DocAndersen
A moment unlike any other. One that happened and now is a memory. Images of people that were then, but are now different. Wander that moment with me. Kinser Pike is a street that runs just outside of Bloomington Indiana proper. It is a street that goes from North to South. Or, if you wish goes from South to North. It lies on the west side of Walnut street. Walnut and College are the two streets that transect the center of Bloomington. Kinser Pike was once the address of the RCA television factory that once stood as the second largest non-quarry and non-university employer in the City of Bloomington. The quarries were the largest non-university employers.
Then, of course, the next biggest was the City of Bloomington itself and then RCA. The company that started as an AM radio company many years before. I think we owned one of those TV’s, but I don’t fully remember. I think our RCA TV was the one that proudly sat in the family room of our house on Dunstan Drive. I believe it was an RCA TV on which Dad and I watched as Neil Armstrong emerged from the Lunar Module on July 22, 1969, and once he had climbed down the ladder announced to the world “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Yes, the phrase should have been person, not man. Plus Neil forgets to include the A that should stand in the first sentence (one small step for A man).
That was on the south side of Bloomington, that house on Dunstan drive. Clouser to what was the highway that became College Street and Walnut Street Indiana 37. For all of my childhood, Indiana 37 was the primary north and south route out of Bloomington. You could take Indiana 46 to go East or West of course. Getting to Nashville Indiana or Terre Haute Indiana required the use of Indiana 46. Later it became much faster to go south by going east on Indiana 46. The first Interstate that was near us was I65. Interstate 65 split the state of Indiana and increased the speed at which we could travel North or South. Taking you from Bloomington to Chicago or Bloomington to Florida. Both directions we would go with the addition of I65. But that was later, and 37 was our lifeblood our primary path out. Kinser pike sat near 37. As did my parent’s house, you could hear the cars rolling by on the highway.
A highway is a path. A means to an end. The memories, however, are an expression of that end!
Love this line of yours…
A highway is a path. A means to an end. The memories, however, are an expression of that end!
Perfectly said Doc. So very true.
When I read RCA I went back in time. My Dad was an Electronics Supervisor for RCA for many years. I went on service calls with him. I remember the big processors in a bank building that looked like movie projectors with the big reels. Great memories.
Amazing how three letters, RCA invokes memories around the world. Now, people don’t even know what they used to me.
Cool story about your dad, he sounds like a fun person!
Thank you for sharing these great memories of yours.
Thank you so much for the kind words! I hope you had a wonderful day!