Towns can really change as they grow. Buildings that were once iconic are raised to make way for parking lots and newer buildings. Stores that hold memories are renovated and modernized. Streets are widened, routes changed and facades added.
With each change comes the loss of memories that we try to hold on to in times of our youth. However, life goes on and what were our memories fade away to make room for the memories of those who come later.
Plano has slowly become much like that. However, it has moved slower than most towns that have grown. The brick street is still there, along with much of the old building look. The old theater is gone that sat on the corner of Avenue K and 15th Street. All that is left is memories of Saturdays there with friends. The billboards with what was coming the next week are gone and the road has changed but every time I travel down that street I can see the theater in my mind.
My memory fades as time travels but I still remember Allen’s Drugstore and the soda fountain; at least I think it was Allen’s. Time does funny things to your mind. Was it Murrell’s Hardware Store across the street? That’s where my dad bought me my first baseball glove some fifty plus years ago. It seems like there was also a pharmacy on that side .The barber shop run by the Campbell family was down from Allen’s. I believe it was Dickey who usually cut my hair. There was the Five and Dime store across from the barbershop, if memory is right I think it was called Mott’s. There was a small hobby store next to the drugstore and Harrington’s furniture store on the other end. Didn’t Nathan White have a department store in there somewhere? I remember them taking your money, putting it and the ticket in a cylinder tied to what looked like a clothesline and pull a cord. The cylinder would zip up the line to the balcony, which was the business department. A few minutes later here would come the cylinder on its return trip with the receipt and change.
The water fountains and restrooms were in the back of the store. There were two water fountains; one for whites and one for “colored”. Those were the fifties and early sixties and Plano was still segregated.
Although the tenants in the buildings have changed and some are gone forever the memories of walking the streets of downtown are still in the far corners of my mind. There’s still enough there to jog a few nostalgic cobwebs loose and remind me of the little town I grew up in so many years ago. I may have gotten the names wrong, but those times of yesteryear still bring a smile.
Although Downtown Plano has changed, we are more fortunate than many towns, in that our downtown is still very vibrant, and retains much of it's original character. Many of my favorite childhood places are gone; the dime stores, Gibson's Discount Center, the A&P Grocery Store. However, my wife and I were playing tennis just the other day at Williams High School, and I heard the sound of the Ice Cream Man's truck. I closed my eyes, and it was just like it used to be for a moment.
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