Helena Street remembered

Dorothy Peterson, reading the EastSide News, was moved to send us some pictures of the home where she lived as a child in the 1920s, at 2030 Helena Street.  Dorothy is a retired MATC instructor who now lives on Pawling Street on the East Side.

Dorothy's mother Inger holding baby Erland (her firstborn), ca. 1917. House in the distance occupied by Murkve family.

Dorothy, 2nd grade, 1929. Photo taken in back of old Hawthorne school looking toward Rusk Street.

Dorothy writes, “I’ve been having some fun lately, typing up old memories just in case my nieces would be interested… the old Schoep’s ice cream was actually started in the back of a small grocery store near Talmadge Street. What I remember about the ice cream place is that in the “good old days” cake and bread mixes were unknown. In making ice cream, only the egg yolks were used, so the store owner would sell the egg whites by the pint. When someone wanted to make an angel food cake, for example, they would purchase that.”

Dorothy's parents Edwin and Inger Peterson in the backyard of 2030 Helena, ca. 1920. Note railroad tracks in background.

Thank you Dorothy, for these intriguing pictures of a very different-looking Helena Street neighborhood!

-Sarah White, for the East Side History Club

Nettie Spevacek, Strand Bakery “Lefse Queen,” passed away July 10, 2009

The East Side History Club extends its sympathy to the family of Nettie Spevacek, who passed away peacefully on July 10, 2009. Nettie’s exploits as a “Lefse Queen” for the Strand Bakery, as well as her service in the East Side Women’s Club and her remembrances of family life on the East Side in the 1930s-40s, were recorded in An East Side Album. Nettie was one of the first people interviewed by History Club volunteers.

An obituary appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal on July 13. Nettie was born on April 17, 1907, on a farm in Norway Grove, Vienna Township, near DeForest, the ninth of 13 children of Ole and Mary (Sorenson) Anderson, a well-known Dane County pioneer family.

Nettie lived on the East Side after her marriage to Don Slickman in 1933, first on Winnebago Street and latter on Sommers Avenue. After raising her son she worked for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.

Nettie enjoyed many years of volunteering and spiritual fellowship at Bethel Lutheran Church. Even after turning 100, Nettie was an active proponent of Supporting Active Independent Lives (SAIL). She lived in her own home until a few months before her death at age 102.

"Lefse Queens" ca. 1955: Nettie (Slickman) Spevacek, Center.

1950: Nettie (Slickman) Spevacek, left, with Vera Browne, officers in the East Side Women's Club, arriving at a banquet.

Come brainstorm with us Friday July 17, 9:00a.m.

Want input on the East Side History Club’s Fall 2009 programs and projects? Join us at the Iron Works Café on Friday, July 17, 9:00 a.m. We’ll do some informal brainstorming.  If you’d like to see this club continue, consider offering your time as well as your ideas.

Volunteer scanning ephemera at the March 2009 “Show & Tell” meeting.