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John Manke is an active former Bay View resident who is involved in numerous neighborhood organizations, including the Bay View Historical Society, the Humboldt Park Fourth of July Association and the Shore Shore Farmers Market. He believes Bay View has a fine tradition in its past that we do not want to lose in the future.
Remembering the past
I can remember back to 1947, when we had a major snow storm in Milwaukee. As a child, I and others loved to play in the snow. We thought that it was a lot of fun trying to build snowforts and sledding in the snow.
We had to spread ashes and broken up clinkers from the coal furnace to make it safe to walk on the sidewalk. My dad built a small snow plow that was wooden. shaped like an "A", and it was almost as wide as the sidewalk. We would use this small plow, pulled by a rope, across the sidewalk and it shoved most of the snow off to the side. It also helped to make a wide path out to the ash box where we threw our garbage out at the end of the alley. The ash men would come and shovel out the ash box to their horse drawn wagon and haul our garbage away. Because of World War II, there were shortages of trucks and fuel. Horse drawn garbage wagons were used to haul garbage. Ashes from the coal furnace did a good job of defeating ice on the sidewalk.
In later years, we learned how to shovel snow. We used to dig out cars that were stuck in the snow. We could earn some ready cash for freeing cars. Pushing stuck cars also was common. The heavier vehicles seemed to be better able to handle the snow. It was always fun watching the streetcars go through the snow with little problem. In 1947, the streetcars could not make it up the hill on S. Kinnickinnic Ave. by E. Dover St. Getting food became a problem as few suppliers could reach our corner stores with new food items that were needed, like milk and bread. We had to use up what ever we had on hand, before we could get some neeed groceries. Homemade bread was made to buy us time. Homemade soups came in handy then.
After being outside playing in the snow, it felt good to sit besides the heat register to get warm again. We used to fight as to who would be the first to find a register open. Coal heat was great, but it had to be maintained to keep going. In the morning, it would be cold in the house, but as the heat from the coal furnace came through, it felt great. My dad used to shovel enough coal into the furnace to keep it going for a while. He had to remove the ashes and clinkers from the furnace to create space for the coal.
At one time we had a coal kitchen stove. We had to clean out the ashes and clinkers there also. It made for a warm kitchen to sit and relax while eating our meals in comfort. Later on, we replaced the coal kitchen stove with a gas stove. There were some wonderful memories created back then.
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