Muscatine

I remember a water tower in the switchyard, and a wading pool in Musser park.

I remember that pool in Musser Park because I almost drowned in it.  It was a large pool fairly deep in the middle.  The bottom always seemed slippery and  I soon found myself sliding out into the middle where it was deep.  Don't really remember how old I was but something like 7 or 8.  Anyway, my dad who was watching me, had to jump into the pool with all his clothes on and carry me out of the pool.  We had taken the bus to the park and had to ride home on the bus soaking wet.

No one has mentioned the gravel pits.  In the old days it was okay to go there, swim, fish, picnic, whatever and it was always a good time.  I know there were some drownings and over the years the threat of lawsuits generated insurance companies to require the gravel pit owners to keep the public off their lands.  One day, sometime in the not too distant future, I am hopeful that the city will buy one of the old pits that has been worked out and not of use commercially anymore, and establish a nice safe beach area for people to swim or at least enable the people of Muscatine to have a place to fish.  It is such a waste of a recreational area as things are now.

Where that P&P building is, was always a service station prior to P&P. The Yamaha quonset hut was just north of that station. Chuck Eckhardt was the last station owner. Chuck turned it into a convenience store and eventually sold out to P&P. There were also two small houses north of the Yamaha shop before the Tastee-Freeze ice cream shop parking lot. Girl that lived in one of them worked at the Tastee-Freeze next door. Took her out once in high school. Once!