Created:
08/24/2015 01:31:30 PM
Author:
JIm Norris
Key thought:
Our Hometown
Comments:
“Our Hometown”
El Dorado, Arkansas
“A memories book visit to El Dorado dedicated to the Spudnuts
Group and to those who grew up there in the 50s and 60s”
By James (Jim) Norris EHS 57
How many times over the past many years has your memory bank opened and your thoughts rambled back to your youthful days of growing up in the middle of a Black Gold oil patch in South Arkansas? In the middle of that oil patch is a great little town that was an idyllic environment for children of all ages and their parents, way back in the 50s and 60s. It is a wonderful sleepy Southern town with a name that is most often mispronounced by all but those who grew up there or live there. But, we know it’s not El Do
Rah
Do and we correct them and let them know its El Do
Ray
Do, it’s our hometown and we’re proud of it!
We also know that El Dorado was
Mayberry
and
Happy Days
long before they appeared as television shows. Opie, Richie and the Fonz would have felt right at home in El Dorado, a town where almost everyone knew, or knew of, most families who lived inside the city limits. Many of us were connected by our parent’s employment at the same company and the fact that as students, commencing in 1956, we all gathered in just two school buildings from the seventh grade until we graduated from high school. It was easy to know most all the students in our class.
My memories of what made El Dorado so very special quickly offer several answers to that question. The economy of our hometown was consistently stable. The oil, chemical and timber businesses provided a constant economic environment which enabled El Dorado to not experience the economic recessions that other areas of the country dealt with from time to time. Lion Oil, Monsanto, American Oil, Murphy Oil, Gulf Oil, Anthony Forrest Products and strong banks such as the First National Bank, Exchange Bank and National Bank of Commerce, and other long established businesses thrived because of a solid local economy.
In El Dorado you were a valued bank customer, not just an account number, as we find in most banks today and most of the downtown stores knew you and your family by name. Many who will read this worked at several of the stores during holidays and summers. Norma perfected her gift wrapping skills at Samples Department Store during the Christmas holidays of her three years as a student at EHS and earned the handsome monetary sum of fifty cents an hour! Such an hourly income insured that her “personal dowry” was not of significant value when we were married. Since I had no dowry at all, we got “married on a shoe string!”
The various businesses around the Court House Square or just off the Square were another thing that made living in El Dorado special. Encircling the Square was a collection of stores that represented almost any product that a person or family might need or want and the store owner or an employee would readily greet you with a smile. Shopping on the Square was fun and you usually would see friends on any day you were “downtown” or “uptown” depending on how you phrased it.
You didn’t even have to shop to enjoy being on the Square. You could go downtown and pop in a drug store or café and have a sandwich at a “lunch counter” or order your favorite milk shake or “Coke Float.” It’s just one man’s opinion but my taste buds recall that the Rexall Drug store’s lunch counter served the best pimento cheese sandwich on the Square!
Our hometown was a great place to grow up. You could “walk the Square” late in the evening and not worry about being mugged or carjacked! My brother Jimmy Reed (EHS class of 59) and I were allowed, at the age of twelve, to walk the three blocks from East Elm St, to the Square or to the Rialto or Majestic theaters unescorted and our parents had no worry for our safety. I doubt that would be the case today.
Jimmy and Bobby Carl (EHS 59), Norma’s little brother, would also walk but always stop at Howard’s News Stand, to make weekly deposits of several nickels in the pinball machines located in the back of the news stand. At that time Howard’s was located on Main St. across from the Post Office. If Howard’s News Stand had a mortgage Bobby and Jimmy paid it off during their Jr. High and High School days, with their weekly payment of nickels from their allowances, and donated to Howard Hawkins in two pinball machines! Those two were the original “Pinball Wizards!” The women’s clothing stores offered the latest “runway” fashions and were well stocked. The quality of the clothing was such that there was little need to “go shopping” in Little Rock, Shreveport, Dallas or Memphis. For the women of El Dorado, if Georgia Watson’s, Lewis’ New York Store, Morris and Company, the Rollow Shop, Alsobrooks or the department stores didn’t have what a customer wanted, which was rare, they would order it for you. Window shopping around the Square was a favorite pastime for many adults and children. Looking into the windows of the stores was better than leafing through the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs, especially during the Christmas holidays.
Clothing stores for men also offered the same caliber of men’s clothing that was offered in the women’s stores. Star Clothing House, Cliff’s Men’s Store, El Dorado House Men’s Store, BW Reeves and Samples offered any label of men’s clothing that you would find in the finest men’s stores in any city in the country.
In my mind one thing that really set El Dorado apart from most any other city and made it ever so special was the school system, from elementary to high school. Our hometown school system educated all students in a manner that prepared them for life, various professions, vocations, college and social interaction, so much better than is being done today. I may have known the system a little better than most students. To my knowledge I have the distinction of being the only one of my EHS graduating class and probably most other classes, who attended all four elementary schools, which turned out to be a pretty neat thing. Because, when I entered Jr. High school, I knew almost everyone in the seventh grade.
Our El Dorado school system education, especially our High School education was a direct reflection on the teachers as a whole, whose great teaching abilities resulted in educating many people who would later achieve much success in various endeavors. I would match the numbers of those people with the numbers from any similar size high schools. I have little doubt that EHS would come out on top!
Now for a moment, imagine that you’re back as an EHS student standing at the corner of West Block St. and Summit Ave. You’re in front of the Wildcat café. Looking across the street you see an architectural image which will stay with you forever. You see a building façade of six huge white columns, seven steps leading to three large double doors providing entrance to the EHS auditorium. Do you remember, I’m sure you do. It was where we students, all classes, gathered every Friday afternoon during football season to complete our week with a pep assembly. Our school work was done and it was time for fun. We could hear the band playing the fight song before we entered the auditorium. We’d cheer till we were hoarse and close the assembly by singing the EHS Loyalty Song.
EHS Loyalty Song
E
stands for earnest effort
L
for our loyalty
D
for determination
O
for our fighting team, rah, rah, rah
R
for our royal colors
A
for our aim so ardent
D
for devotion, and
O
for our dear school
BIG "E" FOR VICTORY!!!
Now think back to your days at EHS and think of the teacher or teachers who “lit the spark” for you. I personally am forever indebted to Miss Cox who turned me toward the study of Chemistry and science in general which became the foundation of my advanced education and professional career, Mrs. Pence who opened a whole new world for me through her English and writing lessons, and Mr. Bentley who instilled a love of reading and studying History which I still have, all were a guiding light for me after I left EHS.
A member of the class of 59 shared her opinion and appreciation of one teacher in particular with these words; “We had excellent teachers who gave us an excellent education. Two years of non-stop diagramming sentences in Mr. Laney’s English class might have seemed senseless at the time, but we emerged well-prepared for college freshman English.” I’m sure each of you is quick to recall those teachers at EHS that inspired you and you remember till this day.
EHS has produced many students who became great teachers, some who returned to teach at EHS. If a roll call list were made of those who did “make their mark” in their chosen profession or special calling after they graduated from EHS, the list would be extraordinarily long.
The vocation list includes several physicians, several PhDs, and all disciplines of engineers, Admirals and Generals, a Federal Judge, Department Head Nurses, Congressional Representative, a Miss America, All American and All Pro Athletes (one of whom was elected to the Collegiate Football Hall of Fame), Bank Presidents, notable Attorneys, a county Sheriff, Ministers, nationally recognized musicians, Hollywood movie and TV actors, high school and college athletic coaches, an officer at a nationwide department store headquarters and a teacher/school administrator who had a middle school named for her, an honor for her that will live in perpetuity.
The list also includes corporate Presidents and CEOs of global companies (two who were students at SAU at the same time), an FBI agent, airline stewardesses, private business owners, a senior executive at a global engineering-construction company, real estate brokers, artists whose works are appreciated worldwide, a CIA operative and rumor has it, a show stopping Stripper on Bourbon St. Make no mistake, EHS has produced many successful and talented people! The drinking water fountains at EHS in the 50s and60s was obviously more than plain old H2O; they clearly were spiked with a bit of a “work ethic element” designated as OA (“over achievers”) and many of our fellow classmates drank from those fountains. Let us be proud of where we went to school, for we were very fortunate to have gone to school in El Dorado.
Looking back, another thing that stands out to me about our hometown is; El Dorado was clearly a town of faith. You could walk one or two blocks in any direction from the square and enter a church of your choice to worship. The churches were also a place where we students would meet friends that would not only be friends at school but in many cases they would be lifelong friends. Unlike today when it’s prevented by federal law, we lived at a time when football games at War Memorial Stadium started with a loud speaker invocation, given by a local minister asking for safety of the players and fair play of the game, the prayer could be heard a few blocks away and no one complained and demanded separation of church and state. Our children and grandchildren now live in a much different time.
As I grow older my thoughts often turn to our hometown and the Court House Square. I sometimes close my eyes and remember the many activities that took place on and around the Square. The most indelible memory is the High School Pep Rallies that took place every Friday afternoon during football season. It seemed like the whole town would show up to support the EHS football team. The Pep Rally was broadcast live over radio station KELD with the recognizable voice of local radio personality Joe Duerson describing the activities. I’m sure you remember the Cheer- leaders riding in convertible cars leading the parade, the Pep Squad following, the sounds of our great EHS band, decorated floats at Homecoming and students marching and prancing behind the band.
The parade would end with the cheerleaders standings on the Court House steps and leading the crowd in cheers, and finish with the school fight song. The El Dorado Wildcats football games were “Friday Night Lights” long before a book by that name was written or a TV program of the same name was made. The Square hosted many parades and other activities while we were growing up but for my money the EHS Pep Rallies were the best.
To grow up in El Dorado as a teenager was a good thing. We were provided with a place to meet and enjoy friendship, togetherness and fun. You’ll remember, the place was the TAC House. It was simply a place to just be a teenager, a place away from home that provided a safe haven. Actually, the best thing about the TAC House was, our parents weren’t looking over our shoulder and listening to our conversations!
Let me invite you at this to join me and take a memory stroll around the Square. We’ll start on the south side of the Square, on the corner of Main and Washington Streets. Take a moment and see if we can remember all of the stores on each side of the Square during the 50s and 60s. I think I remember most, but since my memory no longer operates at lightning speed, forgive me if I leave one or two off the list. I’ll stop at a few and make a comment or two but will try and list all the stores on each side of the Square. Most of the Square stores of our school days, if not all, would disappear and be replaced by other stores as time passed by.
We’ll begin first by standing in front of an iconic local department store, everyone should remember Samples Department store. The customers of Samples, which was most of the citizenry of the city, knew it to be a great place to shop. Norma’s mother worked in the women’s shoe department of Samples for many years. I suspect that she fitted shoes for many of you ladies who will read this. I also suspect that many of you remember the names of others who worked at Samples and some of you may have also worked at Samples during your school years.
Samples was also where Norma purchased her first 45rpm record player. It was purchased at Samples Electrical City. She played the song “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” more times than her neighbors wanted to hear it. That song by Perez Prado was a #1 song in 1955 and interestingly was replaced at #1 by what is known as the very first “Rock and Roll” song….surely all you Bobby Sox beboppers remember “Rock Around The Clock.” At the end of our trip down memory lane, I will provide a list of songs which were the Billboard #1 songs on the day the classes of 50 through 69 graduated. That should wake up some memories which were put away long ago.
Leaving Samples and walking east, we pass the F. W. Woolworth store; also known as Woolworths Five and Dime store. Most every kid in El Dorado knew Woolworths had the best penny candy counter on the Square.
The next store was Star Clothing House men’s store. If there was such a thing as an upscale men and boys store in El Dorado, Star Clothing was the store. I along with several EHS buddies bought our first pair of Bostonian black tassel loafers at Star Clothing. We thought they looked “cool” while wearing our Levis or khakis with rolled up sleeves on our white tee shirts, trying to impersonate James Dean! Teenage boys of every generation have always wanted to be cool!
Now we’ve arrived at the Black Cat Café (remember it’s the 50s) located at the corner of Main and Jefferson. They served breakfast, lunch and dinner, or breakfast, dinner and supper, depending on what the three meals were called in your home. Another café then a jewelry store would later replace the Black Cat in the late 50s or early 60s. I don’t recall the names.
Across the street on the corner, on the same side of the street, was the Owl Rexall Drug Store. When I commenced my first career job as a pharmaceutical sales representative, based in Monroe, LA my first call would be the Owl Rexall when I worked El Dorado. About the same time I started my career, a young pharmacist named Larry started his career at the store and later opened a very successful pharmacy (Larry’s Rexall) on the north side of the Square.
Do you remember McCrorys 5-10-25 store? Well, we’ve now walked across from Rexalls and are on the corner of Main and Jefferson Street, on the east side of the Square. We’re in front of McCrorys which also sold clothing, fabric, household items and most items that Woolworth and Sterling Variety sold.
Heading north on Jefferson we find McQuade’s Shoe store and keep strolling past Terry the Jeweler, the Rollow Shop, a women’s dress shop and finish at the corner of Jefferson and Elm St., standing in front of the Lewis’ New York store, another upscale women’s clothing store. Across Elm Street and on the same side of the street was the Murphy Oil building. The cornerstone store of the Murphy building was Seller’s Jeweler store.
While it’s not directly on the Square, the business north of and next to Seller’s deserves a bit of personal recognition. It was the Esquire barbershop, were the famous or infamous “Five Brothers” hair cut, as it came to be known, took place.
As a member of that Jr. High group of five boys, I speak from a clear memory of the event. We five buddies, all El Dorado Jr. High football players made a fateful decision one day after football practice. Why the decision was made, none who were involved remember! We decided to have our hair cut in Mohawk Indian style. We all went together and fibbed (which is close to lying) to the barbers that we had parental permission to get a “Mohawk.” We did get our Mohawk cut and then paraded around the Square trying to be cool, while showing off our new image, having no clue as to what awaited us the next morning.
Upon arriving at school, it appeared that every student had already heard about the boys with the different haircuts and what seemed like hundreds swarmed around us in front of the main doors. The bell rang and we went to class and the students continued their buzz about our Mohawk haircuts. We felt like heroes but our “hero halos” were about to come crashing down. We were in class about five minutes when all five boys were called to the Principal’s office. We were not allowed to speak and were told if we wanted to continue as students at El Dorado Jr. High we were to go to the barber shop immediately and have all the hair we had left shaved off! We did and returned to school.
The students then had our bald heads to laugh at. We had our Mohawks for a total of 16 hours and most of that time we were sleeping! So much for showing off! Some 41 years later, when I returned to El Dorado, I visited the Esquire. After telling the barber, who was the son of the original owner of the Esquire, my name, he asked me, “Weren’t you one of the boys who got the Mohawk haircut.” I replied, “Guilty as charged!” He laughed and told me that the subject was revisited by the barbers and customers of that era on more than one occasion. Clearly, we five young Jr. High boys became famous and infamous all on one day! Oops, I’ve digressed and have let my memory wander a bit, so let’s continue our tour.
We’re now on the north side of the square at the corner of East Elm and Jefferson, headed west passing Hall’s Drug store. Next, we briefly look in the windows of Morris and Company, another nice ladies clothing store. We then arrive at Duggar’s Shoe store. How many remember the machine inside the store that successfully enticed customers to enter that store? Well, it was the device shown in the picture below. Do you remember?
The machine was a shoe-fitting fluoroscope with a ledge on the floor and, an opening where a child or adult customer would then place his or her feet in the opening provided, and while remaining in a standing position, look through a viewing porthole at the top of the fluoroscope down at the x-ray view of their feet and shoes.
In the second half of the 20th century, growing awareness of radiation hazards and increasingly stringent regulations forced their gradual phasing out. It was actually a gimmick used to market shoes and Duggar’s had the only one in town. All those reading this that would go into Duggar’s just to step on the x-ray machine and look at their feet, raise your hand. Oh, looks like most all the Spudnuts group hands went up!
We leave Duggar’s and pass Elkins, again another women’s clothing store whose advertising slogan was “Fashions for Smart Women.” Now we’re at the corner of East Elm and North Washington St., still on the north side of the Square, standing in front of West Brothers department store. West’s was the first clothing store on the square to stock Levis jeans. My first pair, bought in 1955 cost $5.25. Today the average price is $38.00. In 2005 an original pair of Levis (cr. 1890) which cost $1.25 sold at auction for $46,000 (yes that’s thousands). When West Department store closed, the store reopened as Larry’s Pharmacy. Directly across the street on the corner of West Elm and North Washington St. was the National Bank of Commerce.
Heading south cross West Elm St. from the bank, on Washington St., we find BW Reeves department store. Reeves was an old and interesting store. When I entered the store I felt like I was stepping back in history. All display cabinets were wood and the floors were also wood and creaked slightly when you walked the aisles. I never entered Reeves when the place didn’t look like all the wood had just been polished from top to bottom. In the 50s and 60s men still wore hats (not caps) as part of their fashionable attire. Both my dad and father-in-law bought Resistol hats from Reeves and said they had the best selection of gentlemen’s hats in town. I suspect one or two of your dads bought a hat at Reeves from time to time. Leaving Reeves we pass Sterling Variety Store another five and dime store.
We continue our stroll south on the west side of the Square passing the stairwell entrance to the Masonic building and come to Bob Elliott’s Jewelry store. Elliot’s is where Norma and I and many others bought our wedding rings, perhaps some of you did the same. I still have the purchase receipt for Norma’s 14k gold band. It was of a wide design and cost $25! Mine was a plain narrow band and cost $13! If I were buying Norma’s wedding band today, I’d have to pony up in excess of $500.
After leaving Elliott’s we come to Cliff’s Men Store another store offering fashionable clothing for men. Now we’ve come full circle of our stroll around the Square and are in front of the El Dorado Pharmacy, a full service pharmacy with a lunch counter. Norma’s sister worked at the El Dorado Pharmacy after school during her High School days. So at any given time during the 50s the Billingsley girls and their mother were very involved in the business of downtown!
By the way, did you notice there were two or three times the number of women’s clothing stores around the Square than men’s clothing stores? Tells you who had the money and did the shopping in El Dorado in the 50s and 60s!
While I have focused on the stores around the Square there are several stores “just off” the Square that deserve mention and were an integral part of El Dorado shopping. I’ll name just a few. I’m sure you remember, Carter’s Book store, Timmin’s Hardware, Parker’s Music Store, Sterling’s Department store, Georgia Watson’s, McWilliams Hardware and Furniture, Gathright’s Teen and Youth store, Hollywood Cleaners, Martin Cleaners, Trinca’s Shoe Repair and Randolph Sporting Goods.
One store was a little more than just off the Square but is dear to our hearts. It’s the one and only Spudnut Shop. I don’t care where you’ve lived or were you’ve been, there is no place that sells a donut as good as a Spudnut donut! Period! I remember to this day my dad taking me to Jr. High school almost every morning on his way to work at Monsanto, giving me 20 cents and I would feast on two Spudnuts before school. I did so with several other Jr. High students who were doing the same.
But wait, I’ve almost left out a downtown “on the Square” business that was an institution on late Friday and Saturday afternoons. How many remember Tony the Tamale man? Tony was the man who sold several dozen hot tamales from a large two wheel cart that he pushed some three or four miles from his home near the Lion Oil Refinery. He’d set up shop on the northwest corner of the Square around 4pm and no later than 7 o’clock all his tamales were usually sold. As I recall his tamales sold for about 10cents a piece. Tony was originally from Mexico and his tamales were years ahead of the Tex-Mex food popularity that exist in our country today. Tony the Tamale man, just one more special memory of our home town.
Allow me one last memory of our hometown, something you’re sure to remember. A rather unique peculiarity of El Dorado was the fact that you always knew which way the wind was blowing. It was easy to realize which direction the wind was coming from due to the odorous scents in the air. You knew when it was blowing from the Southwest because of the distinctive odor created by the Lion Oil refinery. You knew it was from the East due to the familiar smell of the American Oil plant. If we had a North wind it brought the pungent odor of the Cullendale paper mill, yuck!
A West wind would bring a pleasant aroma that indicated the Colonial Bakery was baking bread. I recall the many evenings in the summers, at about 9PM, when a car load of we teenagers would go to a side door of the bakery and knock on the door. A bakery employee would appear and we would pay him 25cents and buy a loaf of bread that was fresh, hot and just out of the oven. Sometimes it had not yet been sliced. A loaf of hot bread and a bottled Coke, not many memories better than that!
I’ve heard it said that “You may travel the world but your heart never leaves home.” I believe that to be true but also believe it’s easy to return home, all you have to do is just close your eyes and think of the most fun you ever had. Don’t be surprised if a memory pops up revealing images of friends, places and things in our hometown, good old El Dorado.
Hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane and also hope that it has sparked a personal memory or two.
James (Jim) Norris
Comments and questions welcome. Share it if you wish.
Number 1 Billboard Songs on EHS Graduation Day for the Years 1950 to 1969
50 -
The Third Man Theme
- Anton Karas
51 -
How High The Moon
- Les Paul and Mary Ford
52 -
Blue Tango
- Leroy Anderson
53 -
The Song From Moulin Rouge
(Where Is Your Heart) - Percy Faith
54 -
Wanted
- Perry Como
55 -
Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White
- Perez Prado
56 -
Heartbreak Hotel
- Elvis Presley
57 -
All Shook Up
– Elvis Presley
58 -
All I have To Do Is Dream
– Everley Brothers
59 -
Kansas City
– Wilbert Harrison
60 -
Cathy’s Clown
– Everley Brothers
61 -
Travelin Man
– Ricky Nelson
62 -
I Can’t Stop Loving You
- Ray Charles
63 -
It’s My Party
- Lesley Gore
64 -
Love Me Do
- The Beatles
65 -
Help Me, Rhonda
-Beach Boys
66 -
Monday Monday
- Mamas and Papas
67 -
Groovin
- Young Rascals
68 -
Mrs. Robinson
- Simon and Garfunkel
69 -
Get Back
-The Beatles
Special thanks to the following for sharing their memories and thoughts about growing up in our hometown:
Norma Billingsley (EHS 57) Norris
Stelle Billingsley (EHS 51) Lacefield
Ike Lacefield (EHS 51)
Marion (EHS 49) and Linda Hall (EHS 60) Billingsley
Larry Post (EHS 64)
Jean Holder (EHS 64) Norris
Rose Ellen Robert (EHS 59) Hohenberger
Jacob Poole, South Arkansas Historian
Email:
amronpartners@bellsouth.net
Responses:
No documents found