I Love Galesburg in the Springtime (Details)
citation: McCall's, April 1960, LXXXVII(7):74-75, 182-184, 186, 188, 190
alias: None
teaser: Every once in a while, a story comes along — and this happily is one — that is a dream to read and still makes a needed and necessary point
summary: Reporter Oscar Mannheim interviews industrialist E. V. Marsh about an incident that caused Marsh to decide against building a factory in Galesburg, IL.
Marsh explains that after he'd had drinks and dinner the previous night with city officials to work out details for the new factory, he went for a walk. As he admired the tree-lined streets — an impression shared by Oscar — Marsh saw a streetcar. He decided to ride the streetcar back to his hotel, and stood in the street waiting for it. Although he signaled to the motorman, he was ignored. Had he not fallen backwards, he would have been hit.
Yelling after the streetcar attracted the attention from inhabitants of nearby houses. Soon, the police arrived, and arrested Marsh as drunk and disorderly. They pointed out there were no streetcar tracks, and hadn't been a streetcar on that street for decades.
When Marsh gives additional details about the incident, Oscar confirms he accurately described streetcars that haven't been in Galesburg for a very long time.
Oscar describes how much he loves the town of Galesburg. He knows Marsh's experience was real, because he's seen others.
A year earlier, Oscar visited the Pollard place, observing fire damage outside one side window. Realtor Doug Blaisdel wished the fire had destroyed the entire house so the land could be cleared and rezoned for an apartment building. Unfortunately, from Doug's point of view, someone — not the fire department — put out the fire.
Next door neighbor, Mr. Nordstrum, claims the fire was put out by a fire engine drawn by horses, burning wood and coal to make steam for pumping water onto the fire. Nordstrum shows Oscar the horseshoe and wagon tracks in the dirt. To Oscar's delight, Doug Blaisdel eventually sold the house to people who restored it.
Oscar gives another example: Carl Denigmann was going to sell his farm to subdividers. One night, Carl had a telephone call, not on the new dial telephone that had just been installed, but on the old hand-crank phone. It was Billy Amling, asking Carl to go rabbit hunting. When the conversation finished, Carl remembered Billy died in 1918, during the war in France, and that his old hand-crank telephone was no longer connected to anything. He decided not to sell the farm.
Oscar reasons that Galesburg's past is fighting back against those who want "to destroy the beauty we inherit from the past. ... [and] replace it ... with drabness and worse." The battle goes on Oscar relates, victory not staying long with either side. It's clear which side Oscar is on.
words: 6,555
genre: None
similar: None
people: Oscar Mannheim, E. V. Marsh, the Pollards, Doug Blaisdel, Nordstrum, Carl Denigmann, Billy Amling
places: Galesburg, IL: Soangetaha Country Club, the Custer hotel, Kellogg Street, Broad Street, Santa Fe train depot, Public Square, Cherry Street, Prairie Street, Seminary, Main Street, Knox College, Old Main, Fremont Street, Boone's Alley, Cedar Street; Chicago, IL
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