Early Childhood Home

In 1924, I moved with my parents to Pueblo, Colorado. Dad rented a house on East 4th Street, right across from the Fire Station. In Mother’s little notebook it says, “On September 3,[1925], the cars on 4th Street (which was a very busy street and also State Highway #96 through town) were honking and brakes were screeching when the Aunt looked out and that 2 ½ year old Pride and Joy was in the middle of the street with his sand bucket and shovel directing traffic!”

1806 E. 5th Street, Pueblo, Colorado
June 13, 1934

On December 1, 1925 (when I was 2 1/2 years old) we moved to a home at 1806 East 5th Street [in Pueblo Colorado]. We lived here until we four boys were all married and living away from home. It was a great place for us to live. There were about 25 boys and only three or four girls living in the 1700 and 1800 blocks of the street. We had a good time doing just about everything boys like to do. We had teams for baseball and football. We played tennis at the Junior High School. We went swimming at Hegler’s Swimming pool which was about 7 miles out of town, but we made it often.

"This is where I lived from about the winter of 1925 until I went in the service when I was 19 years old in October 1942"

We lived only about three blocks from the prairies where there was a baseball field and a dry creek. Up the creek about three miles were some cedars and hills where we used to hike on occasion. There was a nice little park a block from Park View School and one on East 3rd Street in the 1100 block. We only went there for games with a rival team.

Following a major winter storm

Our house was just about eight blocks to Park View Elementary School where I attended grades K-5 (and later became principal). We were about 12 blocks from Fountain Elementary (grades K-6) where we went for 6th grade and about six blocks to Park Hill Junior High where we attended grades 7 and 8. Centennial High School was about a mile and a half from our house.

The house after the front bedroom was extended to include the east half of the front porch

The area from the edge of the lawn to the house next door belonged to the Berrys who lived next door. They were very old, and my folks did lots of things for them. They gave us the empty lot between their house and ours for us to plant a garden. Later, they deeded the house to my folks and asked them to carry out their plans for burial, which the folks did. Dad put in a fence around the area from where the sidewalk would be (if there had been one) and back about half way toward the alley. There he had a sidewalk to get over to their house to check on them and to help out as needed.

As the family grew and Lou and his brothers married and had children, this home was still the site of many family dinners and celebrations. Do you have any memories of this family home?