Free Life Nostalgia Neighborhood
A 3D Recreation Of My Childhood Home
Butte, Montana
HG Address: freelife.outworldz.net:8002:Free Life Nostalgia Neighborhood
A 3D Recreation Of My Childhood Home
Butte, Montana
HG Address: freelife.outworldz.net:8002:Free Life Nostalgia Neighborhood
The Free Life Nostalgia Neighborhood is a collection of memories. Having enjoyed a wonderful childhood growing up in Butte, Montana, during the 1950s and early 60s, I still often find myself walking the streets of that town in my mind. Butte was the copper mining capital of the world at the time with over 65,000 residents. Dad was president of one of the several miners unions. Like most women of the day, Mom was a "stay at home wife". My older brother was (and continues to be) one of the most important people in my life. Sis was sixteen years older so she was already married and raising a family in Detroit. Mom and I would go to live with her family after Dad was killed in an auto accident. I visited Butte fifty years after leaving it when I was a teenager. Although there were many changes, the old neighborhood still looked very much the same and there were landmarks that have not changed. I know that my 3D representation of Butte is far from exact but I can assure you that it is accurate enough to satisfy the memories of an old man who never forgot the place where he began.
Butte was a major mining town. It was built on what was called "The Richest Hill On Earth" due to the vast copper deposits. Dad went to work in the mines when he was only fourteen years old. He worked his way out by becoming a union leader. Dad and Mom first met while he was president of the local Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers Union.
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After Dad retired from union work, he opened up the Trieste Bar & Lounge next to the Finlen Hotel. I recall him, Mom, and my brother, Pat, using flash cards to learn how to mix the various drinks. There was a picture of the drink on one side of the card with the recipe on the other side. As a young teenager, I was allowed to bring my friends by the bar after a Friday or Saturday night movie. Dad would set up a table for us at the end of the bar where we would be treated to our favorite soda pop and some chips.
The Civic Center still stands. Dad was one of the keynote speakers on the day that it was dedicated in 1952. I got to see the Harlem Globetrotters while Mom thrilled to the music of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra. I also got to see the Ice Capades Show there and, of course, the annual car shows, too.
The Metals Bank is now a sports bar. At age sixty-six, I visited Butte where I met with George Paul for an all afternoon lunch. George was five years old when I left Butte. He filled me in on all that happened in the old neighborhood we call "The Drives." Sadly, George passed away six months after our visit together.
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Hennesy's Department Store
My Aunt worked as a waitress at Eddie's Restaurant and Motel. However, in my 3D world, I opted to feature the standby 50's "Stardust Motel" instead.
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The Chuck Wagon Bar & Grill was located on Harrison Avenue very near to our home. While my parents met up with some friends at the bar side of the restaurant, I would enjoy a chocolate milk shake and a hamburger with everything on it on the grill side. The Chuck Wagon is long gone but not in my memories.
There is no doubt that I either walked or rode my bicycle on every street in Butte. Fifty-plus years later, I can still walk those streets in my mind and I enjoy doing so whenever in a nostalgic mood.
It happened when I was perhaps twelve years old or so. I was riding my Bike down the hill at the top of Harrison Avenue. I lost control and ended up on the roof of a car that was parked at the drive up restaurant. The look on the faces of the couple who got out of the car to see some kid crawling off of the roof was unforgettable.
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One of the highlights of the year was when the new automobiles were placed on display in the various auto dealerships around town. Crowds would flock to see the new updated cars sporting lots of chrome, fins, and pastel colors. When a neighbor brought home a Studebaker Avante, there was several days of seeing groups gathered around the car wondering what the heck it was. Not much chrome. No fins. It was Silver.
I can still see the two old lady librarians who ran the children's section. The Butte-Silver Bow Library inspired me to become an avid reader and writer.
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I know that the Butte High School is much bigger than this but my memories of the school are much smaller as I only attended there for one semester. Go Bulldogs!!!
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Grandma's house was located at Arizona and Front streets. She was a Slavic immigrant. My fondest memory of her is when she pointed at a wall hanging picture of "The Sacred Heart of Jesus." She told me that I should never ever forget to love Jesus. She used the Croatian name for Jesus but I have no idea how to spell it correctly here. Her admonition must have worked. I became a Baptist minister.
Playing pirates on the duel ponds at the Father Sheehan Park was a ton of fun. Well, except for the time that my cousin fell off of the raft and I had to jump in to save him. We arrived at home all soaked and wet only to be told that a boa constrictor snake had escaped from the carnival and was found in the pond that day. My cousin still claims that I saved him from being squeezed to death by a large angry snake.
Then there is the memory of seeing Dad exit a DC-3 airplane at the Bert Mooney Airport upon returning from the Union Conference in Denver. The airport is still in the same location, although it has been updated. It was on the outside of town but now some of the town has grown up around it.
We had only one television station--KXLF. The station built a tall antenna on top of one of the mountains near town. Dad took me up there via a back road on one occasion. We could see the whole city below. Also, I actually appeared on a live broadcast of a show that was called "Tots & Teens". It seems that I told a big whopper of a story about my brother and I having slain a mountain lion. I was greeted by some very embarrassing laughter from my parents and brother when I arrived home. Okay, I lied. It was actually a very large grisly bear. Smiling?
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My boyhood home was located in what was then a new neighborhood that was built in the early 1950s. It was a simple two bedroom house with a one car garage that had an attached room.
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE Building this 3D model brought back many memories of what was a good childhood growing up in the mining town of Butte, Montana. |
It was January, 1963. Mom and I boarded the Northern Pacific train that would take us to where we would live in my sister's home in Detroit. My aunt and cousin saw us off. Our coach room was the last one in the last car of the train. All I owned was in a suitcase of clothes and my guitar. I would not see Butte again for another fifty years.