Don Hill
The county seats of the 92 counties in Indiana are graced with beautiful courthouses, and in most cases, each has a courthouse square.
The surrounding area is made up of businesses, a lawn and often Civil War cannons. But most of all, it serves as a gathering place for the good folks of that county. In my childhood, it was the Gibson County courthouse square in Princeton.
Like many courthouses, it is constructed of brick trimmed in stone and is well over 100 years old. But to us kids, the main purpose of the courthouse was to hold the Christmas lights that radiated out to form a giant Christmas tree that could be seen for miles around.
Princeton on Saturday night was time for the adults (mainly farm families) to see their friends and neighbors while the kids were turned free to enjoy a movie and enjoy some treats. I have many wonderful memories of those Saturday nights.
Our family would load into the Nash and head to Princeton 8 miles away. Our main worry was having a flat tire. It was common during the war years when the tires were worn down and the inner tubes had been patched multiple times.
Our first stop would be the hospital loading zone. Dad would carry in the crate of eggs that would be credited to our hospital bill. Then the next order of business was to find a parking space on the square. Parking spots were at a premium by the time we arrived since most had been taken up by people who arrived early just for that purpose. Usually, we had to park a block away.
Us kids would get our quarter and head off to the movie theater. With the quarter, we could get into the movie, buy a bag of popcorn and have a nickel left to spend uptown for candy. The movie would usually be a western with a singing cowboy who courted the girl, cleaned up the town of outlaws and would ride off into the sunset, maybe to return another day.
But before the feature film, there would be the ads for the local businesses and a cartoon. During the war, there would be the Movietone newsreel. The news would only be the good news of the war and would be a couple of weeks old.
The square would be filled with people when we got out of the movie. Most were just socializing. Few would be shopping. Since most items were no longer available due to the war effort, there was little to shop for anyway.
The Five and Dime store would be the most visited. For us kids, we would carefully shop around the candy counter to find something special. Since chocolate was an import item and only went to the military, our choices were limited.
On the way home, Dad would treat us all to a nickel hamburger at the drive-thru. This wasn’t as we know a drive-thru today. It was just a small building serving nickel hamburgers and a Coke. We only got a hamburger. Dad said we could get something to drink when we got home.
The hamburger would be very small, similar to a White Castle today. The drink at home would be milk or water. I only remember one time when Dad took us in a barroom and I had an orange crush, which came in a dark orange bottle. That was a treat.
The folks would repeat all of the gossip during the next week, hoping to get new gossip next Saturday night. Us kids would look forward to another exciting evening of spending our quarter.
Don Hill is a resident of Seymour and a longtime volunteer for Southern Indiana Center for the Arts. Send comments to [email protected].