In 1931, the trolley buses began to arrive, the company had purchased the former Tannery Building located near the northwest corner of 52nd St. and Sheriden Road for a garage and maintenance area for the twenty-two new trolley cars. During this time there had also been problems with the maintenance staff and the company causing most of the staff to leave. I became the trolley bus maintenance foreman. I was twenty-three years old, had not formal supervisory experience, however, I had a comprehensive knowledge of direct current electricity the type that was used for trolley buses and streetcars. I had a staff of four mechanics and twenty-two trolley buses to grow with.
The new buses would accommodate up to forty-four passengers. They were built along the usual bus lines with two trolley poles on the roof. A new controller that brought the bus up to speed and reverse and help the bus to stop. This idea was great, but it was to cause problems we did not dream of when they were first introduced on the street. The new buses ran well for about a year and were accepted by the public. However, during the second season we ran into problems with the reverse braking system and the all-aluminum build bodies of the buses. This required a mass of General Motors and St. Louis Car Companies mechanics to spend about six months in Kenosha changing the running frames. Later the buses took turns being shipped back to both factories for rebuilding. It seems that aluminum bodies were detreating due to static electricity generated by the running gears. As foreman I had a rough time because the Wisconsin Gas and Electric person who had a great deal to do with the design of the buses declared the trouble was cause by lack of proper maintenance. This claim was disputed by all the factory mechanics, but it gave me a lot of sleepless nights.
The former streetcar lines had to be revised and added too. The new lines had a color name, the Green Line ran north on 6th Ave. and 56th St. to 7th Ave then turned west on Washington Road, then north on 14th Ave. past Mac Whyte Company to 27th Ave., turned west to 18th Ave. where there was turn around. This same line went south from Market Square to 58th St. then west to 14th Ave. and then south to 75th St.
The Red Line went west from Sheriden Road to cover the North Shore Station then south to Roosevelt Road and west to 39th Ave. I will not go into details about the Blue Line, but I will mention the new Orange Line that was created. This line ran north and south on twenty-second Ave. from 35th St. to 76th St.
The Electric Company had two large maintenance and repair facilities one for Electric and Gas maintenance vehicles and the maintenance building for the Electric Trolleys. In 1936, the two facilities were consolidated in the trolley barn with trucks going downstairs. Leonard England who had overseen the truck building became the foreman of the trolley buses and I lost my supervisory position but remained as a mechanic. Englund who was about five years my senior, an excellent mechanic and a nice guy became my boss. We got along very well together but I had to teach him something about electricity. We remain friends until his death in 1998.
The bus drivers and the mechanics had joined a union and became part of the Milwaukee Chapter Bus Drivers Association #998. This association was affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. I joined the union as soon as I stepped down from the foreman's post. I soon became the union representative to the Kenosha Chapter of the American Federation of Labor Council in Kenosha. This was a period when period when the American Federation Committee on Industrial Organization split and left to become the National CIO under John L. Lewis.
We had both the AFL union and the CIO union in Kenosha. Nash Motors being the largest CIO union in town. Both groups work together in Kenosha and met at the AFL Council's Hall on 26th Ave. and 63rd St. They stated the Kenosha Labor Paper with Paul Porter as the administrator and editor. All union members received the weekly copy of the paper that was financed by each Labor Union paying the subscription cost. The Editorial Board consisted of representatives from both AFL and CIO unions.
It was an interesting time to be part of the labor force and as representative to the Kenosha Central Labor Body. I was present at the meeting when a letter was read from William Green, President of the National AFT, ordering the local council to stop any association with the CIO. The letter required no action on the part of the local association, "it was an order." The delegates from the CIO who were present and who were primarily from Nash Motor's UAW Local #72 got up and marched out of the building. This group a short time late started a local council of the CIO. The order from Green had little effect on the unions, and they continued to work together and finance the Kenosha Labor Paper. I believe the paper had a great deal to do with cooperation we had with the dual organizations.
The Simmons Company, American Brass, and the Skilled Trade unions were part of the AFL. Nash Motors, Coopers Hosiery, Mac Whyte and others were part of the CIO. This period there was a great deal of union organizations due mostly to the new Wagner Labor Law enacted by Congress and endorsed by FDR.
It was about 1931 when I began to realize girls were different than boys. I had been so busy with work, sports and chasing with a group of boys and girls there had been very little time, if any, to pair off. During the days of the depression there. Was very little talk of marriage and children. One could not afford it even if we had the inclination.
As I mention before I has married Irene Hansen in 1935, we had met at the First Baptist Church in the early thirties. She was married at that time. I had become part of the group when I met Kay Mullen who was a clerk at a local jewelry store. There were a few married couples in the bunch but most of us were single. The group was very active in the church, presented plays in the fall/winter months and many picnics in the summer. We also had frequent parties at various homes usually hosted by the girls except for the married couples. Most of us came as singles. A summer church camp held at Green Lake and was a yearly event.
In 1934 Irene and her husband were divorced, and we sort of drifted together. Her family were Danes and mine was Swedish, this may have had some influence in our first date. We were married at the First Baptist Church on June 1st. and I moved seven blocks north on 40th Ave. to Irene's home where there was a flat over where her parents lived. I still live there today but only downstairs now. Irene's father was a builder, and he put up the house we lived, the home next door and a home on 41st Ave just west of our home.
After Irene and I were married, Irene continued to work in the office at the Cooper Hosiery Plant. She decided to work until we could earn enough money to buy a new car. We purchased a new Oldsmobile Sedan in the winter of 1936. There was a big snowstorm at time, and we could not bring car home due to storm that lasted about a week. Again, I need to tell you about a car I purchased in 1931. It was a used car, a Packard Touring car built in 1928, could hold seven passengers and was a very large car that had about fifty-thousand miles on it. I paid $650 for it; however, I could have purchased a New Nash Lafyette for $675. My father said I was crazy to buy it and maybe he was right. If I had to attract girls, this car would have accomplished that task. It used a great deal of gasoline, but gas was selling eight gallons for a dollar at the local stations.
I was treated very well at home due to neither of my brothers had a good car and would do almost anything for a chance to take it on a date. I never pressed my pants, polished my shoes, washed my car, etc. My brothers did this to get a chance to use the Packard. I never was quite sure whether it was me or the Packard Irene married. She did stay with me after we traded the car in on the Oldsmobile. It may interest you to know that we received a higher trade in price for Irene's Chevy than we did for the Packard
The Irene's family moved to Kenosha from Waupaca, WI in the 1920's. Irene's father played the violin, Irene played the piano, and they would hire a drummer on some occasion to play for dances that were held at Governors Hall. It was located on the third floor of the building on the SE corner of 6th Ave. and 58th St. Fred Hansen has built a device so he could play an accompaniment on the piano with his feet while his hands were busy with the violin.
Irene and I had our first child in January of 1938. Jeanne was three years old when our son Clark was born in July of 1941. Irene's father had built a swing with a set of swing bars in the back yard. This became the playground for all the chidden in the neighbored. The kids put on acrobatic performances, and it cost the neighbors five cent to see each show. The kids shock some of their parents with their stunts, but everyone had a good time. There were only a few homes around this area most of the houses were built by Irene's father. All of what is now Forest Park Subdivision was built after WWII. You could count the number of homes on one hand that were located on the westside of 39th Ave. between Roosevelt Road and 60th St
There was a small airport just west of 40th Ave and north of the railroad tracks where, what we called the milk train, ran out to Genoa City west of Twin Lakes in the county. It was called the milk train because it brought in milk from the farms as well as other products each morning. There were several dairies in Kenosha to provide milk for, the surplus went by rail, Northwestern, to Chicago and Milwaukee.
Milk from the dairies in town were delivered house to house by a wagon drawn by a single horse. It was a normal scene to see the horse walking slowly down the street while the milkman with a basket containing whole mile, small bottles of cream, and bottles of buttermilk to each home on his route. In the wintertime when it was very cold the milk and cream that rose to the top of the bottle would project inches above the bottle when we went out to bring it in the house. Ice was delivered to our home in the same manner, a horse drawn wagon. Almost everyone had an icebox, and most held up to a 50-pound block of ice. When we needed ice, we placed a card in the front window indicating we needed ice and to bring a 25/50-pound block as indicated on the card.
One activity practice today that was very rare in the twenties and thirties was eating out. In the 20's the Volstead Act was in effect and only few speakeasies were around, and they did not offer food very often. There were breakfast and luncheon shops but few dining rooms. If you knew the proprotor you might be able to get a drink in some restaurants. Almost everyone knew a bootlegger, and they were ignored by local law enforcement personnel. Occasionally federal authorities would stage a raid, and the local stills were hidden until they left to go somewhere else.
Many times, the churches and fraternal lodges had dinners which were well attended. Personally, I cannot remember going out for dinner until after I was married. As for drinking beer or liquor, my father was the only family member who imbibed, and he only got drunk once or twice a year. I did not drink beer or hard liquor until later in life. Irene was an active anti-drinking advocate, though her father strayed occasionally.
Settling in Kenosha brought a halt to any long journeys but not the short ones. We went to Chicago regularly to see the Cubs play or vacationed up in northern Wisconsin after I had a steady job. When the family left for a vacation up north, we never locked the front door to our house. We told the neighbors we would be gone for a week or two. When we came home there was never any entry into the house or anything missing on the property.
Later when I got a better job, we would invite a woman, usually a friend, to go on vacation with us and she would do the bulk of the cooking so mother could enjoy the time away from home. Irene and I must have had some Gypsy blood, we would come home from church on Sunday, ask Irene's parents to watch the children and head to the Northshore Station. Trips to Chicago or Milwaukee to see a play or shop at Marshall Fields were usually the norm.
On Saturday, while I worked for the trolly company I worked the Saturday nights shift. During the day we would load up the car and go shopping in Chicago. Irene, Ida and Myrt would invite some of their friends. When we got to the loop we would scatter, after agreeing to meet on the corner of State Street and Madison at 1:30 pm. It was not unusual to be waiting for someone on the corner and see a small commotion made by two or three of our riders running down the State Street bumping into people trying to get to our meeting place because they we late. We had lunch and more than often a picture show. After the show we took about two- and half-hour trip home going up old highway 41 that meandered through Evanston, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, North Chicago and Waukegan. I usually sleep an hour or two before heading for work.