Remembering Childhood Forays into Downtown Athens

A meme on libraries got me thinking about the library we used to love to go to in Athens--Houston Memorial Library. It was situated in an antebellum (I think) house on the other side of Athens, and it had that old furniture, old books, old house sort of scent that is very hard to describe to youngsters who would never recognize it today. The children's books, particularly series books, were in the front room near the checkout desk. For some reason only two books could be checked out per card at a time. So Mark and I would bicycle to it almost every day in the summer. I remember being "into" Nancy Drew books at the time, so would get my requisite two every day, go home and curl up in the yellow chair in Dad's den (I believe it's a turquoise chair now), and read. After finishing all the Nancy Drews, I read the Vicki Barr books, Cherry Ames, Dana Girls, Judy Bolton books, and of course read and re-read the Little House series among others. Sometimes we'd stop by Kuhn's on the way home and get penny candy also.

Bicycling or walking to Kuhn's and Elmore's is another story. I loved to go uptown, especially alone or with Mark. I can still remember the route and most of what was along the way: cross the street to the sidewalk by Fuller's supermarket; take a right, go past the laundry, cross the railroad tracks, walk up by the side of the theatre, turn left and walk the entire block. Cross the street and Kuhn's was the first store. There was a fabric shop next to it, then some stores I don't remember, and then Elmore's was right before the department store run by the Jewish family. The courthouse was directly across the street. There was a drugstore catty-corner to Kuhn's, a jewelry store at the other end of that street, and catty-corner to the jewelry store was the Church of Christ bookstore whose name I cannot remember. Seems like it had initials.

Of Kuhn's and Elmore's, Kuhn's was the more modern. It had a candy counter like a department store where someone would measure out candy into a bag. Dad used to buy chocolate peanut clusters for Mom there. Mark usually bought baseball cards. Elmore's was very, very old fashioned--probably near the end of an era. I remember the dark interior, the creaky wood floors, the way merchandise was arranged on top of half-cupboards (more merchandise stored beneath) between glass dividers. Large ceiling fans kept the place cool even in the hot summer. I remember buying school supplies there and checking out their selection of toys. I loved to go in there.