Way Back When

The Thorp Courier -- December 24, 2008

In olden days, elephants roamed the streets of Thorp. Well, not really, but this elephant did come to town once. A kindergarten class poses in front of the animal in this picture. Do you know when it came (to) town? Can you identify any of the kids in the picture?

In last week’s Way Back When feature, we showed a photograph of three men and one boy in a local tavern. We received a number of calls on the picture, although not all were correct. This picture, taken around the late 1960’s, represents three generations of the Jalowitz family. On the left is George Jalowitz, the eldest. In the center is his grandson Jim Jalowitz and on the right is Al Jalowitz. All of them have lived in the Thorp area at one time, and one is still a local resident. The tavern was “Little Wally’s” tavern, also known as “Kostick’s Corner.” The bartender is Mrs. Szemraj, who ran the business with her husband Wally. The business closed its doors in the late 1980’s.

In our December 10 issue, we showed a picture of two men riding a horse out of a local tavern. Eileen Frenette called in to let us know that we incorrectly identified the tavern. The tavern was not at the place Cindy’s used to be, but the Old Moose Club on W. Main Street. The man on the horse is actually Harold Mattes, and Philip Mattes is on the left, outside the building.

For more information on this photo, check next week's column and the January 7th, 2009 column.

"Way Back When" was transcribed by Dolores Mohr Kenyon