Once Upon Fostoria Take the A-train
Older Residents Recall Fostoria of Long Ago
January 18, 1998, article one

This is the fifth in a series of articles containing reminiscences of some of our older fellow Fostorians. We hope these articles will stir pleasant memories in some and will acquaint others with the manner of life and living in Fostoria in days long past.

Last we were recalling how sports suited Fostoria to a tee years ago. Speaking of tees, there are a couple of other little sporting items we'd like to begin with this time.

Dorothy Gamertsfelder's father-in-law and Paul Newcomer built Fostoria's first miniature golf course back in the 1920s out on Columbus Ave. There was another miniature golf course in town shortly thereafter, located on land now occupied by the post office.

The odd twist was that this course was indoors. There was once a Nash auto garage located there. When the garage closed, the golf course moved in for a while. It even had its own snack bar.

How many folks know that Gray Park was once the site of a nine hole golf course. It was a very short "mashie" course. Some of the holes were a mere 40 or so yards.

Maybelle Kinn came to Fostoria from Fremont in 1941, but it didn't take her long to become a part of the town's civic and cultural life. She had a little help from her friend, Elinor Fruth.

"Elinor lived next door and she got me into everything," said Maybelle. "We went to the barbershop quartets and the cooking schools. Whenever she needed somebody, she got me to do it. She was on great person, Elinor was."

It was 1959 when Maybelle, Elinor and folks like Mrs. Bill Kirchner, Mel Murray, Roger Wise, Nancy Gray, Ginger Wise, Mrs. E.O. Weber, Alice Haaser, Gladys Harrison, Helen Lemmon and Marti Murray had their picture taken at the founding of the Fostoria Footlighters.

Maybelle was also in on the beginning of Meals on Wheels and helped start the Fostoria Teen Center in the 1960s.

"We worked so hard on the Teen Center. So did our kids," she recalled. "We kept all that stuff in our garage. We had bake sales and car washes."

The Teen Center, which occupied the old Civic Theater, is now the site of the Sharing Kitchen.

For 50 years, the Forum group has been reading books, investigating different topics or exploring other countries and Maybelle helped get that organization off the ground, too.

Several of the folks at the Good Shepherd Home remember the days when you didn't take a test or get a license to drive a car. There was no major state routes or interstates. The closest thing to an interstate was the old National Road or the Lincoln Highway.

A form of transportation more familiar than personal automobiles from the 1890s to the late '20s was the interurban trolley train. Three lines served Fostoria - the Toledo, Fostoria & Findlay; the Fostoria & Fremont, and the Fostoria & Tiffin.

Several folks from the Good Shepherd reminiscing group recalled riding to school on the interurbans at a cost of a nickel.

Dorothy Gamertsfelder said the interurban station was on the north side of Bill's Men's and Boys' Wear.

"You could go in the station," she said, "get on the streetcar and go to Toledo. The streetcar went down Main Street, turned at Perry and on to Union. Then it went north through Prairie Depot and Pemberville. You could go to Toledo for practically nothing."

The "car barn" for the interurbans was located out on Findlay Road. Fostoria was on the trolley line that ran from Detroit to Cincinnati, at one time the longest stretch of interurban trackage in the nation.

Richard Vogel said the loss of the trolleys was one of the biggest changes he's seen in Fostoria. When the Fostoria & Fremont closed down in 1932, interurban service in Fostoria came to an end.

Bascom's Meadowbrook Park and Arcadia's Sam Reeves (later known as Midway) Park were popular destinations. They were originally owned by the interurbans and featured swimming, boating, archery, baseball and other leisure pursuits.

Chester Jordan used to ride to Midway Park to go bowling. Richard Vogel remembers going to Meadowbrook because "they had a big pavilion there and they played music and had dancing."