More State Street memories . . .

John asked for me to share some more memories of the old State Street area. So here goes . . .

My favorite part of State St is gone. I LOVED Aroma Pizza. I can remember going there almost everytime we went to my grandma's house and got grinders. The BEST grinders around. They also had wonderful sausage rolls. They had an old coke machine that had a door and you pulled the bottles out a hole. I literally cried when they closed. (and I was in college then)

Then there was the donuts at Scott Bakery. The HUGE cinnamon twists and the Fort Wayne Cruellers, which were like dunkin sticks. My mom loved the cinnamon twists and I would take her one to work when I was in trouble and it would right all wrongs. When I got married, I HAD to have my wedding cake from there. As a little girl we would stop in there and get the big Sesame Street cookies that were as big as your head, like cookie monster that would dye you tongue blue for hours. I loved the window down the back hall where you could watch them decorating the cakes in the back room. The morning I walked in there to get donuts a couple years ago and they told me that they were no longer making donuts I sat in the lot behind the place and cried.

I can also remember the OLD Candlelite and of course the tenderloins at the Acme. My grandma would take me there for lunch at one or the other and then we would head to Buschbaum's Drugstore which is now the parking lot of the library. Next to the library was a Roger's Market I think, then it was an IGA and finally a liquor store before becoming the library addition.

Most of my memories are about food. What is it with me and food. Says A LOT huh?

We'd always walk past the firestation and we would stop at Pio's Meat Market once in a while or stop into Fort Wayne National Bank on the corner of Crescent to do some banking. We would inevitably see the blind man who lived on Crescent near the flower shop. I used to see him every now and then but haven't seen him in the past couple years. I wonder if he is still around. He'd have to be pretty old. He never had a dog, just a red tipped cane. I would watch him cross the street as a small child and I was amazed.

My grandfather was in charge to hanging the Christmas decorations down the State Street Corridor up to Anthony Boulevard I think. The decorations mostly adorned the light posts.

About a year ago I saw a story on the news that talked about beautifying the stretch of East State from Kentucky to Florida. The exact area I am talking about. I was so excited. Not much has changed yet. But I guess the funds are there. The original plan had a couple of arches that spanned the road on the entrance to this area. I would live to see the plan come to fruition.

all photos courtesy of Allen County Album - rights of ACPL