Brookport High School - Egyptian Yearbook (Brookport, IL)

Page 10 text:

X Souders Service Station--both for gas and tickets to ride those big Greyhound and Southern Limited Busses that make Our Town look right citified. Across the street, Tony is busy at the Sinclair Station tanking up cars for our Paducah commuters. VVe have a pretty nice drug store in Our Town too- right there on the leftg ownd by Truman Garrett, a wide awake citizen and school board member. His wife, Dorothy, used to be our school nurse and certainly has that urge to pro- mote better health facilities in Our Towng shels also secretary to the Womans Club. Well, this is what we call the main part of Our Town. Bank's here on the corner-Mr. Alfred Hohman is President but our orchids go to dear Mrs. Holifield, who has already celebrated her 50th anniversary in bank service. Right next door to the bank is our Post Office and of course there's our faithful postrnistress, Mrs. Grace Garrett, busily taking care of our letters and packages. She is assisted by a lovely lady, Violet Vick and Mary Russell-re- member Mary's pleasing personality-voted the best in the class of '46. Down around the next corner is Hohman Hardware and Lumber Co. run by Alphe and VVayne Hohman. Alphe is on the school board and Wayne spent about three and a half years in service-was one of the first to go. Now he's married to Rosemary Johnson-popular and honor student of the class of '4O. Howardis Cab is a recent addition to Our Town-call him for prompt service. Yes-Our Town does have a theater and it is known as the Port Theater, owned and operated by Reeder and Clark. ' Going on over toward the school we see a huge Kroger truck--who knows but what it is delivering a load of Hershey bars! Kroger's has a nw managr now in place of Shelby Morris who has catered to our wants for years- Shelby's health is poor now and he must take a rest. But we do see familiar faces, Mildred Harris and Boe Ellis, former B. H. S. students. ' Everybody knows where our school and gym is located. just take a look at that quiet peaceful atmosphere Qand don't remark, yes, this is Saturdayj. You know, we're right proud of our school-our faculty and students-they just can't be beat! The Bulldogs are over at the gym now-must be getting ready for the Regional tournament next week. I betcha that lots of folks don't know that the first brick school was built in 1894 on this site and that our own B.H.S. was erected in 1919. Mr. H. VV. Holifield, deceased, was on the building com- mittee and of course, our own Mr. Souders was serving on the board then. Another interesting fact is that the first Egyptian was published in l922. Some of the Seniors then were-Germia Butterworth, Printhia Hensler, Hazel Dunn, Nellie Maynard, john Smith, and Grace Robinett Eskew, also Dick Medley. just across from school is the face owned by Medley's-where else could the hungry pupil rather be? One block over towards the river is A. T. Kerr's Dry Goods Store, oldest established business under the same management in Massac County-opened 1n

Page 9 text:

Our Town The name of Our Town is Brookport, Illinois in Massac County, just across the Kentucky line on the banks of the Ohio Riverg longitude 89 degrees, latitude 37 degrees. Our Town is located in the extreme southern lowland section of Illinois known as Little Egyptng some say because in the early days it was the corn- growing region, and the northern settlers went down into Egyptl' for the corn which was so important to man and beast. It was a night in February, 1779, when General George Rogers Clark and his men captured Illinois and made it free of British rule, even though the Declaration of Independence had been signed before then. General Hamilton paid Indians for scalps of white colonists here in the middle west. In 1819, Illinois became the 21st state and was named for the Illinois Indians. A lone negro family lived in Our Town then. It was 1855 when Our Town was incorporated as Brooklyn and the name was not changed to Brook- port until 1901. But I must forget this history and show you Our Town as it is today- the day is March 1, 1947. The time is about dawn and the sky is beginning to show some streaks of light over in the East there, behind our foot-hills. The morning star always gets wonderful bright the minute before it has to go. This Saturday is a crisp cold morning with a good covering of snow on the ground and the only lights on in town are at Ham Smith's where Bacon is getting ready to deliver the morning paper and in a cottage there on the corner at Holifields. They're all a-flutter as H. VValton rushes Verna down to a Metropolis Hospital, where Mary Elizabeth, a nine pound girl is born. just across from the Holifields is the big red brick Baptist Church with Bro. Moore as the new pastor. The Baptist's first church was organized in 1819 and was a frame building where Kroger's store now stands. And there's a grocery store on the other corner-belongs to Butch Brinker now but used to be George Hertters, a Board member. Across there is the Irvin Cobb Bridge-a beautiful bridge it is-which spans the Ohio River on route 45. The bridge was completed in 1929 but was not toll-free until Thanksgiving 1945. Of course, everybody knows about our floodwall-built after the flood of '37 which almost washed away Our Town. Way back there in the railway station-first tracks were laid here in 1877. Our train pulls in here in the afternoon, shuts off steam, spends the night, then turns around and starts on a new day's journey. Beyond the tracks is The Sawmill where we get our tomato stakes and bean poles. This side of the tracks is our friend, Mr. NN'hitworth-busy with his Poultry and Second Hand Store where you may buy anything from a beautiful antique rocker to a modern garden plow. It's time for breakfast, folks, so let's go to the Stateline' Cafe, .Ora and Jack Whalen really fix up that country sausage and eggs. Business IS poppin' at

Page 11 text:

l,898. Mr. Kerr has served as justice of Peace for several years and is Vice- President of the bank. just across the street on either side is a church. The Christian was organized in 1885, and the first graduation exercise for B. H. S. was held in the Christian Church in 1904. D. Wayne McFarland is Minister there now-his hobbies are making musical recordings and raising guinea pigs. On the other corner is a Church of Christ with Bro. Homer Daniels as their leader. VVC1llL1St not overlook our town's telephone office and accomodating operators, VMrs. Jennie VVo0ds and Mable Brown. The Methodist Church is another block down toward the darn-Brother Brookinan is th pastor there and all over town people enjoy the beautiful record- ings played before services. The Methodist organized tl.e first church in Our Town in 1884-they were the days of the Circuit rider- then on the next corner is Smiths' Grocery- Miss Inezn always finds time to do special favors for her friends and customers. Perhaps you figure that we have overlooked Our Town's Beauty Parlors- hut no-we boast of three-Alice's Shop owned and operated by Alice Waynick NVelch-that's just across from the Kroger Store. The Brookport Beauty Shop, owner and operator, Mrs. Beulah Randles, is on the corner across from the Christian Church. Then there's Dot's Beauty Shop back across the highway- in that pretty little modern home of Mrs. Dorothy Harper. Then Our Town has a new photography set up just developed from a hobby following a chemistry unit. Charles Brookman and Arthur Davidson give prompt service-you may watch the rolls develop while you wait-that is if you wait long enough! Hats off to you fellows! Here's the Town Hall and jail combinedg jails in the back-and if you don't think it's thriving, just stick around until night-remember this is Saturday and it really pays off on such nights! The Mayor of Our Town is J. D. Dunn-he's a good friend to our school and has a nice home back there on River Front. He's been right poorly this winter and spent several weeks at I. C. Hospital. Going on down the highway, we pass Nesslerodt's Grocery where the busy houswives are selecting food for the noon-day meal. Down on the next corner is Tiny's Place - the hangout for the gang. Nearing our toWn's city limits , we find Kennedy's Funeral Home, con- ducted by Louis and Gladys Morris-another grand couple. The big clock in front of their home reminds us that it's dinner time, but first let's complete our tour over on the east side of town. just across' the highway, we see an unfortunate traveler who's had car trouble and is being towed in to Independent Oil Co., owned by Robert A. Dod- son and Charlie Clark for repairs. Over on the next street is our printing office owned and operated for many years by Mr. and Mrs. Hall, but Mr. Hall passed to the great beyond last spring. VVe find fl former B. H. S. student, James Morrow, to be the owner and