Straight From The Hart
By Joan Rowden Hart
Jess Easley, Lebanon Historian and StoryTeller
I’ve been trying to trace a place called Railroad Pond from the early
days of Lebanon. Perhaps some of you “old-timers” will have more
information, but I found a reference to it in Jess Easley’s
recollections of Lebanon.
Jess talked about skating on Railroad Pond when he was just a kid, and
also working to cut ice on it during the cold winters that Lebanon
experienced. The grocery stores which had meat markets would hire
people to cut ice from the pond to put in their ice house and store
for the summer.
Jess was one of Milan’s favorite customers when Milan started working
at the barber shop with Fred Pitts in 1968, and he quickly became one
of Milan’s mentors in collecting oral memories and memorabilia of
Lebanon history.
Jess was born in Lebanon in January of 1891, and died here on March 1,
1983 at the age of 92 , and had a good strong mind right up to the
very end, so he had many memories to share.
In his book “Early Lebanon, Through the Eyes of Jess Easley”, which
was transcribed and printed by volunteers of the Laclede County
Historical Society from tapes he recorded, he recalls another story
about a pond near the railroad tracks in Lebanon. He does not refer
to it as Railroad Pond, but I’m thinking it must be the same pond on
which he skated and from which he cut ice.
He says that the pond was located back against the railroad tracks on
West Commercial where VanStavern Oil headquarters used to be.
The pond was dug there to provide water for a flour mill which was
built on the corner of Commercial across from Jackson Street. This
was before the city wells were dug, so ponds were needed to furnish
water.
Jess said the pond ran along the railroad track for about 100 feet,
and was a good fishing place for lots of people.
There was a railroad siding that ran alongside the pond with a derail
arrangement rigged up so they could lay it upon the tracks and derail
any railroad cars to keep them from running down the main track and
causing a wreck.
Sometime in the early years of 1900, between 1901 and 1905, (Jess
couldn’t remember the exact date), an engineer was driving on this
siding and wasn’t aware of the derailer nor that it had been set and
he drove his engine off the track and down the embankment where it
fell over into the pond.
As Jess relates the story, the fireman was sitting up on the coal
tender at the time and he jumped off into the pond. Jess didn’t
remember how the engineer got out.
This would have been sometime in the spring because the engine stayed
in the pond for several months and then they raised it on the morning
of July 4. There was a large crowd in attendance and they had a big
celebration as the engine was raised from the pond.
Jess had many stories to tell. One of my favorites was the day of the
dedication of the Richard Parks Bland monument. I will elaborate
about this man and the monument in another column sometime, but as far
as Jess Easley’s memories of it, he tells it this way.
The year was 1902 and Jess was 11 years old. The monument was veiled
and was stored in Weissgarber Lumber Yard where a framework had been
built around it and it was boarded up awaiting the unveiling and
dedication.
Jess says that one day after school he and a young friend decided to
go check it out, not knowing exactly what it was. His friend went
about halfway back into the lumber yard, then “chickened” out, but
Jess’ curiosity got the best of him and he went on back to where the
monument was.
He noticed one of the boards had been pried loose by somebody so he
squeezed in between the boards. As he tells the story, even though it
was a sunshiny day, once he got inside the framework it was so dark he
couldn’t see anything, but in a few moments it cleared up and he
looked up.
As he tells it, he said “Oh,my God, there’s a man standing up there”.
He finished the story by saying, “I got out of that place in a hurry!”
There are many other Jess Easley stories I would like to share with
you. I am constantly working on different aspects of Lebanon history
with different people at any given time, but occasionally my deadline
looms and I don’t have anything ready to send to Kirk at the
newspaper, so it’s good to have Jess Easley and other Lebanon
historians to fall back on as they recount our history in their own
words.
From the feedback I am getting, there are many Lebanon natives now
living in other states who have fond memories of growing up here and
they tell me they really enjoy recalling their school days here as
well as Lebanon history from the town’s beginnings.
One of the most interesting responses I have had came from Macky Myers
who grew up here and attended LHS, then was graduated from Missouri
State University in 1988 with a Master’s Degree, and now works at
Taiyuan Institute of Technology and lives in Taiyuan, China. He
joined the Lebanon High School Alumni group on Facebook and is
reuniting with classmates there.
By Joan Rowden Hart
Jess Easley, Lebanon Historian and StoryTeller
I’ve been trying to trace a place called Railroad Pond from the early
days of Lebanon. Perhaps some of you “old-timers” will have more
information, but I found a reference to it in Jess Easley’s
recollections of Lebanon.
Jess talked about skating on Railroad Pond when he was just a kid, and
also working to cut ice on it during the cold winters that Lebanon
experienced. The grocery stores which had meat markets would hire
people to cut ice from the pond to put in their ice house and store
for the summer.
Jess was one of Milan’s favorite customers when Milan started working
at the barber shop with Fred Pitts in 1968, and he quickly became one
of Milan’s mentors in collecting oral memories and memorabilia of
Lebanon history.
Jess was born in Lebanon in January of 1891, and died here on March 1,
1983 at the age of 92 , and had a good strong mind right up to the
very end, so he had many memories to share.
In his book “Early Lebanon, Through the Eyes of Jess Easley”, which
was transcribed and printed by volunteers of the Laclede County
Historical Society from tapes he recorded, he recalls another story
about a pond near the railroad tracks in Lebanon. He does not refer
to it as Railroad Pond, but I’m thinking it must be the same pond on
which he skated and from which he cut ice.
He says that the pond was located back against the railroad tracks on
West Commercial where VanStavern Oil headquarters used to be.
The pond was dug there to provide water for a flour mill which was
built on the corner of Commercial across from Jackson Street. This
was before the city wells were dug, so ponds were needed to furnish
water.
Jess said the pond ran along the railroad track for about 100 feet,
and was a good fishing place for lots of people.
There was a railroad siding that ran alongside the pond with a derail
arrangement rigged up so they could lay it upon the tracks and derail
any railroad cars to keep them from running down the main track and
causing a wreck.
Sometime in the early years of 1900, between 1901 and 1905, (Jess
couldn’t remember the exact date), an engineer was driving on this
siding and wasn’t aware of the derailer nor that it had been set and
he drove his engine off the track and down the embankment where it
fell over into the pond.
As Jess relates the story, the fireman was sitting up on the coal
tender at the time and he jumped off into the pond. Jess didn’t
remember how the engineer got out.
This would have been sometime in the spring because the engine stayed
in the pond for several months and then they raised it on the morning
of July 4. There was a large crowd in attendance and they had a big
celebration as the engine was raised from the pond.
Jess had many stories to tell. One of my favorites was the day of the
dedication of the Richard Parks Bland monument. I will elaborate
about this man and the monument in another column sometime, but as far
as Jess Easley’s memories of it, he tells it this way.
The year was 1902 and Jess was 11 years old. The monument was veiled
and was stored in Weissgarber Lumber Yard where a framework had been
built around it and it was boarded up awaiting the unveiling and
dedication.
Jess says that one day after school he and a young friend decided to
go check it out, not knowing exactly what it was. His friend went
about halfway back into the lumber yard, then “chickened” out, but
Jess’ curiosity got the best of him and he went on back to where the
monument was.
He noticed one of the boards had been pried loose by somebody so he
squeezed in between the boards. As he tells the story, even though it
was a sunshiny day, once he got inside the framework it was so dark he
couldn’t see anything, but in a few moments it cleared up and he
looked up.
As he tells it, he said “Oh,my God, there’s a man standing up there”.
He finished the story by saying, “I got out of that place in a hurry!”
There are many other Jess Easley stories I would like to share with
you. I am constantly working on different aspects of Lebanon history
with different people at any given time, but occasionally my deadline
looms and I don’t have anything ready to send to Kirk at the
newspaper, so it’s good to have Jess Easley and other Lebanon
historians to fall back on as they recount our history in their own
words.
From the feedback I am getting, there are many Lebanon natives now
living in other states who have fond memories of growing up here and
they tell me they really enjoy recalling their school days here as
well as Lebanon history from the town’s beginnings.
One of the most interesting responses I have had came from Macky Myers
who grew up here and attended LHS, then was graduated from Missouri
State University in 1988 with a Master’s Degree, and now works at
Taiyuan Institute of Technology and lives in Taiyuan, China. He
joined the Lebanon High School Alumni group on Facebook and is
reuniting with classmates there.
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