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My name is Richard Aurand. I am 93-years-old. I was born in Lewistown and I have lived here all my life.
I grew up in the Lewistown Heights on Edgewater Avenue. My parents moved there in 1933 when I was three-months-old. I've seen a lot of changes in Lewistown in 93 years of life. In the Lewistown Heights, where I grew up, most of my friends did not have indoor plumbing or running water. I was lucky to grow up with both.
In 1956, the Heights still had no street lights or paved roads. Most of it was fields. I had to walk down the hill to Walnut Street to get our mail because our mailbox had to be on the street near the bridge and creek.
In downtown Lewistown, I remember many of the streets being made of brick. Many of the streets such as Pannebaker, Logan, Shaw and Market went two directions instead of one.
I remember when there were four movie theaters at once in downtown Lewistown. The Pastime Theater on Market Street played western movies. You only got to see half of the movie and had to come back the next week to see the other half. I remember the Rialto Theater, also on Market Street, had two floors and I could sit in the balcony. The Embassy was on Main Street and it also had two floors and a balcony. The Miller Theater came later on. I got an allowance of 10¢ a week and the movie cost 5¢, so that left me with 5¢ for candy.
I remember when you had to get your car inspected twice a year instead of once. I remember when doctors made house calls. My mother had a chiropractor who came to our house to treat her back.
I remember when the cheapest price for gas was 24¢ a gallon.
I remember both the milkman and the breadman making deliveries to my house. There were two bakeries: Beaver's Bakery in Burnham and Letterman's Bakery on Valley Street in Lewistown.
There was a religious group of baseball players called the House of David that visited Lewistown. They were famous for traveling all over the U.S. playing baseball and doing tricks. Their signature look was whiskers and beards. When they came to town, they brought their own lights and played in the former Dixon Field, which was later named Rec Park. There used to be a grandstand in the park where people would watch games.
I remember the brick buildings on the south side of Lewistown that were built by Temples. They housed a bowling alley and a roller skating rink. You could get to both for free from a bus that left Monument Square.
I remember when Red's Diner was in a small trolley car along the creek before they moved to the current location.
I remember Pleasant Acres West being a field that grew local produce. You could go there and pick produce for so much a pound. We picked it for the cannery.
I remember when there was a set of large, white wooden letters on top of the hill behind the Lewistown Heights: "Buy A Buick." You could see it from anywhere.