Frank Fowler Dow - #52 School

#52 School (Frank Fowler Dow School)

Shirley and Robert Coon moved to 963 Garson Ave. after leaving the apartment above John A. DeWitte's Furnace and Air Conditioning business. The Coon family had grown by 3 children and it was time to move to larger living quarters.  Robert Jr. had attended his first year of schooling at #33 School located on Grand Ave. with a short walk from the apartment. The move to 963 Garson Ave. meant the children would be attending #52 School and meant a much longer walk. #52 School was a large building and looked like a fortress.  It housed a large gymnasium that doubled as an auditorium and offered enough land surrounding it for basic lawn sports. The area Little League baseball games were held in a lot across the street in back of a fenced area that housed the electrical power station. 

There were two ways to walk to the school. The conventional way was of course to walk down Garson Ave. to Wyand Crescent, turn left and cross Merchants Rd., and continue on to the southeast entrance of the school at Farmington Rd. 

The other path to school was the much less traveled by students near Garson Ave and Sodus St. But to the Coon boys it was the best route to take. Here’s the story  ---- 963 Garson Ave. was located on the south side of the street, east of Culver Rd. and Clark St. and west of Alvord St. and Sodus St. In back of the Coon house with its long back yard, there was a 30' to 50' wide stretch of land that traveled from Culver Rd to Farmington Rd. This was where lay a set of trolley tracks from years gone-bye. Overgrown with grass yet still showing in spots the tracks made for a much more interesting and adventuress way to walk to school. It was less noisy with street sounds as there were no cars and most of the tracks were in a 4' to 5' trench that sloped up to the backwards and backs of houses along either side heading towards school. The sound of nature was louder as if gravity was pulling it down to the center of the trench from either side. It was at the back of our house, between Clarke and Alvord Streets, the "The Trolley Tracks were so solidly grown over and relatively flat that we were able to play neighborhood football on top of them as if they never existed. We kept this space mowed for the neighborhood games. The rest of the tracks from our house to school was a path between weed filled slops that gave great hiding for everything from rabbits to snakes, not to mention mud wasps. One morning Billy and Robert Jr. were taking the tracks to school between Sodus St and Merchants Road when they ran over a wasp nest on one of the slops. They almost lost their lives as each suffered hundreds of wasp stings. This is just one of the hundreds of memories and stories associated with "The Trolley Tracks". Robert, David, Billy and Philip can share their stories through all four seasons and their years from grammar school to times at "The New East High School".

Map from 963 Garson Ave. to #52 School

Then came Robert's graduation from East High in 1963 and the family moving to the suburb of Pittsford, NY.

East High School

Mae Bragg/DeWitte attended East High School, which was located on Alexander Street and faced the Alexander Street entrance to the First Reformed Church. She lived in the small house at 660 Parsells Ave. Extension during her high school years and mostly likely took a streetcar back and forth to school. She and her sister Doris shared one room on the main floor while her brothers Lloyd and Clayton made their room in the attic. 

 East High School  was located on Alexander Street 2 houses from Main Street

Later, her children would attend East High School at that same location. It was during the time when Shirley DeWitte/Coon's first 3 children attended East High School that the School was relocated to its present location on Main Street at Culver Rd.

Shirley remembers the graduation of each of her sisters from East High as well as her own.

Martha DeWitte continued her study of music at the Eastman School of Music. Later she would give private piano lessons to neighborhood children.

Evelyn DeWitte studied business and continued with studies at a 2-year Business College, which helped her with a career working for an attorney firm Van Squoyck, Woods and Warner as a legal secretary.

Shirley studied music and was part of the Inter-High choir, which assembled every Saturday at the Eastman School of Music for rehearsals. After high school she attended the above-mentioned Business College and went on to work at McCurdy's Department Store where she worked in the office. After a year she started worked in bookkeeping at Lincoln Alliance Bank.

Jean DeWitte was also a student of music, specializing in violin and singing (voice training). She in addition received private voice lessons at the Eastman School of Music by the best singing coach at the school. She continued her education at Brockport State College where her major was teaching which prepared her for her teaching career with 2^nd and 3^rd grade students at Spencerport Central Elementary School.

Barbara DeWitte was the youngest of the DeWitte girls and studied piano and singing while at East High School, and continued her education at Fredonia College in Fredonia, NY. She worked as a teller at the bank in Williamson, NY and then the Town of Williamson City Clerks Office where she stayed until she retired.

Shirley's son Robert graduated from the new East High School on Main Street at Culver Rd. in 1963 while two other sons, David and William although attending East High would graduate from Pittsford High School after the family moved in that same year to 65 Stuyvesant Rd. in Pittsford, NY.

The new East High School of 1959 was located on Main Street at Culver Rd.

Shirley and her husband Robert and their children lived on the right-hand side at 963 Garson Ave., which was heading away from Culver Rd. in the 2^nd block between Clark Street and Alvord Street. So, when East High School relocated the walking distance took only 15 min's.

The biggest challenge about attending East High after the change was the gang fights and students carrying knives. This prompted the family to move to Pittsford. All the children after Robert graduated from Pittsford High School. David and especially Robert Coon could attest to the gang wars and rise in the level of crime associated with East High in the early 1960s. There was a push by the students to either be a member of the White Sneakers Gang or the Greasers. The White Sneakers was the name given to anyone who was cocas ion, wore white sneakers, white Levis jeans, and open button down collared shirts. The haircut was called the Princeton after the style of cut found at Princeton University. The idea was that the student would go to an Ivey League College after graduation. The Greasers wore black pointed shoes, dark cloths and a hair cut called the "DA" which was short for "Ducks Ass", because it was slicked back on both sides and from the back looked like what the name implied. The school had its Nerds but was mostly was made up of characters like Eric who's family was from Sweden with a father who would beat his son. Eric swore he would lift weights, get strong and beat his father to death. He did, he did, and he did. And then there was Ernie who's brother shot him in the eye with a BB gun. Ernie wasn't like the other Greasers in that he was kind and not a show off, but he wore the outfit and slicked back the hair. Most of the White Sneakers were involved in sports with the Greasers causing trouble in their part of town. Not that the Sneakers didn't cause their share of trouble. I remember the party that was held at the farmhouse that Joe inherited from his uncle. The word got out that the party was to be held during "Thanksgiving Break" and that any college student and the East High Sneakers could attend. The police found some 10,000 beer cans and bottles the next day and the farm house which had approx. 20 rooms was totally destroyed. The cost was to be made up by what the newspapers called the unfortunate 44. These were the 44 parents of the students at East High who helped organize the party. David and Robert were on the list even thought they did not drink or cause any damage. The relaxing point came when the father of Joe who was a Public Official and his friend the Chief of Police who had two sons on the list decided that it would be best to not call attention to themselves or their sons. All charges were dropped.