One summer we (Bill & Jim with us littler one's carrying the nails) built a addition to the barn, it was 3 stories high with 3 different floors. We thought it was quite sturdy but one day Pop went up to the top, he jumped up and down a few times and said it wasn't sturdy enough and had to be torn down, which we (they) did.

One day we (I'm sure it was the older kids) took one- of Pop's cigarette packs and went out to the barn to smoke it. The neighbor lady saw all the smoke coming from the barn and she came out with a pail of water to put out the fire. Mom saw her and came out and caught all 6 of us in the barn smoking. She had us all line up to tell Pop that we had took his cigarettes. Pop was in a room typing and I can tell you I was scared as I thought that now we were going to get it. He was kind of stern to the older ones but to Mary and me he just told us to go back outside and play. What a relief because I thought the least we would get was a spanking over the knee.

Mt Pleasant was close to a wooded area called "rabbit's hollow" which was a gully between Park & Edina streets and going from Loras down to Kirkwood. It also had a creek running through it. I had alot of fun in this area, in one section of it there was a large tree with a rope and tire tied to it. I could get a good swing out of it, across the creek etc.. With all the trees and bushes we could play cowboys and Indians in the right setting.

One day - one of the kids from the other side of the hill fell down one of the abandoned mines and couldn't get out.  I ran back home and either Bill or Jim were there and came over to help, he put a large tree branch down the mine, climbed down and helped the kid up. What a hero in my eyes. Now a days we would call 911.

During the winter the city blocked off Vernon St. which was just across Mt Pleasant from us so us kids could use it for sleigh riding. They also blocked of Booth Street between University & Loras for the same purpose. Needless to say we used these streets to the fullest.

Some of the other things I remember about Mt Pleasant were the plays we put on in the barn. The neighbor kids used to come and we got some extra money.  Some of the neighbor kids put on plays also, one was at Paul Frommelt's house whom I used to play with now and then.

While at Mt Pleasant I attended Kindergarten at Lincoln school. Our class picture was in the paper. Before I started school my picture was in the paper with Mary. I was supposed to look like a big happy kid because I was going to school and Mary was supposed to look sad because she wasn't. It was kind of cute.

As few cars as there was, there was a accident at the corner of Loras & Mt Pleasant, one car was overturned and Pop went up to help put it on it's right side and as far as I know the car drove off.

Allison Henderson used to be all woods and one night there was a big fire in a garage up there. A plane caught fire and burned the garage down - how the plane got there I don't know.

Any time we got wheels we made a cart out of them. One day we were rolling down a street off of Loras and when we got to the bottom, no one wanted to pull it back home so it stayed there. The next day it was still there - to illustrate the honesty of people then as we never locked any of our doors - can't do that now a days.

One of the big things to happen on Mt Pleasant was my 1st Communion.

In fact is was my big, big day.  Not only was it big because I received my 1st Communion, but also because all of my aunt's and uncle's came to the open house that afternoon - I received a lot of money (couple of dollars) and a crystal rosary from my God Mother, Helen Holz. It was special because I was singled out from 8 kids.

In the late 30s & early 40s there was lots of closeness between relatives than there is now.  Many of many times we got together with our aunt's and uncles. Helen Holz lived at 1440 Wood St, which was just across the alley from us, there was a lot of visiting and they had a dog by the name of scamper. Their oldest daughter, Barbara played with us quite often. Two of the other cousin's that I was close to was George & Rita Smith. They were over at our house often as we were at theirs. On Mom's side we were at the Schlueter's house, though not as often as the closer houses as they lived on Windsor Avenue. As Mom says "she doesn’t know what she would do without all the help she received from the aunts and uncles".