Dutchtown Archives

August 18, 2015

High Chair, High Waters

Neighbors Bill and Rhonda and I went down to Dutchtown Monday afternoon. While we were there, I opened some mostly-empty sheds that hadn’t seen light (except for a hole in the roof) for years. Most everything of value had been taken out of them a long time ago, and whatever contents that remained had floated and rearranged themselves in the various floods since 1973. Stuff that could rust had rusted; stuff that could rot or fall apart had done just that; everything had a thick or thin patina of river mud sticking to it.

As I was playing a flashlight beam around, Rhonda said, “That’s a high chair under there.”

Indeed, it was. It was the very yellow high chair that Brother Mark was sitting in back in March of 1961. That’s my grandmother, Elsie Welch on the left. Dad, engrossed in one of my comic books, is on the right. Looks like we were having some combination of brownies, milk, barbecue sandwiches (made on the grill in the background, where our microwave lives today), and iced tea.

It’s still in pretty good shape

I was surprised to see it was in better shape than I would have thought. The metal tray that Mark used to bang his cup on like he was in a B-Grade prison movie would still slide on and off. The legs have some rust on them, but I don’t know if that’s from the Mississippi River or my brother’s leaky diapers.

You might just see this at Annie Laurie’s Antique Shop one of these days, Lord willin’ and the rivers don’t rise.

April 26, 2015

The REAL Dutchtown Tavern

Back on April 4, I did a post on a foundation down in Blomeyer that I thought was the Dutchtown Tavern. I hedged my bets by putting a question mark in the headline. Some readers had memories of the tavern, but at least one of them thought it was at the base of the high hill in Dutchtown proper, not across from the Montgomery Drive-In.

Saturday afternoon, I stopped in at that building, which now sports a sign that reads “Dutchtown Used Furniture.” Painted on the side is a Coca Cola ad and a sign that says, “Slaughter’s Stor.”

Click on the photos to make them larger.

Don and Cathy Heuring own the place

Don and Cathy Heuring established the Dutchtown Used Furniture Store in 2004. The building, which is more than a hundred years old, they said, was the Dutchtown Tavern until 1993, when it closed after owner Jim Slaughter died. His widow sold the place, and it served several different businesses until the Heurings took over.

Was tavern and liquor store

The Heurings said the bar was on this side of the archway, and the liquor store was on the other side.

I’m still a little confused. The previous story mentioned that Raymond John “Tiny” Ford owned and operated several regional bars and nightclubs, including Tiny’s Danceland, The Jamna, The Ozark Corral, Dutchtown Tavern, and Edgewater Bar. Mr. Ford died in 2002 at 85, so he may have been involved in the tavern business before Mr. Slaughter.

Can anyone clear that up?

September 16, 2014

American Motors

I shot these photos of American Motors November 3, 2013, intending to do some research on the business, but I never got around to it. The building was on S. Kingshighway north of the intersection with South Sprigg and the old Viaduct Court. It was south of John’s Metal Iron and Salvage (AKA John’s Junk Yard).

It’s gone now

Mother and I took a quick drive down to Dutchtown Monday afternoon, made a quick turn on the old Highway 61 that leads to the Diversion Channel boat ramp to see how much the Mississippi was backing up into the Big Ditch, then headed north on Kingshighway.

When we got to where these photos were taken, Mother said, “Something’s missing.”

She was right. All that was left of American Motors was the parking lot.

Anybody remember anything about it? I’m sure I was never in there.

February 25, 2014

Beechwood Club from the Air

I was picking through some aerials from November 2010 when I spotted this single frame of the Beechwood Club. It’s the blue-green water surrounded by a square concrete pool deck.

You can click on the photo to make it larger, but I checked: there are no visible skinnies being dipped. While trying to figure out the correct plural of skinny, I came across this link (it’s safe for work, don’t worry). Who knew you had to LEARN how to do it?

The paved road running in the foreground is Highway 25. Take it left, go around a curve and down a hill and you’ll find yourself in what’s left of Dutchtown. Go right and you’ll pass through Gordonville on your way to Jackson.

When I wrote about the Beechwood Club on March 24, 2010, I uncovered some interesting tidbits of history about the place. Based on reader comments, though, I missed some of the most interesting goings-on.