When I was 5 years old, my dad's job transferred him so we moved to a very small town in central Illinois. I had just started kindergarten at the previous town, so that would have made us moving there sometime in the late summer of 1973. This town, Ashmore, had a population of 400 people when we moved there. The local grade school only went to the 4th grade and from there kids were shipped off to the next town. Actually, most people who lived there commuted to the next town for everything.
Ashmore at the time had no grocery store, no gas station, no library...wait, it would be easier to list what Ashmore did have! 3 churches, 2 bars, 1 restaurant/bar, 1 greasy spoon diner, 1 car wash, 1 farm implement store (their tractors are the same color as medium green fiesta), railroad tracks and an auction house. The guy who owned the auction house is a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. He also built the subdivision that we lived in, needless to say though, his construction skills are lacking. About 10 years later, the auction house would become a furniture store. And to this date, I don't know how, but that furniture store is still operating.
Ashmore also had 1 park. This park had a baseball diamond and a pavilion. There are no swings, slides or merry-go-rounds though. Oh yeah, they also had a water spigot at the park...wow, how fancy. LOL Actually it was sad because the people who lived across the street with their 20 million cats (slight exaggeration) didn't have running water and would get their water from that spigot. The kids could play on the equipment at the grade school if they wanted, but besides riding bicycles, there wasn't much else to do.
The school was actually new when I first started. I think it had been built the year before. Very close to the school was what remained of the old school, which had been torn down (except for the gym) when the new school opened. The "Old Gym" was opened up at various times for different activities. The first two years I was there, the school actually went up to the 6th grade. But when I started 3rd grade, the school district changed to where all the 5th and 6th grade classes were taught at one school. My class was the smallest class (what exactly did happen in 1967?) There was usually only 18 to 20 kids. When we started 4th grade, the school district actually bussed kids in from the next town just to make our class a little bit bigger.
For a brief time, my mom had helped start the Ashmore Library. Being that she worked at the university library, she had lots of knowledge. The library did grow and was moved into a much bigger building, but the library closed a little bit later. It was sad to see it close with all the hard work that had been put into that place. My mom was also did a lot of work for "Ashmore Days" (bet you have never been there! lol) Even though the pluralized name makes it sound like it would be more than 1 day, that is how long the event was. My mom was instrumental in bringing a parade to the event. So the day would begin with the parade. The parade would start at one end of town, snake past the few house and many cornfields and would end at the park with no playground equipment. Many food vendors, sale booths, carnival rides, etc. would be set up around the park. There were also different contests and the day would end with the pig roast. I am not sure how many parades me mom actually got to see, I believe it might have only been the first parade. She died shortly after that. The year after she died, they honored my mom by dedicating that Ashmore Days in her memory. My family got up and received a small plaque for all the hard work she had done. And most likely there would have never been a parade if she hadn't helped organize it.
I moved from Ashmore while I was in college. The population had grown to 900. There was now a fitness center (now closed), a gas station/grocery store and a new park that actually has playground equipment. The railroad tracks were long gone also. In 1992, my dad married another woman and moved to Charleston. My boyfriend at the time, Mark, and I moved to Ashmore into the house that I had grown up in. It was a strange experience living in that house. Mark and I both were working in Champaign/Urbana (where I live now) which is at least a one hour drive each way.
(start creepy music) Making it even more strange was that I was woken one night by a weird feeling. Mark was still asleep next to me (he never woke up for anything). I looked to the bedroom door and saw my mom standing there. My mom had been dead for almost 2 years. I was wide awake but I wasn't scared at all. She told me that everything was going to okay, she smiled and then disappeared. Then the most awesome feeling of peace settled over the room. Mark didn't believe me the next day when I told him. But a few months later, I told my dad about the experience. He said that he had a similar experience one night when he was driving home. Many months before, he had been on a date. He was driving home late and he was very tired. He started to fall asleep when something woke him up. He looked at the rear view mirror and saw my mom sitting there. He said it was the most peaceful feeling. And she told him the same thing, that everything was going to be okay. Neither one of us ever saw her again. (end creepy music)
I have only been to Ashmore maybe 5 times since I have moved away 17 years ago. Even though it is only an hour drive there, it seems like it is at least 2 lifetimes away. Both of my parents are buried there, very close to where the house I lived in. But the memories of my childhood are inside me, they don't need to see present day Ashmore to live on.
To give you and idea of the size of Ashmore, here is a picture from Yahoo maps of the big city, and yes, most of those big green areas are all corn and soybean fields (even in town). According to wikipedia.com, Ashmore has 809 people (2000 census) and is 0.8 sq miles, I am guessing that the town is a little over a mile long (north-south) and a little less than 1/2 mile wide (east-west).
Here is a closeup (as close as I can get from Yahoo maps) of the house(1), the school (2) and where my parents are buried(3).
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