I have so many rich stories about Carrollton saved throughout the comments section of the blog as well as received through email. From time to time, I will share or re-post these tales of the good life while we wait and see what happens to the land.
From Marsha:
My brother was visiting this Thanksgiving and we started talking about Carrollton. He asked me if I ever drove through there and I told him not recently because it makes me profoundly sad. My parents, Bill and Doris Davis had a home built at 4106 Celburne Lane and we moved in in 1959. We were there before 270 was built and behind our house was rolling hills where rabbits and many other wildlife lived. There was no Carrollton Elelmentary when we moved there. We rode the bus over to Pattonville Elementary where I attended the 2nd grade and part of the 3rd while Carrollton Elementary was being built. While in 3rd grade they were completing the second phase of the school. I lived one house away from the Community Center and Carrollton Club and the swimming pool. It was a great place to grow up for a kid. We built forts and sledded down the hill there. In the summertime we always were in the pool the day it opened and the day it closed. Often we went swmming twice a day. I spent countless hours on the ballfields there choosing sides and playing games with the other neighbor kids. There was alway someone to play with and something to do. I took tap lessons in the basement of the Carrollton Club. Went to Cardinal games with the counselors at the Community Center. It was the best place in the world for a kid to grow up. Although we moved to St. Peters in 1967, I will forever cherish the memories of my childhood growing up in Carrolton and Bridgeton. I always felt safe. Parents didn’t worry about our safety. It hustled and bustled with families and life. That is why I have such a hard time returning there. It is so quiet. No signs of the lives that grew and flouished there except for the trees that are left standing. Thanks to Mrs. Caswell, Mrs. Mayfield and Mr. Mayfield for being such wonderful teachers. I am so greatful for our wonderful neighbors, Randy, Rhonda, Rene and Rodney Shockley and their parents, Glenn and Virginia. The Wagners and the Koellers and Sloans and Hambys. The Williams who lived up the street whos daughter Wendy was an olympic diver. Chic was an icon at the Carrollton Pool. Coach Ink who ran the pool for as long as I remember. What a time. What a place. Thank you for documenting this special place and it’s careless demise. Marsha