Our House, In the Middle of the Street

My side of Vine street was a little higher than where the cattle trucks parked on stock day. The sewer drain which collected all the rain water run off was in front of our house. This low point was where the asphalt road and sidewalk joined, and a thick metal grill kept you from falling into the drain. It was the lowest point on our side of the street, but the road raised slightly to the middle of the street, so about half the drainage would go to the other side, and half would come to our drain. [I suspected this is also where the water passing through our basement would end up.] You came up a slight incline from Broadway to where Vine Street leveled for a while right in front of our house. It then climbed more sharply, to Washington Street. The top of the hill offered a side walk which could be used to great advantage on a tricycle except, there were several places that were broken apart, and made navigation somewhat difficult. I was ordered not to ride in the street and that was generally a good idea, so I got pretty successful at maneuvering around the broken bits of concrete.

There were seven houses on our side, and five houses on the opposite side. Old man Elkin's house actually faced Broadway, but it was so far back from Broadway, it's back fence ran along the Frazer's house next to our house. Mr. Hill's house was next to ours, followed by the Well's, Powell's, and Hatton's houses. Occasionally there was a trailer placed at the end of the street, and would be tucked behind a 5-6 foot retaining wall that made a perfect spot for throwing snowballs at passing cars during the winter "out of school" days. We would have several days a winter where school was canceled, and this was always a bonus living in Kentucky.

Welcome to the Neighborhood

The neighborhood around our house was a little different than most neighborhoods. This was because the Winchester Stock Yards lived only 1/2 block south. To get there, you had to pass over four sets of railroad tracts that crossed Broadway at the junction of Vine Street. Just across the tracks on the left side of the street, heading into town, stood a large feed store. The front had a wooden stage that extended out to a gravel entrance where trucks could back up and load large bags of feed. There was a narrow gravel drive between the feed store and the side of the two story entrance at the front of the stockyards. This drive was often my entrance to the wonderful world of unusual sounds, all kinds of animals, and all kinds of smells!

The front of the stockyards had a dramatic looking, concrete, driveway, with the structure built around and over it. Two large rooms (I guess offices) stood on each side, with the roof coming to a point some two stories above. Can you imagine, right down the middle of the building, giving the impression you could drive directly into the guts of the place without batting an eye. I don't recall seeing anyone actually drive into this entrance, so I guess it was mostly for show.

The real action took place at the unloading docks which stool next. There must have been at least six fenced stalls where a cattle truck would back up to unload their animal cargo. I always got a laugh at watching the farmers try and get their cows off their trucks. I learned a few colorful terms which were being thrown about during this time.

Stock Day was usually Thursday, and the stock trucks would line up and down Vine Street waiting for their turn to unload. They had to park on the side opposite our house, and at times would line up like aircraft on a busy runway. You had to be careful while playing on that side of the street because you never knew when one of critters had to relieve themselves. Dodge ball was not a good game to play on Thursdays.