The history of the Champ "Goodwood" farm on Brown Road...

Many of use grew up knowing there was a pond that we had access summer and winter. This was located on the Champ 300 acre estate and was purchased in 1913 from Joe Lucas by Mr. and Mrs. C.E. Champ. The Lucus's raised horses here and even had a small  race track where they trained their horses and raced them on the old Kinloch race track.  (Lucus & Hunt road was named with Joe Lucus in mind).

 Mr C.E. Champ, founder of Champ Spring Company in St. Louis originally bought the *Goodwood  farm  and began Champ Dairy as a hobby. After his death in 1933, his Son, Norman Champ became a prominent citizen and one of Berkeley's first Alderman. 

The original home contained many beautiful furnishings, antiques and souvenirs collected while traveling around the world. Sadly, this beautiful home burned to the ground in 1917. Norman Champ rebuilt the 20 room home we remember to replace the home that burned. The elder Mr. Champ put up the money to connect a road from Natural Bridge road to St. Charles Rock Road known as Brown Road. He also paid to have water piped from Carsonville to use at his dairy operation. He allowed local residents to attach to this water line so they could have "city water". I had the honor of visiting this beautiful home several times with my father when they had city business to discuss. 

Many of us have fond memories of "skinny dipping", fishing and ice skating on Camps Pond. Mr. Champ never chased us while using his pond and it was just a place we felt we were welcome to use. Some times we had to nudge a few cows out of the way and hope the Ol' Bull wouldn't get bent out of shape and chase us away at full speed. It was a great time and town to grow up with the laid back country living atmosphere we now treasure. 

And how many remember the "Double Curve" in front of the Champ Home? It was local sport to see how fast you could drive your car around this double curve without rolling over. More than one didn't make the right speed calculation and ended up with four wheels in the air. (My personal speed record was 35 MPH while remaining on all  four wheels.) The other favorite spots for attempting to defy the laws of gravity were Long Road in Bridgeton and later the "Hump" on Airport road shortly before it was closed for the airport expansion. A BHS daredevil named Biff Bell decided during one lunch hour to see how high he could fly his fathers new car on this "Hump" and several of my classmates accompanied him on this ill fated world record and luckily came out with just a few bumps and bruises. Biff Bell never made Guinness's book of records that day but I'm sure his father wasn't a very happy camper when he saw what his son had done to his new auto.      

*The name "Goodwood" came from an English Manor House the Champs encountered in their travels. 

 Freida Patterson and Elaine Combs were about to trip the "Light Fantastic" on Champs pond in 1949. It was later reported that they only "tripped"!

Two BHS Classmates working out on Champs pond for the Ice Capades!

I have unearthed some more interesting history about the Champ "Goodwood" Farm which was on Brown road across from Country Day School. Many of us enjoyed access to this well known Pond both summer and winter. Shown below are two of BHS's Debutantes about to make their Ice Capade performance on Champ's Pond in 1949.

(Freida Patterson and Elaine Combs) 

Today all these memories are buried by the questionable expansion of Lambert-International Airport.

The brick pillars remnants of the Chew Family's acreage still remain...

Despite the degradation of Berkeley, if you squint your eyes while passing the corner of Evergreen and Airport Road you will find a small vestige of the brick pillars that remain today of the Chew home from the late 1800's. Phil Chew was a real estate promoter and in the late 1800's sponsored visits via the Wabash train to the area hoping  "City Folks" would buy his real estate offerings. He had a 3 acre estate on this corner and erected the brick pillared entrance to his home.

This later became the home of the C.C. Miller family and I remember the beautiful brick pillars which greeted me when I visited the Miller family. I always wondered about the brick pillars and just recently found out the above facts as to who was responsible for them.

Mr. & Mrs. Miller provided five students to our school system. (Ruth, Laddie, Don, Joan and Jean). Mr. Miller served on the School Board for many years. Joan (AKA Red Miller) and I started our education in 1938 under the tutelage of Mrs. Barker and we graduated in 1950 along with 24 other classmates (including my bride of 60 years) who completed all 12 grades together. Jean (AKA Wee) is scouring her memorabilia files in the hope of finding a picture of these pillars to remind all of us who glanced at them in passing and never gave them the proper respect they deserved.

Berkeley is replete with many historic events and with the help of many who are furnishing me this valuable information, I will endeavor to post it as quickly as I can. Deann Deimeke sent me a commemorative issue of the 1957 Public News special edition marking twenty years of Berkeley's progress.  It is chocked full of historic data that I will post. The paper is a bit degraded by age and requires a bit of eyestrain to properly record it's valuable historic information. I  am also indebted to Shirley Wilkins, The Bean sisters, (Leverne and Azlee) Jean Miller and the Combs sisters for all their historic facts and data they have provided. (and a thank you to all others if I have forgotten you).   Keep checking, there is a "whole bunch" more coming!

Eureka! In the 1957 Public News, I found the picture below of what Phil Chew's Estate entrance looked like in it's heyday.  From what I see in this picture, the house on the left appears to be the home the Millers lived in. The home near the entrance had been replaced with the Miller's large garage during my time. Today, only a few bricks remain of the Pillared entrance.   

Lt. Col. David Spotswood's Father instrumental in the founding of Berkeley's Zion Baptist Church

Check out Classmate Photo's tab for Class of 1955 50th Reunion Book!

Thanks to Leverne (Bean) Hahn and Aslee (Bean) Tucker I was able to download a copy of the Class of 1955's Mini Book of Memories of their 50th Reunion. Also check out Berkeley Historical Facts tab to find out how Berkeley got it's name! 

And be sure to scroll down and read about Lt. Col. David T. Spotswood  (Class of '48).

Check out the new information in the School Day Memories tab!

I received a warning from the ASPCA  for not remembering our BHS Mascot on the blog. It's been so long ago since I last scratched his back that I forgot his name. Does anybody remember our mascots name?

(Photo submitted by Lavern (Bean) Hahn)

I have added the Class of 1947 and 1955 Graduations Programs on the School Day Memories tab which have been furnished by Azlee (Bean) Tucker and Leverne (Bean) Hahn. Check this page often as I have much more to add!

Hometown pride for one of our classmates (Class of '48)

I grew up with this classmate as we both lived nearby. He had a consuming interest in aviation and had his Pilots License in his sophomore year (1946) at BHS. I was two class years behind him and I had my student pilots license when I was a freshman.  He became a member of  the Missouri National Air Guard and later joined the United States Air Force. This progressed into being a pilot in the US Air Force which gave him a front row seat in the Korean war. During the Korean war, he served and flew with General Benjamin O. Davis in the 51th Fighter Wing and piloted B-26 Light Attack Bombers of the 13th Bomb Squadron. General Davis was commander of "The Tuskeege Airmen", the famous "Red Tail Devils" who gave our WW II enemies a lot of "Hurt" with this superior piloting skills. Our classmate later tested new types of parachutes (6511 Parachute Development & Test Group). The next assignment was maintaining 10 RB-36 H Heavy Reconnaissance Bombers in the 5th Bomb Wing at Travis Air Force Base (AFB) then 15 B-52G Heavy Jet Bombers at Beale AFB in California. His next assignment was the 1st Strategic Recon Squadron and then the "Piece de Resistance"...the SR-71 Blackbird off and on for 10 years. After that assignment, he then was assigned to the Titan and Titan II program. His final assignment before retirement was flying a Desk! General MacArthur said, "Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away". When your retire from the Air Force, you just drop your landing gear for the last time, set the parking brakes and walk away into the wild blue yonder. This Officer and Gentleman is:

Lt. Col. David T. Spotswood

But this not the end of this biography, as you have to know what David flew to really get a feel for what he flew. He piloted the famed SR-71 Blackbird. The SR-71 was affectionately referred to by it's pilots as the "Sled".  This aircraft was an still is the fastest "Air-breathing Aircraft" ever flown. It had a design center speed of Mach 3.2  (Which is 3.2 times the speed of sound which roughly equals over 2,200 MPH).  When you fly an aircraft that fast, the airframe skin temperature would reach over 500 Degrees F. and the inside of the windshield would reach 250 Degrees F. requiring a robust coolant system. This was achieved with an air conditioner that used a heat exchanger to dump heat from the cockpit into the fuel prior to combustion. Two thirds of the fuselage and half the wing space was devoted to 84,180 pounds of  fuel (JP-7) which weighed in as 12,200 gallons of fuel. This fuel supply helped to regulate the plane's center of gravity as well as provide cooling for the aircraft.

Talk about skill... how would you like to "Gas up" at 500 + MPH?

"Fill 'er up with 3,500 gallons of Premium JP-7 and try not to spill any on my windshield!"

Now the scary part of this story is this aircraft flew at 80,000 feet above the Earth which required pressurization for the pilots survival. If the pilot would have to eject at this altitude and speed he would be subjected to temperatures over 450 Degrees F and a blast that would make a sledge hammer blow feel like a tap on the shoulder. Very special  pressurized suits were worn with a oxygen supply and a parachute that would open at 15,000 feet after a free fall from 75,000 to 80,000 feet. (Even if the pilot was unconscious ). David had to undergo Altitude Chamber training which would attempt to mimic these "Punch Out" conditions should he ever have to encounter this condition.

The SR-71 had two Pratt & Whitney J58-P4 engines which each produced 37,500 pounds of thrust static dry weight and 57,000 pounds of thrust each on afterburner. A rough rule of thumb, I believe is a direct conversion of one pound of thrust equals approximately 3/4 horsepower. If my rule holds water, David as astraddle a 100,000 Horse Power beast flying at Mach 3.2 +  and was surrounded with heat high enough to roast a Turkey in the cockpit for lunch if he had room for it. His takeoff weight was in the range of 100,000 to 120,000 pounds because of fuel leakage. Once airborne, the first thing he did after heating up the airframe was look for a "Big Gulp" tanker for a long drink. Once the airframe heated up, the fuel tank quit leaking. What an experience it must have been to fly this airborne miracle of design and engineering. David said the in-flight refueling was a stressful experience.

This refueling procedure had two variables in the equation. The Tanker was flying almost full bore at approx .9 Mach and the SR-71 had to slow down to .9 Mach to "Thread the needle" with the fuel connection into his refueling port. The match up of speed for this refueling must have been a nail biter.

The Blackbird was retired by the U.S. Air Force in 1990 after 25 years of service. I have had the chance to see Blackbird # 61-7976 (it's serial number) at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Museum in  Dayton, Ohio. I was in awe just standing along side of it and touching it's wings now at room temperature who's Titanium wing surface had many times reached over 1,000 Degrees F on the leading edges of the wings. This aircraft is one of the most unique airplanes ever built. It leaked fuel on the ground and had to be refueled after taking off because the fuselage panels had to be fitted loosely on the ground and became properly aligned and expanded once the aircraft's operating temperature was reached. When this happened, the fuel tanks quit leaking! The airframe of the SR-71 expanded several inches during this transition from take off temperature to operating temperature once cruising altitude and speed were reached.

 I could go on and on about this aircraft and the pilots who flew them as they were heroes each and ever time they took flight in this "Animal" ... The  Sled! This airplane demand the best and I am proud to say I know a boy from Berkeley who attained this degree of courage and skill to master the art of flying a SR-71 Blackbird. 

In closing, I will give you an idea of how fast this aircraft flew:

New York to London                                   1 hr., 54 min., 56.4 sec.

London to Los Angeles                              3 hr., 47 min., 20 sec.

West Coast to east Coast U.S.A.               1 hr., 7 min., 54 sec.

St. Louis to Cincinnati                                8 minutes

Kansas City to Washington D.C.              26 minutes

Lt. Col. David T. Spotswood we are very, very proud of you and your service to our country! We will have the pleasure to seeing David again at our reunion and I look forward snapping him a proud salute.

(David, I am proud of your piloting achievements and those of us who have piloted an aircraft realize the tremendous skill and coordination it took to master that aircraft. Consider me your number  #1 admirer!  -  Joe  H. Sowders)

                                   

Aviation influenced your life in Berkeley...

Whether you believe it or not...living in Berkeley gave you a daily dose of aviation! Remember the airplane engines droning on landing and take offs. Or, the airplanes being tested on the firing range of McDonnell Aircraft. When the jet age arrived, we heard a new level of noise especially when they kicked in the after burners on take off. This practice was later restricted because of the extreme noise level. I remember the rattle of the .50 caliber machine guns and 20 MM Cannons being tested for aim which was a regular occurrence and could happen day or night.

The busy time of the Airline traffic was in the morning and evening with the cacophony at times making conversation difficult of not impossible until it abated. I remember many times being on the telephone and telling somebody to hold on until the airplane noise stops. Despite the noise, we became acclimated to it and it seems to be a subliminal aggravation that we tuned out.

During WW II, each warplane had a distinctive engine note that made it easy to identify without even  looking to the sky. I could tell by their exhaust sound whether it was a P-40, P-39, P-51, P47, AT-10 AT-6 , DC-3, B-25, B-17, B-29, B-36 and on and on... The jet age took that identity factor away as most jet engines sound alike...loud! I use to listen for the pilot to change the prop pitch once he got airborne. My love of aviation was further enriched by working at Lambert Field all during my High School years. If I wasn't working there I spend my off hours there just soaking up the activities and the characters that made Lambert Field tick like Carl Hempel, "Pappy" Downs, Ed Tayloe, Bob Turner, George Martak, Aaron Spotswood, David Spotswood (licensed pilot in his sophomore year) and myself at age 14 learning to fly.

We also had several close calls with plane crashes. In 1941 a P-40 fighter crashed just a few feet off the BHS schoolyard which was about 500 yards from my home. I remember running up to find the pilot dead and covered with blood and mud when he plowed into the ground. Joan (Miller) Weber had a jet crash that nearly took her roof off. I remember a DC-3 crashing just off Natural Bridge road in mid Bridgeton and it was very close to Bill Lambert's home. But...the crash that was the most tragic was the glider crash in August of 1943.
 
In this glider crash were ten people including the Mayor of St. Louis ( William D. Becker), William N. Dysart (Pres. of the St. Louis Chamber of Commerce, Max H. Doyne (Dir. of Public Utilities), Charles L. Cunningham (Deputy Controller), Henry L. Mueller ( Presiding Judge -County Court), Major William B. Robertson, Veteran Aviation enthusiast and President of Robertson Aircraft Corporation who made the glider that crashed), Capt. Milton C. Klugh (71st Troop carrier Command and pilot of the glider), Lt. Col Paul H. Hazelton (US Airforce), Harold A. Krueger-VP of Mfg. & Gen.Manager of Robertson Aircraft Corp.) and PFC J.M. Davis attached to the 71th Troop Carrier Command.

This glider had made a flight prior to the second flight which had the above dignitaries aboard. A moment after being released from the tow plane, the right wing buckled and fell from the fuselage. The glider disintegrated and plummeted to the ground before the spectators at Lambert Field with bodies and parts of the glider bouncing 50 feet in to the air and scattering pieces of debris all over the field. It was later found that a defective part that attached the wing to the fuselage was the cause of the crash.

Finally...a photo of the Red School House Cornerstone laid 110 years ago

Thanks to Art  McClusky, we now have a good, clear photo of the Red School House Cornerstone laid in August of 1902 with the names of the School Board members and the Architect . Art's Mother still lives in the Airport Road and Evergreen area. I can't thank him enough as we have been trying to get a good picture of the Cornerstone and finally out of the blue, Art McClusky saved the day. I hope to have more on Art's bio and reflections of his school days in Berkeley. Again...Thanks Art!

Be sure to click on the Red School House tab as this Corner Stone awakened some more of my memory's of an alligator running wild in Berkeley!  I've got a lot more "stuff" to put on our blog so check it often... 

Class of 1947 TROUBADOUR Yearbook Found and Restored!!

Through the efforts of several Classmates of 1947, I have been able to restore a tattered and badly worn copy of the 1947 TROUBADOUR. It has now been brought back to life and will be included in the School Day Memories section and can be read by simply clicking on the tab to open for viewing and reading. This is the first edition of the Troubadour that resumed production after WW II and is chocked full of interesting information including the Junior High Student's roster. Many of us are in this yearbook of BHS history and hopefully will be reunited at the Reunion.

If anybody would like a copy, I can get Kinko's to make additional bound copies at a cost of $10 each. Check the School Days Memories tab often as I have a lot of "stuff" to add to this section.

The USA's First Lady Postmistress Appointment . . . It happened in Nuroad, MO

Mrs. Nellie M Hamilton - Postmistress

Another First for Nuroad/Berkeley, MO!

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed the first lady Postmistress of the USA to Mrs. Nellie M. Hamilton to the Nuroad, MO Post Office. Mrs. Nellie M. Hamilton was our grandmother (Bill, Jesse (AKA Bush), Mike & Joe Sowders plus Dorothy, June and Suzy Hamilton). We all helped during the Christmas rush to get the mail sorted and the packages ready to be packed into the Post Office Bags resembling duffel bags with an official US Postal Service lock. Also, in the Springtime, a Postal Truck would deliver boxes that were alive and they emitted a "cheep-cheep" sound...They were baby chicks and were shipped via the Postal Service and amazingly they arrived alive. Can you imagine this happening today? They would be petrified by the time they arrived via "snail mail" today.

This post office was located in the front of our grandparents living quarters which had served previously as a bakery shop and was located as the intersection of Graham and Airport Roads. Some of our classmates will remember having to pick up their mail at this Post Office. For a very low sum, you could rent a Post Office Box which had your name on it and it had a combination lock which you could unlock and get your mail after hours. If you didn't have a P.O. Box, your mail was sorted to the General Delivery bin and you had to pick up your mail personally from the Postmistress during the regular business hours. She would then thumb through the stack until she found your mail and hand it to you through the clerks window. Mail service had a personal touch in this Post Office and it also served as a meeting place where many exchanged the local gossip and happenings of the town. My how things have changed today as a trip to the Post Office is akin to "A walk on the wild side".

The payment a Postmaster received in those days was the amount of stamp cancellations each day. A letter's postage was 3 cents postage at that time and if you received 10 letters to be mailed that day, you received 30 cents for your days pay. The article below makes reference to this method of payment and the paltry sum she received each month.

The attached newspaper article pays tribute to the Nuroad, MO Postmistress upon her passing away in October 1954 while I was in Korea. It portrays the lovable person she was as well as the matriarch of our family. During the "Hard Time 30's she helped our entire family through those tough times. 

                                                  To enlarge...Left Click on article

Check out the new addition to Berkeley Historical Facts Tab

I have scanned some more interesting historical information concerning early history when Berkeley was called Kinloch. Next, it was called Nuroad for about seven years before it became Berkeley City, MO  in 1937. I have a lot more facts but that will have to wait until tomorrow as it is beyond my bed time. A roster of all the inhabitants of Nuroad in 1931 will be next. You might find your parents or grandparents listed as this was published in 1931.

Great news . . . Coach Schnell and Carolyn are coming to our Reunion

Due to the change of date for our reunion, Coach Schnell, Carolyn and their son and friend will be coming and this will make a lot of our classmates very happy. Sometimes change is for the better! The picture above is Coach Schnell and Elaine (Combs) Noble at a reunion of 2003.

I have just struck the "Mother Lode" of historic first's from Berkeley, MO

I never knew some of the first's that took place in our hometown area. As soon as I can scan a wealth of historic data, I will post it on the "Berkeley Historic Facts" tab on our blog. What started out to be a Blog about our classmates has unearthed many very interesting things. This is a teaser about whats coming!
>Airmail began from Kinlock Field (Now Lambert Field)
>First Female Postmistress in the entire USA was appointed in Nuroad, MO which became Berkeley City
>A list of all the households in Nuroad, MO 1931. Plus some historic facts that will be very interesting. 
and much more with some fantastic pictures and narrative that Deann Diemeke has sent to me. I am on "overload" getting all this information together for posting. Bear with me and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have in finding all this historic information.