McCleary Musings

Dink and the fire engine

Dec. 15, 2012. Dink and the fire engine all decked out for Christmas

Laundromat, or, Laundry Mat

Dec. 15, 2012. The outside sign has one version, but inside the name has another. Or at least it did in late 2012.

Dec. 15, 2012. I could be wrong, but I think where the diesel tanks at Cheema's are now located was once the site of the childhood home of Clarence Chesterfield Howerton, otherwise known as "Major Mite" one of the smallest men in the world. Howerton had a career in the circus and even had a role in the Wizard of Oz film as a Munchkin (3rd trumpteer heralding the arrival of the Munchkin Mayor).

As late as the 1960s there was still a home sitting at the spot where the diesel tanks now reside.

Major Mite lived here at the same time as Cecil "Primo" Boling, one of the tallest persons in the USA. As a result McCleary was the subject of a lot of press at the time wondering what was in our water supply.

McCleary Laundromat before the bashing

Dec. 15, 2012. This was shortly before the front of the operation was bashed in by a vehicle. Also note the existence of the veterinary clinic next door, which alas did not last long here. The loading dock of the Post Office is pictured on the far left.

I'm told this area was the site of a garage run by Russ McMillan in the old days and Russ had a stuffed lamb with one head and two bodies in his display window. I was acquainted with Russ but never had a chance to ask him about this oddity or what happened to it.

Fine quilted art

Dec. 15, 2011

No baseball today

Dec. 12, 2010. In the "100 year flood" of 1990, I think it was, I saw Beerbower Park completely under water, basically a lake. The pedestrian bridge over Sam's Canal washed away. First St. north of Mommsen was a river. It didn't help that Simpson had just clearcut the woods on Hospital Hill so the runoff was extra bad.

Simpson cut all those trees and then turned the site into a residential development (now on Oak Lane) originally and ironically named "Evergreen Heights." You could make this stuff up, but no one would believe you.