*In 1992 I remember it bumper to bumper, people everywhere, quite a drastic difference there is now.*

There are more businesses downtown now then there were in 1992. All that was open then were dive bars.

Milk Jug Dairy and Carrie Ann's gift shop on Racine st where the Stop N Go is located.
Grant's in Creston Park, had the best hot dogs and buns EVER, plus an aquarium back by the office. Young Folks Shop there had a play corner for kids; corn cabin was great. The Logli grocery store used to be Schmidt's department store, good toy selection, but never quite as good as Brown's Hobby and Toys. Near the new Marshall Middle school, there was a great Pet Store. Art's Randall ave. grocery store was a great place to stop after school for penny candy. Frost Top root beer stand was great, it was first located on Milton Ave next to McDonalds near Blackbridge, then moved onto Kennedy Rd. The old Holiday Inn was at the edge of the city, now about mid-way down Milton Ave. They had an outdoor pool which was one of the most amazing things EVER. So many great stores in the downtown, like Bostwicks, Anderson's, Woolworth's, Jupiter, Dorothy's Record Card and Candle shop, Elliott's. In those days, we walked or rode our bikes everywhere

I've been in and out of Janesville all my life, normally for shopping as I reside in Fort.

As a boy in the 1960s, I remember there were my two favorite stores in Janesville...one was an Army-Navy surplus store near 5-points and the huge toy and hobby store that became a body-shop supply store.

I remember my first trip to a McDonalds was the one on Milton Ave. when it really was a set of golden arches, back in 1963.

Court Jester and Formerres, Thanks! Bonnies, i remember , I bought so much laffy taffy there, and now and laters, watermelon! Thanks again!
I had another great place. Nino's Steak House at Milton and Blackbridge, best house (french) dressing!

I remember a bar, which was located just about where Mt. Zion ends at Milton Avenue that had a dance floor and my parents and aunt and uncle used to go there quite often on Saturday nights to dance. Does anyone remember the name of the bar?

Does anyone remember the Tanglefoot roller rink?

No- It might have been dying but the banning of the circuit was the fatal blow. On a fri-sat night now as we walk from main st to O-rileys we are the only ones around, maybe 1-2 cars go by. In 1992 I remember it bumper to bumper, people everywhere, quite a drastic difference there is now.

I remember both roller rinks; adamany & arborsnots store on main st.; the town tap bar on main street, (olive & ham owned it); my family trying to drive up wheeler st.(hill) in the winter, cause we lived at the very top; playing games & doing crafts in vista park on saturdays in the summers; the GREAT janesville circuit; geri's hamburgers; swanson grocery store w/a glass or something my mom always got in a box of powder laundry soap w/green stamps..and many many more memories

*Downtown used to thrive before the circuit ban.. now look at it.*

Downtown was dead long before the "circuit" was "banned".

oh yes Bonnies- first cavity at 13 yrs old. Used to spend my lunch money on Candy. I was very hungry by the time I got home!

@BornnRaisedinJanesville: The name of that candy shop across from Marshall (Junior High) was "Bonnie's"

@BornnraisedinJanesville..the candy store was Bonnie's. When I was in MJH, one kid would take orders and sneak across at lunch. He didn't even take a margin!

I used to like hopping in the car and taking a cruise, seeing someone I know and pulling over in a parking lot to say hi.. Now if I attempted that I would be arrested.
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The old cruise nights were also fun. but because the JPD couldnt handle it now its all gone. More competent police departments in other cities can manage it.. wonder why JPD cant?
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Also used to be able to socialize in parks. Now if you pull over and talk to someone you get booted.
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Downtown used to thrive before the circuit ban.. now look at it. The city couldnt revive it if it tried. Its sad how poor management and dumb decisions can ruin a whole area. If it wernt for the interstate going through Janesville it would be in sad shape and the north side wouldnt be what it is.

http://www.mamarocks.com/do_you_remember...

jocose wrote..."I love reminiscing with perfect strangers."

Well, thank you...this is the first time anyone acknowledged that I'm perfect. LOL

We used to buy cases of 24 bottles of "colored" pop at Grey's - orange, cherry, black raspberry, lime. It came in 8-ounce glass bottles, which We recycled at Cohn & Katz. We also took our old newspapers there. We'd fill the trunk with bundled newspapers. When we took them in, they weighed the car on a large truck scale. After we removed the papers from the trunk, they weighed the car again, paying us per pound for the papers we'd left.

There used to be a store at the top of Milwaukee Street hill that sold penny candy, like Lik-M-Aid, licorice, and paper strips of dots candy. We'd stop there on our way home from school.

Dorothy's Record Shop on N. Main Street was the place to go for records. Every Wednesday or Thursday they came out with a list of the Top 40 of the week, sponsored by WLS radio station.

On Friday and Saturday nights when we were in junior high we went skating at Traxler Park. It was a great way to meet girlfriends and boyfriends without any adult chaperones (except for Mr. Westermann, who patrolled the rink).

Do either of the high schools still do "Sing Out"? For the senior awards ceremony, every senior was required to write a song. Several winning songs were then sung at the ceremony.

Elementary school playgrounds had summer programs for kids where they could play games, make arts and crafts, and participate in other activities. Many a parent received lovely lustre-lace keychains and knitted potholders as gifts that were made by their children at the playground.

Biwers Shoe Store on Main Street had an X-ray machine for helping to see whether shoes fit kids properly. Children would stick their feet in at the bottom, and parents could look through a viewer at the top to see a fluoroscopic view of their children's feet inside the shoes.

When the old Marshall Junior High was still in use, students who were in classrooms facing the river were entertained every spring by the large piles of soap suds floating down the river. They were sometimes 10-20 feet high. After phosphates were removed from detergents, the problem with soap suds disappeared.

Thank you to all of you whom have shared your memories and history about Janesville. Obviously,I am not a native to the area but I do have an appreciation of history. Thanks again.

I was too young too see the streetcars, didn't miss them by too many years, I guess. There used to be the tracks all over the place, I think some of them are still there, just paved over. Did see the police on the three wheeled motorcycles, I would assume that they were Harley Davidson 45 cubic inch flatheads. I owned one of them much later after a "bubba" had got his hands on it and bubbaed it up pretty bad. It would be cool to have one in original configuration.

I have many memories of Janesville, but some I tell my children and grandchildren would be the Hitching Post Theater, across from the Jeffries, which for one low price in the l940's had 5 westerns on a Saturday afternoon. I also remember that with gas at 26 cents per gallon in the l950's we could spend all evening "riding the circuit".

When I saw this column, I had to chime in. I was born in 65 and raised in the 70's. What a different time! That 70's show, that was my life growing up in Janesville. Mom was a nurse and I had a lot fun. Some my my fav memories: Shopping with one of my Grandmother's at the old Swanson's grocery.Going with my other Grandmother to their families bakery, Pregont's bakery.Shopping downtown,Woolworths,Sheehan Shoes, and lunch and dinner at Krause's Town and Country, the best restaurant ever! Getting donuts at the Dixie Creme. Swimming and drinking out of the bubblers at both Palmer and Riverside Parks. As I got older Marshall junior high was a great place to go to school. The shops downstairs , the music wing, the beautiful auditorium,and the dances in the gym. I can't believe it is a n apt complex now! Does anyone remember the name of the candy store across the street from MJH? We used to hang out behind the store and smoke. Anyone remember stawberry hill up the hill from MJH? Fun times!
Now the mall. Bishop's Buffet, Zerro's and the Backstage, were my favorite places.We would hang out all day at the mall sit in the sunken pits and see the Conte Family perform on the Stage in from of Weises. Anyone remember them?
I have many fond memories of growing up in Janesville, have been gone since I was 19 but will never forget. I could fill these pages with all of the memories and places. Thanks Janesville!

I remember Jeffris Theater used to sell ticket cards for Saturday matinees for kids during the sumnmer. It cost something like $1.00 or $1.50 for 12 Saturdays. The card had tear-off tickets about the same size as those little tickets newspaper carriers would give out as payment receipts for each week of a Gazette subscription.

They would run a cartoon and a chapter from a serial, such as Commando Cody or Zorro, and then a "choice" movie. I recall "Santa Claus vs the Martians" was one, and I think every movie that Jerry Lewis or Don Knotts ever starred in was shown, as well as many of the Disney films (long after their first run, I'd guess).

The place was usually packed with kids and my brother and sister and I would get 50 cents spending money. Candy bars and ice cream treats were 35 cents back then.

I also remember the theater in the Janesville Mall and how impressive it was with 3 (count them, three) screens. I was one of the first in line for the original Star Trek movie the day it opened there.

Does anyone remember Scuzzie's on Milton Ave., right across the street from Scuddle's?

Scuzzie's served the best sauerkraut and chocolate milk casserole in town.

Man oh Manoshivitz.

Woodchuck..
I believe the Meadow was actually out on Hwy 11 West.. I remember that Neil Diamond played there in the middle to late 60’s……….It became Ace High Roller Rink Where I as well spent many of my evenings as a young man..

I love reminiscing with perfect strangers.

Here's something from Bruce Springsteen about hometowns:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CSFSX-Qh...

Janesville is our "adopted" home town. The wife is from Shawano Co. and I'm from St. Louis. We moved to Janesville in 1976 from Chicago. Our kids went to school here from elementary through HS. They went to college at Whitewater.
Me and the wife are in Janesville; our kids have moved elsewhere for work. When we have the grandkids in town we drive them by Roosevelt, Marshall, or Craig and tell them "your dad went to school here, or we take them to Palmer Park where we took their dad when he was a kid.
I think Janesville natives sometimes don't realize what a good place this town is.

As a former resident I have many childhood memories. The military took me away except for a short stint while I attended Whitewater State Teacher's College as it was then called. My family finally settled in North Dakota. But I still remember my hometown. Many of those things have been mentioned by your readers. A couple of my own are going for groceries at "little Woodman's" before I could read. My Mom would draw pictures of a loaf of bread or a carton of milk. The checkers would help me to find what I needed. I also remember walking by the old Gazette building looking down into the press room to wave at my grandfather who was the foreman back then. So many years ago. Thanks Steve.

Mr. Bickle made the floors of Washington School shine. The kids from Grant School went to Washington after about 4th grade and we had new friends. Mr. Austin was the grade school gym teacher for boys and his wife for girls. What a couple. Wonderful folks. We used to pass the old Tallman House when we walked downtown on Friday nights. At that time it was not a museum, just a spooky old house. Counting the hot dogs at Sam and Johns was a harrowing pastime and shooting pool at Canons and Milwaukee Street was not one-way. Learned to smoke behind the Sears store and in the men's room at Jeffrees Theater and watched westerns at The Hitching Post and went to The Beverly for 12 cents and the PTA shows on Saturdays. Snaked through the downtown for the pep rally for the Janesville-Beloit game and went to The Pop House in Beloit with my blue leather jacket and white bucks. Janesville was a lot like every industrial town and was my home town. Every home had a sidewalk in front of it and kids skated with skates held on with clamps. Lots of skinned knees and a few broken hearts. Fun to recall the past, but the present is far better and the future will be better still.

The store was Simonsen's Grocery on Glen and Caroline. Adams park was just across the street. Many happy memories from both! Was sent in to Simonsen's frequently for a pound of big bologna, sliced... "just like Mr Simonsen knew Mom wanted it...! "Just put it on the bill" was how it worked! They knew us, we knew them... so simple! Groceries were fine for charges, but candy etc...??? Did not happen!!
In the summer, the park was the place to go for sports, crafts, field trips with soggy sandwiches and warm soda...:) In the winter- they flooded the baseball diamond and... woolah.... ice rink! Learned to skate there on my big brothers hockey skates! Glad my kids know these stories, and have seen these places... priceless

Steve - I remember that little store at Glen and Caroline. I used to walk by it twice a day going to and from school (a mile each way - do kids even walk to school anymore?) I used to stop and buy penny candy if I had any of my 10 cent weekly allowance left.

JVLBadger - I bet you're very close to my age based on your recollections. I'm 60. You had a good list. Remember the big burger at Toot-n-Tell, the Giant Steer? I bet it wouldn't even look so big by today's standards.

Does anybody remember a short-lived psychodelic dance club for teens called The Meadow? It was started by one of the Marling boys and somebody else. I think it was out by Riverside Park.

I haven't live in Janesville in over 40 years, but I have nothing but fond memories of growing up there. It was a Leave it to Beaver world back then.

Having grown up in Beloit which left me with many great childhood memories, I have many, many from my adult years in the great City of Janesville.

Oh my! The memories! Centerway bridge (then called 4th Avenue bridge) was so narrow that my aunt was afraid to drive across it. Winter skating at Goose Island, now called Traxler Park. Mid-City drive in and Highway 26 drive in and sneaking in several friends in my friend's old Studebaker. The best hamburger and fries at the Toot 'n Tell on Highway 51. Sitting in the balcony at the Myers Theater and dodging the bats that were always flying about. Many Friday nights at Swing Lobby at the YWCA and then Cabaret at the YMCA. Root beer and MaidRites at Frostop, unequaled anywhere else. Running out of gas going up Court St. hill then coasting down to the Clark Station to buy a gallon of gas for 25 cents. Taking swim classes every summer at Lions Beach. The many activities at the school playgrounds every day in the summer. With air-conditioning a rarity in Janesville way back then, we often slept outside on porches and would wake up covered with dew. Watching the big trucks that would go down the streets spraying DDT to kill mosquitoes. Always worrying at the end of the school year if we would be passed on to the next grade. Yes, they really did hold kids back in those days. All in all, it was a great place to grow up. I am grateful that this place was my birthplace. I did leave for a while but came back and raised my family here.

I remember when we thought the hole they used as the dump could never be filled....back when it didn't smell so bad.

Nice job Steve, you always seem to bring up a topic that promotes a lot of interest..Thanks !

Before Janesville became the City of Parks, I believe it was called the Arbor City because of all those big old elms.

I grew up on Eisenhower Ave in the late '50s and '60s before all the big elm trees were killed by Dutch elm disease. The vase shape of those trees on both sides of the street made a beautiful, shady Gothic arch down the streets as far as you could see.

Sometimes I test my memory by trying to remember what St. Mary's Ave. (E. Memorial Drive now) looked like coming down to Traxler park before the Memorial Bridge was built. I seem to recall that bridge was talked about for years before they finally built it. I wish there was a picture of before the bridge. I remember riding my bike down that hill.

The building that Steil law office is in is very interesting. I had questions about what builing was that. It used to originally be a four story, then they added one story on(as seen in one of those Gazette photos). Then back to 4 story. Some bays were on it at one time as well. Now stucco crap and only 3 story.
I loved the mall fountain, the sunken areas.
Lots of memories and some forgotten as well.
The Trax burned down and was old enough to remember but don't have any memories. I don't even recall the building being near centerway.
That explosion on Main Steet also when I was young. Seems lots of fires downtown. T sad so many cool building down there are gone. IF Graft doesn't start taking care of Monteray and letting the RAIN make the ceiling fall down it will to disappear. Sell it if you don't CARE! Stop collecting the cash up top and sell it!

The Good Ole Days in Janesville? How about riding the circuit back in the 70's, down Milwaukee Ave and back around up Court St. Its funny how hundreds of kids could conviene on a Friday and Saturday night for hours and never cause any vandalism or drunken problems. The old drive in theater that used to sit on Milton avenue was a favorite place to go and watch the latest movies and hang out with friends also. Of course then I always had to take my girlfriend to Geri's on the corner of Rockport and Center so she could get a dose of those fries. That was her worst addiction. Remember how people would stand in awe looking at the Chevy plant and the acres and acres of cars sitting out in the field waiting for the Jatco trucks to carry them away? Now to look at it reminds a person of the south side of Chicago. Not so pretty. Times have changed and in my opinion, not so much for the better.

Here's the gallery we ran last year on Janesville's history: http://www.gazettextra.com/photos/galler...

Every time I drive up Skyview to Wuthering Hills I remember it was the gravel driveway to the Schneider farm. To the left where the church is was the house, and to the right was the barn with milking cows and the electric fence around it. Then I remember they lost two sons in the Vietnam war.
http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SchneiderW...
http://www.virtualwall.org/ds/SchneiderH...

Wish I could. Moved here in '97. but I feel your nostalgia. Whenever I'm back "home" in Capron, IL, I will drive up n down the side streets of the small town (pop. 650 back then) remembering the things I did on almost every corner.