Debbie's memories of Krug Park

Krug Park and Krug pool were the most fun places to go when I was growing up!

I don’t remember if we only went on the weekends or if we sometimes went during the week.    Mom probably packed a picnic lunch or dinner sometimes, but I don’t remember eating anything.    All I remember was all the FUN things there were to do there.

When I was little, we used to roll down the hills in the bowl area, which was a long roll down!

When I was a little older, we played on the swings and other playground equipment, but the most FUN was the LONG slides.    There were probably other slides, too, but the 2 long slides were the best.     Really, they were the longest slides I ever saw!   They were the same length and went down parallel to each other.   We used to do anything to go faster, like sit on napkins or throw dirt and sand on them!    They were so much fun!    I can just imagine how hard it was for Mom and Dad to get us to leave…and how dirty we were after all that!

On our way out of the park, there were 2 tunnels to drive through – that was such a big deal when we were kids!   Dad always honked the horn the whole way through the tunnel.    It was just so exciting!

The last tunnel was part of what we called the “castle”.  There used to be live animals, like a small zoo there.   I think monkeys and lions, but it closed before we were old enough to remember.

The park had a big pond, “the duck pond”, and that was our last stop before leaving the park.   We would save the heels of bread (from the day old Rainbow bakery) to feed to the fish.   They were big! And the pond was full of them!    I think there were ducks, too, but I remember the fish the most, because the water would be still and you’d throw a piece of bread in and all of a sudden an orange fish would come up and grab it!   

When I was in Girl scouts, we had a Yule log hunt there.    I never knew what a Yule log was then, so I didn’t even know what we were looking for.     I just knew it was a really big park and we didn’t have much hope finding it, especially since there was snow and it was cold!   The best part about it was the campfire and hot cocoa and somemores.

The park also included a natural “bowl” amphitheater area.   Every Sunday evening in the summer was the Krug Park Bowl.  There was always a big band performing, the best way to describe it is like Lawrence Welk.  There was a master of ceremony, which was the announcer and the band leader.   Then there were other performances, like singers and dancers.  We took dance lessons from Susan Knoll and Nancy, Gail and I danced there one time.    They can correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was a tap dance to “Fascinatin Rhythm”, costumes were deep purple satin, sleeveless, with a short skirt edged with a feathery trim.  Nancy and I took voice lessons from this very old woman who made us sing only Irving Berlin songs, but I don’t think we ever sang at the Krug Park Bowl.

When I was in junior high and high school, the Krug Park Bowl on Sunday night was THE only place to be.    Everyone who was anyone was there.  We’d meet our friends and make new ones and just ‘hang around’.    I don’t remember seeing any of the performances, it was just to socialize and show off your new outfit and how good it looked with your suntan.

When I was in 7^th and 8^th grade, we had several slumber parties at Josie Rock’s sister’s house, who lived on the road just behind the park, so we would hang around the castle in the park.

When I was in 8^th grade and freshman, it was Ice skating.    We kept checking the paper for the notice that the pond had been cleared and was safe to skate on and then we were there with our skates.    The best time to go was at night.   We played crack the whip, which was probably dangerous, but I never got hurt and no one I knew did.    I probably had a bruise or two now and then because we did fall down a lot, but it was so worth it!    There was always a bonfire built on the bank, so you could keep warm, but my hands and feet never warmed up until after I got home and rubbed and massaged them in front of the heater vent.    That numbness and tingling was the strangest feeling!

Then there was the Krug Park pool, which was right by the park, on St. Joseph Avenue.   We took swimming lessons there, I never learned to dive, but I did jump off the high diving board.    Of course, I will never forget Mom made me wear sponge rollers in my hair one time that we had swimming lessons because we were having a family picture taken later in the day.    I was so embarrassed.   I can’t figure out why I would have had to do that because the pool water had chlorine in it, so my hair probably looked bad anyway for the picture.   When I was in high school, we always walked to the pool from our house, which is a pretty long walk, but everyone did it.    And we would hang out at the pool and walk to Krug Park or to the Dairy Queen.   We never carried a purse, but we always had a comb in our hand (with a long handle).    It was the cool thing to do!    We sure did a lot of walking in those days!

Here is a little history on Krug Park:

Krug Park is often referred to as St. Joseph's oldest park. While other areas were given for public use earlier, it is true that Krug Park was the first public outing area under the jurisdiction of the board of park commissioners which received public expenditure. As such, it was developed before any other parks. On February 26, 1890, Henry Krug, donated 10 acres (40,000 m²) to the City for use exclusively as a park^[2] , on the conditions "that no intoxicating liquors shall ever be kept, sold or disposed of in or upon said premises...nor shall any gambling or gambling devices be permitted." The City was to keep the park in good condition, under police control, and expend annually at least $2,000.00 under the direction of the park commissioners.
Early plans of Krug Park are not available, but from narrative sources it appears that the City quickly spent in excess of the required $2,000.00 per year. As St. Joseph's only developed public space, Krug Park became the "catch-all" for everything that the public seemed to desire. Park Superintendent Rudolph G. Rau seemed particularly fond of flower displays and formally designed beds, and Krug Park boasted many such spectacular displays. It also had at one time a zoo, greenhouses, botanical gardens, gazebos, the Robidoux cabin, a fountain, and a lily pond.
Krug Park was officially open to the public on May 6, 1902. The impressive stone gateway was just nearing completion at that time^[2]. The conservatory, which had been constructed at least since 1900, was a very popular spot for park visitors during this period. Alligators were kept in the pond in front of conservatory, and several other exotic animals were housed around the park. Old war cannons were moved to the park, and (as a result of a hoax) so was the so-called "Robidoux cabin." A reporter in need of a story saw an old cabin being torn down, and claimed that it belonged to the town's founder, Joseph Robidoux. As a result, the cabin was moved to Krug Park and maintained for many years.

Debbie's grade school memories

Pershing

I went to kindergarten there.   My teacher was Miss Kitsenberger.   Now that I think of it, she seemed old, but obviously she wasn’t married.   Now I wonder how old she really was?    We had show and tell, the only one I remember was Ronnie Hoagland and he sang “I’m forever blowing bubbles”.   We always took a break and in a single line, went to the cafeteria.  I remember the big tables with attached seats (kind of like picnic tables).  There we were all given a small carton of homogenized milk, which was really cold, but I hated milk.   I liked it on cereal, but not plain!    Now, as a grown up, I now know why I didn’t like it, because it bothered my stomach.   To this day, I can’t drink milk by itself without having really bad stomach cramps and gas.    If I have it with cereal, it still happens, but not as bad.   I was only at Pershing for 1 year, then to St. Mary’s for 1^st through 8^th grade.    I can’t remember when Mom and Dad decided to change to Pershing, but it wasn’t before I finished up at St. Mary’s.    Maybe it was when Matt started school?

Most of the Christmas craft shows were held at Pershing in the gym.    I remember Mom gathering ideas all year long just for us to make for the Christmas craft show.    Some of our entries were:

Christmas tree – made with toothpicks stuck into small styrofoam balls, stacked on a flat, round Styrofoam base, to form a tree, sprayed with fake snow, then hung tiny, colorful Christmas ball ornaments on the picks and sprinkled it with glitter.

Santa’s sleigh – Mom saved the turkey breast bone from our Thanksgiving turkey.    It had plenty of time to be dried out.    I think she sprayed it gold.    I don’t remember exactly what it look like, but it worked perfectly!

Christmas tree – made from a magazine, you folded each of the pages in a certain way, to form a Christmas tree.    Then we sprayed it gold.

There were many more, but those are the 3 I remember most.    They were judged, too, and it was always so exciting to go the day of the show to see if we won any ribbons.    We did win quite a few times!

Dad was in some kind of Dad’s club with Cleland Dewey (I think) and they put on a comedy show where they all dressed up like women!    That was pretty crazy!   They must have been raising money for something.   I wonder if Mom volunteered him for that?

When the Adams family – Bob, Dixie, Kathy, Shelley, and Kris – moved in across the street, they went to Pershing.   I think they moved in around the time that Kathy was in 7^th or 8^th grade because I was very aware of her boyfriend, Gary Dunham.    Dixie talked about him all the time.   I really think she was as boy-crazy as the girls were!    Anyway, Gary had a band (I forgot their name, maybe it was Gary and the Playboys-ha,ha!).   He played the guitar and the only song I remember them playing was “Wipe Out”!    It was awesome!

But I most remember Pershing because they had the best fall festival.  I must have been in 7^th and 8^th grade and liked boys.  There were always new people to meet and it was so much fun to hang out.    All of our friends met us there, it was the place to be!    The most fun was the “Dime to Dance” room and dancing slow to “The End of the World” by Skeeter Davis.  I don’t remember who all I danced with.  I do remember, it was 8^th grade, being out on the playground with Dick Tiffany and he asked me to go steady and I said no.   Afterwards, I felt like such a weirdo, and no one could believe I turned him down because he was so popular!

St. Marys:

My first crush was Charles Veneman in 1^st grade.   He was shorter than me, little and wirey and was pretty loud, too.   I don’t remember why I liked him.   Maybe because he wasn’t shy and I was.

My 1^st day of school, I was supposed to ride the bus and I really didn’t know where to go and I ended up missing it.    I know I was crying, but I went to the office and they found someone to take me home.    That never happened again.     I don’t remember the name of our bus driver, maybe Mr. Moser or Mosley, but I can still picture his face.   He was very nice, but he didn’t have any teeth.

Sister Blanche was the meanest teacher I ever had.    I think it was for 5^th and 6^th grade.    But she taught choir and I loved to sing and she had us singing very well.   We sang for all the Masses and special occasions and that was fun!   I especially remember the choir loft, which was high above the back of the church.    I don’t know how many times we dropped song books from it, or how many times Mike Dixon, Dick Tiffany and Mike Wright got in trouble for acting up or laughing (because they were farting).   Another thing I remember about choir, she took us to a choir competition in Kansas City and we sang “The Ash Grove”.    I can still sing a few lines from it.     I was also in her class the day we found out President Kennedy was shot.

I remember Fr. John and Sister Jeremy.    They were both young and a lot of fun!  We all thought they were in love, even though we knew they were not supposed to be.   Fr. John used to do a lot of controversial things.   He used to have dances in the gym that he called “hootenannys” and his nephew had a band and they always played.   These dances were so much fun!  That was around the time that the Beatles started.    Fr. John also planned and organized an annual Passion Play around Easter time.   Seems like that was all everyone was focused on then, and it was a big deal!

In 7^th or 8^th grade, when we couldn’t go outside for recess because it was raining, we used to go to the gym and do square dancing.    All the boys threw a fit because they didn’t want to dance with us girls, but I think they would have to admit that it was a lot of fun!

There was a speech competition for 7^th  (me) and 8^th graders.    The topic was “My Responsibilities as a Young American”.   Dad helped me write my speech, which I had to memorize and use hand gestures.   One of the sentences I used was President Kennedy’s quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!”  I remember the dress I wore, it was green with small pink and white flowers.   It had pink piping at the waist and the sleeves were all white.    It had a round neckline and zipped up the back.    Now that I remember, I can’t believe that Mom didn’t make it for me!   However, she did add her own special touch to it (which I hated, sorry, Mom).    There was a small fake flower tacked on for decoration at the waist.    Mom removed it and made me wear it in my hair, right smack in the middle of my bangs.    When it was time to do my speech, I did forget about it and got through my speech without making a mistake, I remembered all of it!    I was so thankful to be done and to sit down and relax!    It was a proud moment when they announced my name first as the runner-up and then Robin Soper was the winner.   I knew I did a pretty good job, but I was really surprised to win.   I know Dad was really proud of me, and it was really his speech that won, but I delivered it.   And I do remember most of what he told me about speaking and I was nervous, but I was very well prepared!     Thanks, Dad!   Oh, and I got my picture in the newspaper.

We used to always go to 11:30 Mass.    I remember this one Sunday, Dad was driving us home from church.   All of our family wasn’t in the car because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to do this.    He saw Mike Dixon and Dick Tiffany walking home from church and he stopped to give them a ride.    I was so excited, embarrassed, who knows what.    All I can remember is not saying much, but when I did say something, it was a question for Dad, but I didn’t call him Dad, I went really formal and called him Father!    After I said it, I knew how stupid it sounded!    I wanted to jump out of the car I was so embarrassed.

My 1^st best friend was Denise Mckeaver, but then she moved. Then it was Suzanne Armstrong, then she moved.   From there it was Josie Rock and Debbie Ritchey.  We spent a lot of time out at Debbie’s house on their farm.    She was the only girl and she got everything she wanted.   In 7^th and 8^th, it wasn’t Debbie anymore because she took up with the new girl Jean Ann Harrison and they kept to themselves, probably because Jean Ann was spoiled too and they always wanted things their way.     But I had many other friends:   still Josie, plus Mary Kay Whitehill, Nancy Nash, Angela Dassero, Barbara Slibowski and Jeanie Lawson (8^th grade she was new girl).    We all had slumber parties together and continued to be best friends through high school.