folks owned the grocery store next door to Snyder's so it was convenient. The four theaters and the courthouse park were my entertainment.

Like Bob, my uncle, who was the county sheriff, had an office in the courthouse and I took great pride in introducing my friends to him, he always provided a good show. He'd tell stories about bad guys and show us his pistols, after they were unloaded of course.

I earned my weekend movie and popcorn money working for my parents stocking shelves and delivering groceries to people that rented apartments around the square. Most buildings had either office accomodations or single family apartments on the second floor.

Wiebener's Food Market (formerly the L.A. Wagner grocery store, my grandfather) took grocery orders over the phone. An employee would box or bag the order and deliver them in my dad's Jeep. If they were small orders from apartment dwellers I would take the groceries myself. I remember one such customer, a woman with a daughter about my age, who lived above a pool hall across the street north of where the police station is now. I noticed that for some reason we were not delivering groceries to the woman any longer and I asked one of dad's employees what had happened to her. His answer was that she was asked to leave town because of what she did for a living. That went right over my eight year old head.

Then there was the time I was skating on the frozen fish pond around the base of the fountain in the courthouse park, showing off for Vicki Turner, and fell in. What boys will do to impress the girls. I have great memories of that park, and it is sad to drive by it now and see no one there." -- Marvin Wiebener
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