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"When we were young we played jump rope, jacks, wall ball.... Everybody on the block played," recalls Darby Councilman Helen Thomas. "Of course, we had all our parents sitting outside, too, making sure we didn't wander off. It was games that were right there in the neighborhood."
Lansdowne resident Eugene Schulze recalls from his youth when neighbors got together to build two regulation quoit courts, complete with lights and score boards, on the site that is now 184-88 W. Albermarle Avenue.
"It soon became such a favorite that two other courts emerged in other sections of town. In their effort to produce authentic courts, the men learned that a certain grade of clay was necessary for the pits. So, the ever-diligent researchers located the optimum type in Holy Cross Cemetery. Late one night, a task force of six men, my father being one of them, scaled the fence in the lower southwest corner and extracted the rather large quantity required. The clay was perfect!" Schulze recalled.
Some organizations, such as the Union Athletic Association and the Lansdowne YMCA on Garret Road in Upper Darby Township have been in existence for decades. And some school districts, like Darby-Colwyn, Lansdowne-Aldan and Haverford, offered organized activities.
"The school district ran very, very good rec programs. The manuals for the school district had guides for games," Bill Fraisch of Darby said.
Fraisch, a former member of the Darby-Colwyn School Board, remembers paddle tennis, an outdoor game similar to ping-pong, and ring toss. "We paid school district employees and they managed and ran various activities," he said.
Everything evolved from and revolved around family participation and strong church affiliation, Schulze says.
Clifton Heights resident Mary Quinn remembers the bonds forged between neighbors. Families were so tight-knit in Clifton Heights it gave rise to a popular joke, Quinn recalls.
"They used to say don't make a joke about anybody from Clifton Heights to another person from Clifton Heights. They're all related," Quinn says with a chuckle.
In Clifton Heights there were church-sponsored bus trips to Lenape Park, an amusement park on the Brandywine Creek near West Chester. She recalled yearly trips organized by St. Stephen Episcopal Church in Clifton Heights and St. Charles Borromeo Church in Drexel Hill.
"They took bus loads of people. Religion never stood in the way. Everybody went. The town would be empty on picnic days," she said.
People also gathered at the two fire companies, Hose, Hook and Ladder at Diamond Street and Baltimore Avenue and the Protective Association on Baltimore Avenue near Springfield Road.
Fun sometimes crossed town lines. Clifton Heights folk went to Griffith Lake Park in Lansdowne for swimming. The lake was on the site now occupied by Ardmore Avenue Elementary School. Schulze recalled hunting for tadpoles and frogs in the swamp that resulted when the lake was drained.
In Lansdowne fun times often meant fishing in Darby Creek. "You wouldn't dare eat the fish," he said. "A chemical plant on Scottdale Road made dyes for uniforms during World War II. One day the water would be olive drab and the next navy blue depending on whether they were making dyes for the army or navy," Schulze said.
Large-scale events like the Great Depression and World War II added a bittersweet note to many memories.
"After the economic collapse of 1929 life styles of the entire nation underwent a radical revision and Lansdowne was no exception," Schulze says.
"Gone were the second summer homes in the Poconos and Jersey shore resorts. Suddenly, the preponderance of leisure time was confined to Lansdowne and its environs," Schulze recalled. Many no longer owned automobiles, either.
Low-cost fun could be had at Llanerch Swimming Pool, located at Lansdowne Avenue and Township Line. Admission was 50 cents per person per day.
"The school board provided a large wading pool on the grounds of Lansdowne High School. Regrettably, that was discontinued in the late 1930s when water was correlated with the high incidence of polio," Schulze said.
Lansdowne YMCA in Upper Darby Township filled a void when it opened its facility, pool included, in 1954.
Much like today, a favorite outing in the pre-World War II era was a trip to the local ice cream shop. "Englehardt's on Maple Avenue was outstanding for home-made dairy products," he said.
Once World War II began, it had a profound impact on everyday life, including recreation. "The dark day of December 7, 1941 not only threatened our survival but also dealt a fatal blow to Lansdowne's pre-war lifestyle forever, although we did not realize it at the time. Family life was severely disrupted," Schulze said.
The war effort left little time for leisure and the accompanying rationing of goods, foods and services drastically curtailed mobility. Movies and radio became the entertainment of choice.
(Next week, the NEWS of Delaware County will look at how recreation has changed since the 1950s.)
