Heffner remembers Westmere in his boyhood a half-century ago
by Alice Begley
As mentioned
frequently in this column, tentacles of Guilderland's history reach this
historian's desk from all over the country and sometimes beyond. The latest
interesting missive arrived from Wickenburg, Arizona!
The correspondent was Dan Heffner who
sent pictures and his story "Westmere
Memories." Dan was born in Albany and his parents moved to Oxford Place in
Westmere in 1943. He attended Guilderland Central
Schools from ninth to 12th grades and graduated in 1958.
Dan's four-page typewritten story is
filled with reminiscences many readers will recall:
"My dad always bought gas at Dan
Willey's General Store at Gipp Road and Western
Avenue where Dan would be sitting there in his trusty old rocker and give you a
greeting.
"A glass display case on the left
as you entered filled with all kinds of candy and Blue Ribbon potato chips for
a nickel. Dan had an ice-cream freezer behind his rocker and sold it for five
cents a scoop.
"It wasn't unusual to see Dan
playing dominos with someone; sometimes he would get out his fiddle and play a
tune. He sold gas for 23 or 24 cents a gallon. Boy, those were the days!
"The south side of Western Avenue
was nothing but a big hill full of trees and brush until some developer in 1946
bought it and put up a housing development. We didn't like losing some of our
country environment. The houses sold for $12,000 to $14,000; that was expensive
back then. [This is the development that holds Venezio,
Albright, Malpass etc. streets.]
"On the northwest corner of Gipp Road, an ice-cream store opened, and, after that, a
variety store and Homart where I could even buy HO
gauge plastic trains."
Our Arizona correspondent told of the
sawmill at the end of Willey Road owned by Louis P. McGrath who also built the
Carolyn Railroad and gave rides to neighborhood kids for a nickel a ride. He
wrote of Bullhead Pond, a swimming hole near the Pine Bush next to the New York
Central mainline tracks to Chicago.
"We would have our bathing suits on
by the time Dad got home from GE, and we piled into the car and drove back Gipp Road, then Rapp Road through the Bush (Pine) to just
before the railroad, crossing to the pond. There was a rope tied way up a tall
pine tree to swing off of."
Dan wrote that the state's Department of
Transportation finally filled in the pond to build a bridge over the railroad.
Then the swimming became "only a memory.”
Another memory was going to the cider
mill on Route 146 north of McCormick's corners.
"It was Durfee's
Cider mill, take your empty glass jugs, remember them, and he would fill them
up or you could buy it in a new jug all ready to go."
This historian found that it was Claude Durfee who ran the cider mill. Swimming at French's Hollow
and "huge" ice cream cones at Dutcher's Ice
Cream Parlor added to all the memories.
Behind the Heffner house was
"Hill's asparagus field and behind that was Huckleberry Hill where we
would pick huckleberries."
Dan Heffner recalled when the
Guilderland water tank was built "between the schoolhouse on Schoolhouse
Road and where the Thruway is now. On Friday nights in the late fifties, I used
to go to record hops put on by WABY radio disc jockey Bill Pope at Happy Day
Nursery. It was located on the west side of Krumkill
Road. We always had a great time there."
He mentions the Jewish Cemetery, Pick's
Motel, the Penguin Snack Bar, and the riding stable (all places we wrote of in
a Jan. 10, 2008 column).
Dan continues, "I remember the old Westmere firehouse on the south side [of Western Avenue].
It was one stall and all we had was a single fire truck, an International with
a windshield and no cab roof."
"That small fire truck was used to
fight many a fire in the Pine Bush. Almost every spring and fall, the Pine Bush
would catch on fire. I never heard the cause but they would light up the whole
night sky to the north; it was a bright orange. We were never in danger, and I
never heard of anyone getting burned out."
Dan mentions Girard's Restaurant and
Tavern on the corner of Western Avenue and Johnston Road where there were
dances every Saturday night, and Carrol’s Hamburger
place, and a Tydol gas station. He also remembers
when the two-laned Route 20 near Fletcher Road washed
out leaving only one lane to drive on.
"Route 20
was closed until two Bailey Bridges could be built to bridge the washout. Those
Bailey Bridges were sure noisy; we could hear them back on Oxford Place.
"I almost forgot, across from Prospect
Hill Cemetery was the Shadow Box Restaurant. It was a popular eating place and
the food was good. Further west behind the Redman's Hall building was the
baseball field where the Guilderland Indians played. Across from the baseball
field was a big mansion [Rose Hill] where Dr. Lee had a practice. We used to go
there when we got sick. It was beautiful inside."
Dan Heffner recalls that at Route 20 and
Foundry Road, Bohle's Brothers had a bus garage, and
he remembers the day Ford bus #52 was hit by the Bigsbee
Frozen Food Locker's tractor trailer.
"My father was always a Chrysler
products man," writes Dan. "The first car I remember was a '37
Plymouth four-door, dark gray."
He then lists six other cars owned by
his mom and dad, Marie and Bill Heffner.
"Also, if anyone went past our
house when my Dad was still alive, one would have seen a 33-foot wooden tower
with a beam .antenna on top."
Mr. Heffner was an amateur-radio
"ham."
In his newsy report, Dan mentions that
he was a Boy Scout in Troop 82 that met at the McKownville
Methodist Church, and that he went to Guilderland Central High School with
Brian Empie.
He tells that he was made business
manager for the school newspaper because he "did such a good job
collecting money for subscriptions to it."
Dan ended his trip down memory lane in
Guilderland by telling us that his favorite school classroom was the one on
"the side toward the New York Central railroad track, so I could watch the
trains on the sly so I wouldn't get caught. I never did."
What a pleasure to reminisce with Dan
Heffner about the mid-1940s and 1950s. I trust many of our readers have enjoyed
the trip and the photos of an easier-paced Guilderland.