Main Street memories: Better than any mall
This is a story about the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Ebenezer Scrooge's past? No, Butler's past.
Many Tiny Tims of today — young people, that is — don't realize it, but the greatest mall Butler County ever had was in downtown Butler. It was grander than any of the malls or shopping centers around the county today, even with their so-called "big box" retailers.
Yes, Virginia, Santa Claus once was able to provide for Christmas without going into a Wal-Mart.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Wal-Mart. Or Target. Or Kmart. I waste a lot of money in all of those stores.
But let's turn back the hourglass 40 years or so. Things were so different back then. And by different, I mean better.
First of all, if you lived in the city of Butler, you could walk to shop. No long lines of traffic, no hunting for a parking space in some huge congested mall parking lot.
My mother would take me and my siblings from Brown Avenue on the South Side over the Wayne Street Viaduct — which was shaky even back then — mostly on Friday nights when the stores would stay open until 9 p.m.
Sometimes, if we were overburdened by packages, we would ride the Center-Morton bus back home.
Many times, my mother would stop for coffee at the Davy & Hilliard Rexall Drug Store on Main Street at The Diamond. And we kids would order a root beer. Not a can of root beer. They would mix it for you right there at the soda fountain using syrup and soda water and it was served in a cone-shaped paper cup in a metal holder.
That stop would top off a shopping trip that might have included stops at Troutman's, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney, Murphy's and Woolworth's. I remember grabbing a bite to eat at the lunch counters of those latter two stores.
And what youth at the time did not buy records in the music section in the basement of Woolworth's?
Other stores that I remember were The Hub, Benson's, The Jay Shoppe, McCarren's, Ralph's Shoes and Lloyd Johnson, with all its wonderful pens and things.
Then there were Miller's Shoes and The Workingman's Store, which of course are still there today.
My particular favorites were Aland's Toyland, Bill's Bargain Store, the Outdoor Army-Navy Store, Kirkpatrick's Sporting Goods and the Hobby Shop, up the stairs above Miller's.
If Aland's was the dream destination for all kids before Christmas, then Bill's Bargain was the place to be the day after. They sold their toys for 50 percent off and people lined up around the block just to get inside.
I remember saving the money my grandmother would give me for Christmas just for that opportunity.
There were many other things I liked to do as a youth in downtown Butler besides shop: Junior high dances at Fun-a-Rama at the YWCA, and dances for older kids at Tumble Inn at the old YMCA, now the Cubs Hall. Movies at the Penn and Butler theaters. Chili dogs at the Hot Dog Shop. All kinds of sandwiches at The Burger Hut. Sitting in the new Mustangs at Butler County Ford. Haircuts at Hector's Barber Shop.
I may have left out many things, but the point is this; What a great treasure we once had. And although I'm sure that the current shop and restaurant owners are doing their best to make things work, those old days are gone forever — a Ghost of Christmas Past.
Butler native Steven Sybert is a journalist and former Butler Eagle sports reporter. He lives with his family in Middlesex Township.
