In February, I joined the fabulous women from Is This Mutton, MK’s Adventures in Style, Deb’s World, Grownup Glamour, and Frugal Fashion Shopper for a global writing challenge. Later this year, Suzy from The Grey Brunette, Sue from Living Well after 50, Leslie from Once Upon a Time, Happily Ever After and I joined in on the fun permanently! I chose this month’s prompt, and I’m still not entirely sure the direction this post will go. I hope you’ll visit all of these blogs because you are going to be amazed at, not only the diversity of the ideas, but the photos are fabulous! There’s also a link party on Is This Mutton.
I can’t go home again…
As some of you may know, in 2015, Nigel and I moved about 2.5 hours south of Columbia City, Indiana. It’s where I was born and lived for over 57 years. At the time, it seemed like a good move. We would be closer to our kids so we wouldn’t be spending hours in the car. Now, in retrospect, I deeply regret the move. But, as Thomas Wolfe once said, “You can’t go home again.” Actually, that’s the title of his book. There are a number of reasons why I probably won’t ever go back to Columbia City. Chief among them is it doesn’t feel like home anymore. I feel like a stranger even though I know almost every spot in town. It’s an odd sensation.
A little history…
I was born in the Whitley County Memorial Hospital. As much as I searched, I couldn’t find a photo of it. Parkview Hospital bought it several years ago. At the time, it was renamed the Whitley County Hospital/Parkview. Eventually, a new and modern hospital was built on the outskirts of the town. The old hospital was demolished a few years later. For a time, we actually lived right across the street from the old hospital. It was convenient as my two youngest were born during that time. My mom and dad both passed in that hospital, too. And, in those 57+ years, I never lived farther than eight miles from that hospital!
A little more…
One of the things I now appreciate about my hometown is the way it was planned. Columbia City is the county seat which means the courthouse and other county offices are located there. The courthouse sits on a square that isn’t quite the center of the town but close enough. Streets run in straight lines east/west and north/south. At one time, Columbia City had a thriving downtown. There were two men’s stores, two women’s stores, two department stores as well as a dime store where my Grandma Luderman worked. It seems stores came in pairs because there were also two banks, two shoe stores, two furniture stores, and two jewelry stores. In addition, there were various restaurants, a drug store, a large hardware store, as well as a couple of specialty stores. I’m told we also had two grocery stores downtown, but I only remember one. I’m sure I’ve missed several stores, but you don’t want to read too many lists.
Still more…
In time, small shopping centers were built away from the downtown area. One of the grocery stores moved to Columbia Plaza where you could find a laundromat, a barbershop, several small retail stores (I worked in one in high school) and a drug store. The other grocery store moved out of the downtown area and across from the third grocery store in town. US Highway 30 runs north of downtown. Eventually, more shopping centers cropped up north of the highway. The dime store moved out there as did one of the grocery stores. Other small retail shops came and went. And, then WalMart came to town. That pretty much sounded the death knell for downtown.
But, wait…
Even before we left, the downtown area underwent several changes. Some buildings burnt down; some were razed in order for larger governmental centers to take place. Some stores were renovated and returned to their early 1800s glory. Since we’ve moved, one of the buildings was torn down to make a small park. Other paintings on the sides of brick buildings have been refurbished. From what I can gather from friends’ posts on Facebook, there are numerous places to grab a donut, coffee, and even frozen yogurt not to mention lots of interesting little shops. Shoes & Moore is a shoe store, obviously! My youngest worked there for several years. It’s still in business and is the only shoe store in town.
But…
Columbia City had sundowner laws on the books, but I wasn’t able to find out if those are still in effect. I hope not, but I honestly wouldn’t be surprised. A short drive through the town will reveal how deeply red it is. During the Black Lives Matter movement a few years ago, a few “brave” souls drove through the town with Confederate flags waving from the beds of their pickups, whooping and hollering to make sure everyone saw them. There were also whispers and rumors of a strong KKK presence in town. To make matters worse, after 9/11 and the ensuing wars, the town’s leaders erected the memorial shown below on the courthouse square. Look closely. Notice anything? That little misspelling made the news around the country.
Even more…
I loved going to the library when I was a kid. It wasn’t technically downtown, but it was close. The Peabody Public Library was one of the buildings on the site of the Peabody home. The public library was established in 1901, but it wasn’t until 1917 that Simon J Peabody donated funds and land to build the library. Among its trustees was Thomas R. Marshall, a former Indiana governor and Vice President to Woodrow Wilson. The building was amazing to a kid used to a small ranch home. The library was not truly a two story building. It was more like a split level with second level being adult and the bottom level for children and storage. It had a wooden staircase to the second floor and an ornately carved fireplace with wing chairs where you could sit and read for hours at a time…not that I ever did. There was a metal curving staircase for the librarians to go up and down behind the impressively high checkout desk. If I close my eyes, I can remember the sights, sounds, and smells of that library.
In 1999, a new library opened outside of the city’s limits. There weren’t even sidewalks to it for a while. This raised quite a stink. The worst thing, however, was not the move. More space was definitely needed, and the original building was landlocked. The worst thing occurred when the building was put up for auction. The Whitley County Historical Society tried to buy the building, but it was outbid. At first, no one knew who had bought it. At this time, the unused library sat on the same block as a large funeral home. And, yes, you’ve probably guessed it. The owners of the funeral home bought the library and promptly tore it down to…yes, you know it…create a parking lot. I was devastated. The funeral home was the home of Simon J Peabody and is a gorgeous space complete with carved staircases and stained windows.
A skosh more…
I’m including a few more old photos of the buildings from the town. The first is the old jail. I remember going there with my Girl Scouts troop when there weren’t any prisoners jailed. It has since been closed and is now the “Haunted Jail.” At one time, the high school show choir used it as an annual fund raiser. I think it is now privately owned. I couldn’t find any photos of my old church, the one where Nigel and I were married. The photo is of the current “new” building built in 1979. The Methodist church has relocated out of the downtown area and is currently a non-denominational church, I believe. The old school building was the high school when my mom and her sisters went to it. Nigel attended it as a middle school with grades 4-8 at the time. It has been torn down, and a newer middle school was built, closed, re-opened as a technical school with a preschool. I don’t know what it currently is.
Wrap it up, Marsha!
As I said, I wasn’t sure what direction this post would take. I still don’t know…it just kind of meanders here and there. I miss my old life because I knew where everything was, and I could almost always count on seeing someone I knew when I went to the grocery store. Now, that rarely happens. I also said I didn’t appreciate how well the town was laid out. The town I live in now, Brownsburg, must have been planned by a herd of cows in no hurry to get home. Streets rarely go straight. Some end at one point only to start up again several blocks away. There is no town square at all, but it isn’t the county seat, either. I miss having a town square. So, can we talk? Do you still live in your hometown? Or, did you leave as soon as you possibly could? What makes a small town a good place for you? Please leave me a comment or two, and we can talk. I promise to respond as soon as possible.
Where you can find me:
Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, and Style Splash. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda and Lisa. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!
What others are saying…
Gail from Is This Mutton explains why she’s a Janner as she takes us on a tour of Plymouth in the south west of England. The city is famous for the Pilgrim Fathers and felled trees.
Mary Katherine loves her hometown, which is quite different from its famous namesake, and pronounced differently, too!
Suzy from The Grey Brunette (Portugal) – Suzy’s journey from Rotherham to Portimao, her cozy Portuguese hometown, unfolds a tale of seafront serenity and the vibrant life of Praia da Rocha, offering a slice of Algarve charm.
Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper(UK) Penny throughout her childhood lived in 3 very different places but could hardly call them her Home Towns but she thinks what she does remember of them might be of interest. On reflection, after writing this piece, she now thinks there ought to be a Part 2 where she reminisces about the many other places she’s lived in, but Part 1 will have to do for now!
Leslie writes: “From the moment I drove into El Paso, Texas on Thanksgiving weekend, 1988, I felt like I was home. The Franklin Mountains tower over this big little city and divide the town in two. The people are humble, hardworking and friendly; accepting of all cultures and ethnicities. But this jewel in the desert southwest is being crippled by the incredible number of people crossing into this border town and impacting an already financially strained and impoverished community. My heart is breaking for my hometown.”
Debbie lives in a very small rural town in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains of NSW Australia, with the captivating name of Tumbarumba. She’s made the town her home, with her husband and three daughters (now grown up and flown the nest), for over 30 years and is almost considered a ‘local’. It has a poem all about Tumba-bloody-Rumba…read more at www.debs-world.com.
Sue from Women living Well After 50 is away this month.
And, now, it’s your turn!
If you’d like to link up your imagination posts, please pop over to Gail’s blog, Is This Mutton, for the link up!
I hadn’t appreciated what a huge change it was for you to move away from the home town where you’d spent 57 years! It’s a separate discussion in itself about how we feel about our home town when we go back. I know what you mean about feeling like a stranger, yet knowing the place very well. When I go back to Plymouth I am endlessly walking on the paths and roads that I trod as a child, looking for signs that nothing has changed. I don’t find them very often. The cemetery is the only place that still looks the same! A great prompt Marsha, it’s resulted in some really interesting posts.
Thank you, Gail. When the sale of our house fell through the first time, we should have seen it as a sign! Columbia City, my hometown, is vastly different from Brownsburg, my current town. One was a little rural community where people lived and died. The other is a suburb of Indianapolis and is more a bedroom community. But, I can tell from your comment that you definitely understand how different it is to go back. It’s familiar but totally different.
I am so glad you invited me to be a part of this group. The writing prompts have been thought provoking and make me stretch my writing!
This was a great prompt Marsha and I see you feel ambivalent about your hometown. Oh my word, the prompt brought up some memories for me as i) it was so long ago and ii) I can’t say I really warmed to the two towns that I only vaguely remember. I MUST write another one on some of the other towns and cities I’ve lived in. Actually I think I could combine it with my promised second part of Travel as really it is about many different places here and abroad!
Wow, this challenge is the business – it really makes you think. And I absolutely love reading everyone’s contributions – so interesting. Thank you again Marsha for the prompt XXX
Thank you, Penny! I thought I knew what I would write, and then all that angsty stuff just came out. I don’t know that I’m ambivalent about CC or not. I wish we hadn’t left, but I know we can’t go back. Plus the political landscape is bit more red there than here where we’re closer to the more blue Indianapolis. I really just wish we’d all turn purple!
I do love these challenges because I do have to think when I write them. And, as you can probably tell, I like to write! I love that almost everyone has a different view on the subject each month.
Have a wonderful week, Penny!
I live just 10-15 minutes away from my hometown so I am there all the time; in fact my husband works in that same town, my boys were all born in that town, and I still feel more like that is my town than the one I live in now.
Ah, you and I are a lot alike then. I wish we’d never left, but I also know we can never go back and have it be the way it was. Plus, the kids would miss us being so close. And, they’re not going to move!
Thanks, Joanne, for coming by!
What fabulous memories, and I always love seeing the old photos.
I’ve never thought about going back to my hometown. I’m not sure I’d like it for so many reasons. Maybe we just need to move on and evolve?
XOXO
Jodie
Thanks, Jodie! Is your hometown Toledo or a town outside of it? I rarely go back to CC, but my sisters and brother are still there. I do see them sometimes. I doubt I would move back unless my old house came on the market. But, they’ve changed it quite a bit so probably not!
I am curious why you don’t like your move but also feel like you can’t go back. I have friends that lived 6 months in Italy and 6 months here for years, but as a result she just felt she didn’t fit in either place. A displaced person (Felt Australian in Italy, but italian in Australia).
Nostalgia is the pain and sadness of never really being able to go back to a place – even in you can physically go back to the plkace, it’s not the same place in time. It’s different and more importantly, you’re different. I find this stuff so interesting. Good post. (Didn’t notice the spelling mistake until I went looking. I wonder if the stone carver was French – seems an odd thing to make the national news)
Thank you, Lydia! I think you’ve hit it on the head when you say you can go back physically but not mentally. Your friend is right…I just don’t feel like I fit in either place. One of the reasons I don’t like my move is my feeling of isolation. I know so few people here, and at my age, it’s difficult to find others with the same interests.
I didn’t think about that…if the carver was French, that would make some sense!
4 years ago, I returned to the town I consider my hometown (I lived there middle school years as well as a couple high school years) and it was lovely to see how it had changed (for the better then- my first return, the town needed some love). I have moved so much I guess, where I live is my hometown!
http://www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com
I have only lived in Columbia City and Brownsburg though we’ve managed to move houses several times. I’m glad your hometown changed for the better. It looks like CC might have, but it doesn’t feel like home anymore. It’s strange when we go back.
Thanks, Mireille, for coming by!
I can’t imagine what it must have been like living in the same town for so long, Marsha. Such a shame about the library, I would have been so angry to know it was being knocked down only to be replaced by a parking lot! It’s quite disgusting, isn’t it? Such an old and loved building!
Big hugs
Suzy xx
Thanks, Suzy! I always said I didn’t want to die there! Now, I miss our old house, but the town is so different. Or, maybe it’s me who is different. Yes, it was horrible when that happened to the library. It was the underhandedness of it that made me so angry. It was a beautiful building and could have been used in so many ways.
Hi Marsha, I loved where you went with this prompt, meandering along and sharing snippets of a very different lifestyle to what I live. It’s such a great linkup in that we all have so many different experiences and insights to share and we learn more about others in the process. I’m sorry you don’t feel comfortable in your new place but understand you can’t go back! Thanks for sharing with us and the photos really help tell the story.
Thank you, Debbie! I have really enjoyed this prompt if I do say so myself! It’s been so interesting to read about others’ home towns/hometowns. I have to admit I am always in awe of your lifestyle! It just looks so grand and adventurous compared to mine. I am, by nature, quite shy so it’s difficult to spread my wings. And, Brownsburg is really just a bedroom community, a suburb of Indianapolis. So, it’s not a little village where one could sit and people watch or shop in quaint little stores. That’s the kind of hometown I’d love. And, I never understood Wolfe’s title until I lived it. You just can’t go back because you’re a different person than when you left. I’m glad you enjoyed my little meandering (a bit maudlin) hometown visit!
Marsha. I feel sad that the little town you loved has changed in many ways, and not necessarily for the best. I know we have to move upward and onward. But tearing down the lovely old home that was once the library is such a sad step into the ‘future.’ I have never lived anywhere where I would certainly see someone I knew every time I went out so I don’t know that familiarity or sense of being home. In El Paso, there are communities in different parts of town. We have always lived in the northeast, which has the reputation of being the ‘poor’ side of town, higher crime, gangs. But the most beautiful mountain views!! For years when I was still teaching, I would see children I knew, former students, family members at Walmart. I have been retired for years now, though, and I never see anyone I know.
Thank you for sharing the photos and colorful stories of your little hometown. It reminds me of those where my parents lived in Missouri and Oklahoma, with the court house on the town square. PC grew up in a small town like that, too. Seems like a sweet setting for childhood.
Thank you, Leslie. It was heartbreaking when I heard who had bought the library. I was so hopeful they wouldn’t tear it down. I’m sure some of the parts of the building have been kept and used somewhere in that family’s homes. At least, I hope they have been. Actually, over the years, Columbia City experienced such growth that it wasn’t uncommon to go to the store and not see anyone I knew. But, I always tell Mike you could drop me off anywhere in the county, blindfolded, and when I could open my eyes, I would know, immediately, where I was. I don’t know that there was a road or street I hadn’t been on. That’s changed, of course, since we’ve moved as they’ve built new neighborhoods.
I think my neighborhood was an even better place to grow up than the town itself. We actually lived a couple of miles outside of town. That neighborhood has since been annexed. But, when I lived there, we were “in the country.” Where we live now is a nice little neighborhood, but Brownsburg definitely has had gang activity. We are so close to Indianapolis as well as an interstate which connects Chicago to Indianapolis. So, one would be naive to imagine there isn’t any drug trafficking going on.
Thanks, my friend, for commenting.
Loved all these posts. I am sorry that your move was not what you hoped.
Thank you so much, Hilda. I wish it had been different, but life goes on, right?