Franklinton

I went to Fieser Elementary, it was located on State and Starling streets. An old three story brick building that was built in 1872. I then went to Jr. High at Starling and did one year at Central High before dropping out. What prompted me to drop out was the racial problems going on in the school. It got to where it was unsafe to walk in the halls. I got my GED in the the army in Germany at the age of 17, so I actually had my GED before my classmates graduated and I had almost a year in the army. The army saved me from a life of living in an area of Columbus that was changing from a nice place to live to a different kind of place that I had no desire to stay in.

Oh yes I remember how bad it was in school. My sister quit in the 10th grade at Central because she was attacked at her locker by several black boys.  This would have been in the 70's. I worked at a small grocery store on Sullivant Ave. in 1967 and '68 during my junior and senior years of high school.  The store was at the corner of Martin Ave. & Sullivant. I remember I worked 20 hours a week for 1.00 an hour. I don't know about you, but I sit and think about those days and I can't believe how fast time has gone by.

I guess things never really improved at Central. When I went to Starling, we never had any racial problems. It was kind of a shock when I got to Central and saw the gangs roaming the halls and the school officials doing nothing about it. I remember the day that I decided to quit school, A bunch of black kids had ganged up on a white kid and beat the heck out of him. I went home and told my mom that I would not go back to that school again, period! I still believe, at the age of 72, that it was the best decision I ever made. I remember that little store on Sullivant  and Martin, I used to walk by there all the time. I never had much money to spend so I don't think I ever went inside. I worked in a poultry processing plant on Sullivant and Central Ave called " Southworth's poultry". We processed several thousand chickens a day. It was a nasty job! I also worked at the Shell gas station on Broad and Central, there used to be a White Castle on the oposite corner which has been torn down and moved further up Broad St. Like you, I often think about Columbus although I haven't lived there since 1957, I have deep roots going back to 1812 in Columbus. I see where they are planning to try to improve the "bottoms". I hope it will work. But unless they control the gangs etc, it will turn into another ghetto.

I used to go to White Castle there quite often.  You are exactly ten years older than me I am sixty- two.  I don't get up to Columbus very often, but when I do , we usually go ride around the old neighborhood.  I live in southeastern Ohio, and have since1980.  We left Cols. in 1977.  My husband worked for the railroad and he was transferred to Logan, West Virginia.  We lived there for a year or so, and then he was transferred again to Huntington.  We finally ended up closer to our families, and this is where we stayed.