towns

What town did you grow up in...And tell us a little about your town.

Well till I was 11 years old (no lie) I lived in a little 4 room house on an old gravel road with no indoor plumbing. That's right in the middle of winter the 50 yard dash to the Out-House!! oh the pleasant odor in August woohoo!!

But then My Moom divorced my skirt chasing dad and we moved anout 3 miles to a little town called Libertyville indiana!! And I guess I just realized now that the towns name was significant because it did bring us freedom (liberty). I had running water but still another 4 room house, with two brothers in one small bedroom. But it was very cool!!

Libertyville has no stop lights it is just a wide spot off the Highway 150. It had 4 roads that shot off the highway and went about 3 country blocks to the south and that was the total area of the town. Had maybe 400 people in it. I lived there till I joined the marines in 83'.

It had a grain elevator that later burned down which became the hang out for all the kids. We would play football in a big open lot. loved it in winter when you would slid making tackles!!

Oh well that is my town in a nutshell!!

PS. I do not think Libertyville was even listed on the map. Oh and I drive thru it now everyday to work!!!

Peace!!

I grew up and still live in the same town, Pembroke, Ontario. Actually, to say I live *in* it is wrong, because I live in a small area outside of it. But I go in every day for school or for church or for my job. There's no one main industry, but there used to be a huge match industry (there's an island on the river named Allumette [Match] Island that belongs to the Province of Quebec) that's pretty much gone. Now, most people live off small businesses, the nearby Army base (in sister town Petawawa) or the nuclear research center upstream (Chalk River AECL).

I grew up in a town of about 16,000 (Farmington MO) until the summer before 6th grade. Then I moved to a town of about 1600 (Bismarck MO) which is where I started dating the woman who became my wife.

We lived in Bismarck and both worked in Farmington until 2009, when I took a job in St Louis and now, our community has about 20,000 people and is within 15 minutes of downtown St Louis.

I was born in IL.. before a year of age.. we moved to GA .. we lived there around 3 or 4 years.. then we moved to Yokota AFB, Japan ... after I finished second grade we moved to Bamberg, Germany ... after my sophomore year in high school we moved to Osan AFB, South Korea... I was there until my freshman year of college...

so, really, there is no town or place "I grew up" ...

Like Unworthy I was a military brat and grew up all over. But I guess I came of age in the town of Auburn WA. At the time it had a population of about 25,000...but it still felt like a small town. We didn't have a movie theater, or a mall, and the for a while the only record store was a head-shop (place that sells pot pipes, bongs and roach clips). I met my wife at the local high school, and I still remember the town rather fondly. Sadly I drive through it on occasion and notice that it is turning into a cesspool.

when I lived in Germany, that was the longest time I ever lived in the same place.... 7 years.

I was raised a poor, black child....NO WAIT!!! I think I was channeling Steve Martin from "The Jerk".

Brush Creek, TN. Population 400 or so, but only if you count the pets. 1 general store, post office and sometimes a service station. There were, and still are 7 churches in the little town.
We lived in a 12'x60' 3 bedroom 1.5 bath, Fleetwood mobile home. Alldat and I shared a room, our seester had her own room and parents in the other. It was tight. No wonder Alldat and I didn't get along very well...lol

Pre-mid 80's, black people were not allowed to live in the town. They were welcome during daylight hours, but had to leave before dark because the only place for them to hang around after dark was at the end of a rope in the oak tree at the Methodist Church. (NOT being a racist, just telling how it was.) Some time in the mid-80's, a black lady bought a small lot and started having a house built. Nearly complete, some of the locals burned it to the ground. She rebuilt and it was burned yet again. The 3rd time she built it, I suppose those in charge tired of trying and let her live there.

After daddy died, we sold his place there and seldom go to the town anymore. Population is about the same, but the post office moved to the 'new' highway and the store has been closed for many years. I loved all the time playing in the creek, THOUSANDS of miles riding bikes and walking on the railroad track and such, but I'm glad to be gone.....

I was raised in Pampa Texas..located 55 miles from Amarillo. It was a great town to grow up in. It was small (35,000) but very prosperous back when I was a kid. It had a chemical plant, a carbon black plant and lots of booming oil company's. We had lots of stores and a huge high school. (my class was over 700),,
Sometime in the mid 90s the oil boom fell and the town has now gone down to 18000 population. Growing up there and going to school there was just like an 80s brat pack movie...way cool. For concerts we went to Amarillo and we went to Oklahoma city for vacation every years. I miss those old days...

sabidoo wrote:

Pre-mid 80's, black people were not allowed to live in the town. They were welcome during daylight hours, but had to leave before dark because the only place for them to hang around after dark was at the end of a rope in the oak tree at the Methodist Church. ....

I remember driving through one or two small towns in South Carolina in the late 80's that still had signs up indicating that blacks were welcome to pass-thorugh but not to stop.

brokentulsa wrote:

...We had lots of stores and a huge high school. (my class was over 700...

Reminds me of my high school. My graduating class was around 600, the class below us was 1000, and the one below that was around 1200.

I grew up in a small town in Northeast Missouri, about 4000 people, we lived there until I was 11 but had to move due to severe bullying issues. I was getting ready to go to the middle school, having just finished 5th grade, and I had been beat up and injured to the point my parents were convinced I would not survive another year in that school district. We moved about 25 miles away to a much smaller school district, there were 21 in my graduating class, I wasn't bullied there, but was still an outcast for some reason.

I was always really small and skinny, 5'7" and 130 pounds at graduation, but when I got to college and had access to a weight room I put on about 85 pounds of muscle in my first year......and thus ended the bullying.

Man that's horrible...glad to hear your parents got you out of there.

I once had a kid chase me all the way home from school, right behind me at my front door,and actually chased me into my house and beat me up in my own living room......next door neighbor thought he was a ninja, used me for target practice for his throwing stars, I still have scars on my hands from trying to block them from hitting anything too important.

Horrible is kind of an understatement.....

Wow, bassdude... Thank God you didn't turn into the next Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy...

bassdude wrote:

I once had a kid chase me all the way home from school, right behind me at my front door,and actually chased me into my house and beat me up in my own living room......next door neighbor thought he was a ninja, used me for target practice for his throwing stars, I still have scars on my hands from trying to block them from hitting anything too important.

Horrible is kind of an understatement.....

Ok, I stand corrected.

From '69 to '79 I lived in the City of Lost Angels. My Dad had enough of the theft, gangs and cramped lifestyle and moved us to the beautiful deserts just North of Palm Springs.

Zero complaints about this desert paradise. I've loved living here since '79 and never plan to move away.

We get a Summer and Winter, with Fall and Spring being but mere weeks. Summers get pretty hot, but the winters are mild compared to, well ANYWHERE else.

Because of the beauty of this area, the population has boomed to over 20,000.

We're 15 miles from 29 Palms - where the popular Marine Base is. (also where Robert Plant wrote his song "29 Palms")
We're 10 miles from Pioneertown - where several westerns have been filmed dating back to the 50s
We're 10 miles from the Joshua Tree National Monument - this is the place U2 named their album after (seriously), also the place rock climbers from all over the world come.
10 miles from Landers, the epicenter of the '92 earthquake that was 7.5 and made news all over America.
30 miles from Big Bear - lots of good skiiing
40 miles from Palm Springs/Palm Desert where all the movie stars and the snooty live.
and so on....

ishmael81 wrote:

Wow, bassdude... Thank God you didn't turn into the next Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy...

I had some pretty major anger issues......I'm much calmer these days. However, if someone is stupid enough to push me to the point of getting angry, my temper is EPIC....

bassdude wrote:

ishmael81 wrote:

Wow, bassdude... Thank God you didn't turn into the next Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy...

I had some pretty major anger issues......I'm much calmer these days. However, if someone is stupid enough to push me to the point of getting angry, my temper is EPIC....

I'll keep that in mind!

"Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." Proverbs 16:32

Quote :

I was always really small and skinny, 5'7" and 130 pounds at graduation

Sounds familiar - I was 5'7" and 120 at grad... and was also picked on and bullied from elementary clear up to 11th grade when I began reacting to all that bullying by getting all "punked" out.
I started hanging with the druggies of the school (though I never did drugs), and blended in with them by spiking my hair, wearing all the punk outfits and even brought a gun to school (that no one ever knew about - but I was ready for anyone to bully me again - I never brought amo with it, just wanted to scare them if it ever came to that.... thank GOD it didn't or I would have had a different story about my teen years)

Man! you guys have some seriously scary stories about growing up.