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Here
Vernon stands behind a 1936 Chevrolet coupe in Falmouth, probably in
the summer of 1936 or 1937.
The
route sign in the background has an “L,” probably to
indicate that US 27 will turn left at the next corner (from
northbound Main Street onto West Shelby Street). Also in the
background is the competition: the M.S. Myers Machine Shop &
Garage, offering authorized Buick service.
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CONTINUED BELOW)
In
the foreground, the sidewalk in front of Shoemaker’s showroom
window was wide enough for wooden benches and a couple of gasoline
pumps. Customers would often pull up to buy just a dollar's
worth of gas, which should be enough to get them to Cincinnati, 37
miles away. They'd stop their cars right on the street, along
the curb where the pumps were located. And my father is
standing behind one such car.
When
he arrived in Falmouth, he had rented a room just on the other side
of the railroad tracks that follow the winding Licking River north to
Covington. The location, five blocks from the garage, was 330
Rigg Street.
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According
to the 1930 census, this $3,500 house was the home of Jim and Leonie
McClanahan. Three men in their early twenties also lived
there. They included the McClanahans' nephew Elbert plus two
boarders: my father, and a carpenter named Hobert
McKinney. Below is that address today, still bearing a shamrock.
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