Monroe Street in Fort Wayne
I lived at 4029 Monroe Street from just after my birth (1949) until 1960. Dad did a lot with thsi house: put a large bedroom in the attic, finished the basement, and built a large garage in the back. The last time we visited here (about 9 years ago), this area of Fort Wayne was very run down. I climbed in those trees as a kid! (4029 Monroe Street, Fort Wayne, IN)
Photos of the home of my youth.
— ๐๐ฒ๐ถ ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฝ (@jrpeet) June 2, 2019
Dad paneled the knotty pine upstairs and built the garagehttps://t.co/zjL2A9R1pr pic.twitter.com/u0uhNA0jmR
Jim:
ReplyDeleteI have news for you...it's a LOT worse than nine years ago.
I live eight blocks SOUTH of your old house, and having been here for 12 years, I can say that all the other good folks moved away, and deadbeat renters moved in.
Gunshots are a regular happening, as are robberies, burglaries, litter, and such.
This is sure not your Dad's old neighborhood (or my wife's parents) any longer, thanks to decades of ignorance by the city leaders.
The good news is that our house is free & clear, so we're not tied to this area by a mortgage, but why incur debt from getting a more expensive place (away from these mooks) in THIS economy?
Kind of darned if you DO...and darned if you don't, eh?
Be nice if more people blogged about their south side expereinces, both then AND now.
Good blog.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment.
Jim
From my Brother:
ReplyDeletePretty sad. That house was a fine one for a middle-class family in that era. Was "custom" drawn plan by a licensed architect. Mom and dad hired Nick Hildreth(sp?) who worked for the telephone co. at that time.
For years the plans were curled-up and kept in the family closet. Nothing was spared in the 1950 wood-frame construction. No pre-fab here.
Was an era before BIG corporate builders who build most of the mass merchandise today. You can see the house stood the test of time. (60 years)
Big trees were planted in an era before central -A/C. Older homes in the south are also the same.
Originally heated by a large coal plant / later changed to gas. There were fine middle-class families who were also homeowners..
I'll bet they needed 20% down to pay the local lender before moving-in day. Your mortgage note was held by a local institution who probably "knew you" (?)
We walked to school. No busing here. Much like an episode of fictional : "Leave it to Beaver". The school principal was a neighbor a few doors away. (was an old woman.. )
Downtown had a Sears, Roebuck. Folks bought many things here. I looked forward to going with my dad on week-ends. I road in back of a '53 blue Ford wagon.
So much for "trickle-down" economics. The State of Indiana spreads the "culture" of poverty by allowing this neighborhood blight. Are the taxes reinvested in the community?
The Federal / State sponsored inflation has sent jobs across the ocean. My boyhood home has slipped into a wasteland where pride and civic culture has turned to small town crime and urban blight. Maybe this is a result when "no child" comes across illegally from a culture that is not American?
Foreign peoples (cultures) like huge central governments that promise the economic cure all. The Middle-east will never enjoy an American style democracy.
The electorate is lulled into the false belief that more money to the inner-belt (Washington, DC) will fix everything. America : home of free and God fearing.
American men married women, had families and produced a domestic product. We did not inflate ourselves into false prosperity. Can you see where the story is going?
Take this ahead another 60 years and see what happens to the neighborhood where you live freely today. It is a slippery slope.