I just received this fabulous account of Rodgers Forge back in the day:
Dear Kris,
Through the amazing connections of Facebook, I stumbled on the Forge Flyer. I moved to Rodgers Forge (Murdock Rd., one block from York Rd.) in 1954, and grew up there until 1973. I moved to Register Ave. briefly, about ten years later, but haven’t been back for over 20 years.
I walked to Rodgers Forge Elementary and Dumbarton. I suppose it seems like the stone age, but I’ve never felt older than when I saw that RF was being given “historic” status. In the early 1950s, it was so brand new. It was also so much fun.
The Arabers would come down the alleys in the summer selling strawberries. The herds of baby-boomer kids knew all the cut-throughs yards; massive late summer hide’n’seek games would cover 2-3 blocks. Snowball stands thrived in alley garages. We rode bikes to the Senator Theater to see stuff like “House on Haunted Hill,” and bothered the “floor walkers” as we shrieked our way through Stewart’s Department Store—which seemed such a height of sophistication.
In the winter we made a fortune shoveling snow from the endless sidewalks, enough to buy hamburgers and milkshakes from Rudy’s Delicatessen up on the York Rd. strip of stores. Is the basement bowling alley still there? It was the hangout and had pre-digital pinball machines and and infra-red rifle shooting galleries to die for. Rodger’s Forge back then had everything a kid could need, including magical yellow street cars that would whisk me and my grandmother downtown to the big stores down on Howard St. where we would have lunch at Hoschild-Kohns.
You were privileged if you had a friend with a Stoneleigh Pool membership. Rodgers Forge, being on the less affluent side of York, couldn’t afford a community pool. Doctors, bankers, and business executives lived in Stoneleigh, while teachers, car salesmen, and paint store owners inhabited Rodgers Forge, many of them 2nd generation immigrant Irish Catholics.
I could go on, but I’m feeling too much like an old fogey. It’s nice to know that RF is surviving well enough to be considered historic. I’ve subscribed to your mailing, and look forward to seeing the changes. Maybe other RF veterans are writing in too!
Regards,
Robert Maier, North Carolina