Paul Richardson: Standing on the corner

I have never stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. I have seen the corner, but I didn’t stop and make an event of it. It was way too late in my life for such frivolous activity and besides, I didn’t want to run any risk with girls in flat-bed Fords. 

There are two list, the list of what I need and the list of what I want and a girl in a flat-bed Ford would be the very last thing on the list of what I might want. 

Forty-five years ago, different story. In 2010 when I was passing through Winslow, the appeal of standing on the corner just wasn’t happening.

I have stood on a corner in Neosho, Missouri, however. 

I was sitting at a table at the Farmer’s Market last Saturday morning, and recalled standing on the corner of Jefferson and Spring. 

It was in the days before I could drive, and I had convinced by parents to drop me off at the Flower Box Lanes to meet a friend while they were in town shopping. We would entertain ourselves with a game of two of bowling and when they were done, they could pick me up and a great time would be had by all.

As I was reconstructing this memory, some other items came to the surface. This was the day that I discovered that I didn’t like depending on others for my transportation and especially waiting to be picked up. It gave me a total feeling of helplessness. 

It was also one of those moments that I had plenty of time to absorb the entire contents of my surroundings. Jeffers Ford Motor Dealership occupied the building where the Neosho Newton County Library is today. Branham Brothers Construction had a yard on the northside of Spring Street where the parking lot is. There was a gas station on the northwest corner of the intersection. Jeffers Used Vehicle lot was to the west of the gas station. The fire station was in the art deco building on the northside of the alley beyond the gas station and McClintock’s IGA was still one of the main supermarkets in Neosho.

To the east of the Flower Box Lanes there was a pool hall and beyond that were Prettyman Law Offices. I was familiar with the Law Offices and Dad did a lot of business with the Prettyman’s and their vast array of rental properties. 

The one thing about this intersection of Jefferson and Spring that most people will either forget or were never aware of is that this was a signaled intersection, with a traffic light, one of the few in town. It was on a span-wire assembly, hanging exactly above the center of the intersection and signaling traffic in all four directions. It wasn’t a complex system, just a time sequenced signal controlling the north-south, east-west traffic.

I have stood on a corner in Neosho, Missouri. I wasn’t looking for a girl in flat-bed Ford because it pre-dated her existence even in song. I was just looking for a ride, her ride might have worked!

(Paul Richardson's column, The Horse I Rode On In, is published weekly in the Neosho Daily News, Seneca News-Dispatch, Aurora Advertiser and on the Turner Report.)