Augusta — A Trip Down Memory Lane
On one of our days in Wichita, Kay and I took a drive to the small town of Augusta, Kansas located a few miles east of the city. Augusta has a lot of memories for me as this is where my mother and her mother were born and raised.

Our route took us to highway US-54 which is the first highway I remember from my very young years. I'm always amazed at how far the city of Wichita has grown on the east side. For those who are familiar with the area will know where the Veterans Administration Hospital is located. The main building is very distinctive in its architectural design and was "way out in the country" when I was a boy. Now the VA hospital — as we knew it — is well within the Wichita city limits. The place is now officially called the Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center.

Robert J. Dole Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center Photo from United States Department of Veteran Affairs website

As our drive into the past continued, I found it interesting to see just how far Wichita had grown out into the eastern countryside. I recognized a few — very few — landmarks that have survived since my childhood days. With the city centers being twenty miles apart. The distance between the city limits of the two towns was about 17 or 18 miles, however, it seemed as if the distance now has shrunk to less than ten miles from city limit to city limit.

When I was a boy the trip seemed to take a very long time. At that time, the US-54 highway was a two lane apposed traffic road — one lane each way. The speed limit was 50 miles per hour, however, my mother was uncomfortable driving faster than 40 mph. When the new divided highway was put in during the mid-1950s, the highway seemed huge and the speed limit was raise to 70 mph.

As we entered Augusta it was as if much of the town is a time capsule. The old downtown seems to be alive and doing well inside buildings that were old when I was a child. The thing that jumped out at me was the fact the main street in town — State Street — is still paved with the same bricks that were hear when I was in elementary school. Several of the streets were paved with bricks during the "Great Depression" as part of the federal government's plan to put people back to work.

These bricks are very likely the same ones that were here when I was a kid

As I drove north on State Street I saw the location of the old Augusta High School — the building looked new. I would learn later that this is now a middle school which was called junior high school in my day. As we continued up the street I saw that the old junior high school building was gone as well as the elementary school that was down the hill from it. In the place of the two schools is a new building housing the Garfield Elementary School.

I made my way over to the street — Osage Street — where my grandmother lived and where I have a lot of good memories. Osage Street also is one of those streets that is still paved with depression-era bricks. As I drove uphill I saw a structure that I was surprised was still not only standing, but still in use today.

A bit of background; many years ago before my time, it appears as if towns didn't have a planning commission as most cities have today. Much like other towns, in Kansas and elsewhere many years ago, businesses were allowed to operate right in among the neighborhoods, often times right in a home.

The building I saw was a grocery store when I was a boy, just a few doors down from my grandmother's house. The store was a mom-and-pop store called Hanes Grocery. My grandmother would give me a nickel or dime and tell me not to spend it all in one day. I would take the coin down to the grocery store and buy penny candy leaving a few pennies to spend on another day. Today, up above the door and above the old glass blocks is a plain brown area where the Hanes Grocery sign was located. The building is now being used as the location of a painting business.

Old Hanes Grocery store where I bought penny candy in my childhood

I drove on north to see how my grandmother's old house had changed from the last time I saw it. I was disappointed to see that the house is no longer there. It appears as if the house has been replaced with two small, homes on the large lot. The old garage and chicken coop are gone as well.

When I reached the corner of Osage and 12th Street I turned to go to the cemetery to find the grave sites of relatives. Kay and I visited the graves of my family where I found a small amount of information to add to my family tree.

Louie, an employee of the cemetery, helped us find the grave sites. Across the street from my mother's grave site I saw two headstones that looked new. One site had a headstone with an unusual name; the name was "Guest" and next to it was another headstone with a name that is the same as Louie's last name. I made a remark that the name Guest on the stone seemed a bit odd. Louie said that it was the last name of a relative of his who had purchased the plot and stone to prepare for a future time when it will be needed. I then commented on the stone with Louie's last name saying that it had the same last name as his. He told me that was because it is his headstone on the plot where he and his wife will be laid to rest when the time comes. I hope that Louie and his wife do not need the plot for a long time.

A family name that looks a bit unusual in the context of being on a headstone

From the cemetery I went to the old downtown area where I saw buildings that have been there for longer than I've been alive and most of the structures are still in use today. One of those old buildings — the Augusta movie theater — brought back memories of weekend movies with cartoons, a newsreel and a double feature all for the price of a quarter.

A wonderful old movie house where I spent many hours in my childhood

Old buildings located across from the Augusta theater

Looking north on State Street, paved with red bricks, the roadway seems as if it is a bit wider than necessary. When I was a boy, cars were parked as they are today, diagonally toward the curb. However, many years ago there would be cars parked parallel in the middle of the street.

Sometimes cars would be parallel to the direction of traffic flow and other times cars would be parked across the center line with the cars parallel to each other. It appeared as if the parking configuration might be decided by the first driver to park in the middle of the street each day. I'm guessing that as automobiles kept getting longer and longer in the 1950s, parking in the center of the street had to be discontinued.

View looking north on State Street from the Augusta theater

I turned off on a side street where I saw an old railroad depot. The old station looked as if it was still in operation for freight traffic. I could see what appeared to be oil tank cars, something not seen much anymore due to oil being transported by pipelines. The station turned out to be the Santa Fe train station.

Santa Fe railroad station still in use today

After my trip down memory lane we headed back to Wichita. I took a little different route back so we could stop at a cemetery in Northeast Wichita. There we looked for and found some of Kay's relatives. Again I found a small amount of family-tree information for Kay's family. On this day, it was nice to remember our relatives who've gone before us.

From the cemetery we headed for Jim's and Donna's place where the doggies were very glad to see us. As we approached the front door there was a stampede of low-slung basset hounds headed our way. It was good to be back to what feels like home in Wichita.

The evening would be spent watching movies. The wrap-around sound really adds a lot to the movie experience — the popcorn helped too.

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