Corbett comments: Rather than an interview, Bill Vorbeck decided to write down his memories. He and I had met a couple of times to discuss various photographs he was lending me, and in the process we shared lots of memories. Bill graciously agreed to write his down. It is with great pleasure that I post these to the web site for your enjoyment! (Dec. 26, 1999)
I was born, an baptized William James Vorbeck, January 1933, the son of John L. and Mary J. McKelvey-Vorbeck in the Catholic Parish of Epiphany. We lived in the 6600 block of Hoffman Avenue in South St. Louis. In 1937 our family moved to St. James the Greater Parish.
Our first home was on Tamm Avenue, at the bottom of the hill, located on the East side of the street one block North of Manchester Avenue where Brockschmidt intersects with Tamm Avenue. After a year or two we moved to 1500 Tamm Avenue, in a new house built by John Badendick, on the southeast corner of Tamm and Lloyd Avenues. I live there with my parents John L. and Mary J. McKelvey-Vorbeck, my Grandmother Mary Aughivan-McKelvey, and her son, my uncle, William S. McKelvey. I had three brothers, John C., Joseph A., James L. and one sister Mary Virginia Vorbeck. Better known as " Virginia" because; her first name was the same as my mother's.
We lived in a large house it had five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, large dinning room, and large living room, or front room as we called it. Mr. Badendick had intended it to be a two family flat but my father convinced him to make it into a single residence, with a single front and rear entrance.
Cicero spoke of men's minds — as the treasure house, wherein special monuments are kept and preserved. I believe, with a little effort, we can all call upon our mind's eye, to paraphrase Plutarch, to look into our personal diary— the memories we carry around with us— of special moments and event that have occurred in our lives. I've been urged to share a few of my memories and recollections dating back, some sixty -three years, to my youth. And share what I can recall about growing up in Dogtown.
Our family moved to Dogtown in 1937 and lived there until my father's death in July 1968. I lived there until 1953 when I was drafted in the US Army to serve in the Korean "Police Action." I believe that was its official designation, at the time. Upon completion of my tour of duty I was married and had a family. We, my wife Betty and daughter Carolyn, returned to Dogtown and intended to purchase a home. But despite my desire to remain in the old neighborhood "Dogtown." I was unable to find suitable housing, for my family, at a reasonable price. I purchased a home in Florissant where I have been living now for over forty years.
I'll try to be as accurate as my "mind's eye" will permit. And like everyone else, no doubt some precious memories have been lost in the mist and haze of time.
This is my story, about "Dogtown" such as it is. It's not the way it happened: it's is the way I remember it happened. I'll not be offended if anyone chooses to differ with my account of specific dates, time and locations of the various events I mention. For it is a truism that "People tend to forget if it's not written down." I have however, produced two Genealogy's one, covering my wife's family "Donegal Ireland McDermott's Mary, Sarah, Jane, Patrick, and James Pioneer settlers (1800 to 1997), and the other my father's family "Herman Vorbeck Family 1525 – 1997). And I'm currently working on my mother's family "Mary O' Aughawan (Americanized to Aughivan) McKelvey.
I've had the opportunity to visit, at length, with them and took notes of tales they told me regarding their lives some included Dogtown. My cousins Louis H. and Maude E. Vorbeck-Riegel live in the 6400 block of West Park Avenue. Many old timers may remember hearing him sing Base in St. James Church Choir he was a big man, who had a powerful yet mellow and soft base tone, which would resonate throughout the Church. He often sang solo chants in Latin. And my Grandmother's brother, my Uncle Thomas and Aunt Lotte Woodmansee-Aughivan lived on Roberts Avenue just west of Hampton Avenue, and my Uncle Jack McKelvey and his family, who lived on Forest Avenue just North of Mitchell Avenue. All three families lived Dogtown years before we move there. My grandmother lived at 6404 Wade Avenue in 1904 during the Worlds Fair and her daughter Ellen Amanda McKelvey was baptized by Father English at St. James in 1906.
Cicero said in 60 BC "The life of the dead consists of being present in the minds of the living." I suspect his observation, among other things, accounts in some small way for all the monuments we see in city-states through out the world today. Bureaucrats, Aristocrats commission sculptures of prominent people and Catholic Church their saints. Their theory, I believe, was to attempt immortalize them by keeping them visibly present in the minds of the living.
We common folk commission tombstones with our deceased members name carved in granite and marble, placed at the gravesite of our dearly departed family member, so the family visitors will know which person is buried there beneath the soil. In this way they too obtain a degree of immortality; but even stone crumble over time. Have you ever wondered, when observing an unmarked grave, the identity the person was that would reside in that grave for eternity?
With this in mind I commend Robert (Bob) E. Corbett for his effort to collect an oral history of Dogtown, and capture as much of its history as he can while some of us old-timer's are still alive; who can still remember the way it was in the early days of Dogtown. His is a monumental and noble undertaking.
In its own unique way "Dogtown" truly remains, to this very day, a phenomenon. It will be difficult if not impossible for those, living in today's impersonal society, to fathom the cohesiveness of "Dogtown" society, as it was back in the 1930's and 40s. His Web Site "Dogtown" will accomplish the near impossible feat of capturing in writing the oral history of Dogtown, which in many cases may or may not be corroborated in newspapers articles or other so called legitimate source documents because there are many intangible aspects involved in its history.
I pray that someday he will publish it. Remembering Cicero's quote about "The life of the dead… can you imagine a book with the title "The Oral History of Dogtown" on its spine, and cover? Those who don't now, nor never will, in the future, own a computer could own a copy. Can you see such a book, sitting in clear view of any visitor, whether on an end table, on a bookshelf, or between bookends? Waiting for someone to pick it up, and — bring to life the names of the dead to the mind of the living reader. All they need do to learn about Dogtown and their ancestors, is pick it up and thumb through its pages. What a treasure they will find.
Dogtown its boundaries and its genesis. I don't believe there are very many people who lived in Dogtown that haven't, at one time or another asked the proverbial question "how did Dogtown get its name? And just what's its boundaries?" I can remember as a child asking that very question many tunes and getting the following answer from more than one source, from people who lived there for many years.
The boundaries — The answer I received in the 1930s and 40s — was the area bound by McCausland Avenue on the West, Oakland Avenue on the North, Hampton Avenue on the East, and Manchester Avenue on the South.
Cheltenham was East of Hampton Avenue, South of Oakland Avenue, West of Kingshighway Blvd., and North of Manchester Avenue. I never heard any mention of the Franz area at all. But I'm aware there is a Franz Park near Roe School with Mitchell Avenue on its north, Kraft Avenue on the East, Glade Avenue on the South, and Prather Avenue on the West. As I recall it was a small park and had a child's wadding pool with a water fountain in it, that small children played in on hot summer days. However, Dogtown, to my knowledge, never had a fixed geographical area in the true sense if the word. It was a philosophical area that was influenced by other more obscure considerations -- particularly sports. And where ever members of our gang lived, at any given time, no matter how far away was automatically included, in our perception of Dogtown's boundary. We were territorially conscious and defended that territory if you know what I mean. So in that sense Dogtown's boundary was flexible, very flexible. [Corbett adds: For more on the boundry issue see my essay on this topic as well.
As young folks, (boys and girls) we had a group of friends that we bummed with. We were without a doubt territorial. Today we would be identified and referred to as the Dogtown Gang. Sometimes we referred to ourselves as a gang. But with a more positive connotation i.e. like the lyrics of the 40's song that went "That old gang of mine," we were all athletes. We played on teams together and at time formed our own teams by choosing sides and playing against one another.
We chose sides by selecting the two recognized undisputed best players and would toss a baseball bat into the air and one would grab it. The other player would grip the bat by placing his hand above the other's and each taking turn gripping the bat until the end of the bat was reached. If a portion of one of the participant's hand extended beyond the end of the bat the person with the full grip had first pick from the group in the gang present ready and willing to play for whichever team he was chosen.
If a person's grip extended beyond the handle's end and he insisted he had a full grip, it would be contested. To test the truth of his claim another bat, a rock, brick, or any hard object to would strike the end of the bat. If that person's hand extended beyond the end of the bat and he was mistaken he suffered an injury to hand when the end of the handle was struck. We didn't have many challenges the cost to the looser was far too high a price to pay just to be first pick.
We were young, too young to drive, so we were on foot most of the time. We would stake out our territory, so to speak. It was limited to about a mile; with St. James School at the center. Walking distance across the diameter of the circle would be at one to two miles maybe three. We were chums, some Catholic others non-Catholic's. Predominately Catholic's, we thought of them simply as Protestants. It didn't matter what denomination they were to us. As far as we were concerned, and it wasn't much concern at all, they were Protestants or non-Catholic. We were into sports… on Friday and Saturday nights maybe a little mischievousness, but nothing too serious.
Hey it takes eighteen players to play a baseball game. Ten to play a basketball game, and twenty-two players to have soccer game. We played sandlot games. Went to Forest Park and played baseball on the ball field. Played in the schoolyard when it wasn't locked to keep us out. We even were able to umpire ourselves without getting into too many altercations. And when we did it wasn't serious. Tempers cooled quickly because we needed every player we could get. If a couple would quit the game and take a friend with him to walk home with the game was over. So WE GOT ALONG.
We hung out at Bill Haley's "Double Dip" ice cream store on the west side Tamm just north of West Park Avenue, in front of Dougherty's Drug Store on the Southeast corner of Tamm Avenue where Clayton and Wise Avenue converged, or Mrs. Newroth's confectionery which was next door to Garavaglia's Grocery store on the southeast corner of Tamm and Wade Avenues.
If none of us could be found there, we would be in the schoolyard-playing ball, playing handball on the handball court behind the rectory, or playing basketball in the Old Church. We were athletes to a boy. Our gang's age group spanned about five years. Say if the mean age were 12 years old the youngest among us would be 10 the oldest fourteen. So each year we all got one year older and progressed in sports at the same pace to higher levels of competition. As the older boys went on to high school we continued to keep playing sports together as a team. The older members of the gang cheered on the younger teams and the younger gang members went to their games to cheer on the older buddies. That's the way it was in Dogtown.
In my days in Dogtown we, identified ourselves as the "Dogtown Gang" when we weren't playing sports. And the "Dogtown Team" when we were playing non-school sponsored or supported sports. We played nearly all the sports.
When we played for the school or in the CYC league sponsored baseball, basketball, and soccer we play for the "St. James Team." But we played sports as "Dogtown" on the vacant lots in the neighborhood and in Forest Park more than we did in the school yard that was almost always locked.
Hi Pointe had their gang. They were kids who attended Dewey School on Clayton Avenue. They also had their territories staked out. Although their eastern boundary and our western boundary's encroached on each other's territory. Roe School kids who lived in the Franz Park area probably had there own gang but I don't recall having any dealings with their gang in sports or any other activities.
The point I'm trying to make, perhaps at to great a length is that Dogtown by the 1930's had already clearly established the fact that there is no defined boundary per say. It's made up of irregular and undefined boundaries. The determining factor being the area that the gang decided to draw its team mates from and were willing to fight to defend, for completely illogical reasons.
People falsely believed Dogtown's boundary were the same as the St. James the Greater Parish boundaries. I believe this is not true. The name Dogtown had little or nothing to do with the Church Parish, or the School.
How that area became known as Dogtown. In the late 1800's the area west of Vandeventer Avenue consisted of open land with a few farms. St. James Parish covered a considerable part of that area but not all of it. Resident's in the area hunted in the open countryside. And some who lived east of Vandeventer, in the City, came by horse or train to hunt small game i.e. rabbits, squirrels, quail, possum, raccoon and occasionally a deer in the area known then as Cheltenham. [Corbett interjects: Further discussion of this topic can be found in Corbett's essay on this subject.]
To hunt efficiently a hunter needed hunting dogs to flush out the game. I'm a hunter myself and I believe many readers of this web-site will understand when I say that it wouldn't take too long before the question, would be raised by a hunter, whose dog was the best dog in its class? A lot of hunters equal a lot of dogs. And I might add a variety of different breeds of dogs. Many hunters had several breeds of dogs each trained to hunt different types of game. It was not unusual, almost fifth years before I arrived in Dogtown, for the number of various breeds of dogs, to be in the fields on any given day, to out number the hunters. Eventually the rivalries among the hunting dog owners required there be field trials to see whose dog was truly the best of the lot.
An obsession began, fanned by the desire to win the bragging rights for having a judge declare their dog the best looking dog, the best disciplined dog, the most obedient dog, and best pointer, etceteras. Kennels began to appear in back yards. Special breeding stock was obtained in an effort to sire a champion.
So the hunters organized themselves so they could have a top quality hunting society and appointed some of the most qualified older experienced hunters they knew to be judges; and the Field Trials began.
To determine the abilities of a hunting dog, "Field Trials" would have to be held. Field trials test the hunting ability of sporting dogs. In bird-dog field trials, judges rate the dogs on such points as endurance, ability to scent game, obedience to the handler's commands, and the thoroughness with which the dogs cover the hunting area. In retriever field trials, judges rate the dogs on their ability to fine quickly and return without damage the birds that hunters had shot.
Hounds, on the other hand, are put through coursing trials where a judge rates the hounds' endurance, the ability to obey commands, and test how well they can pick up the scent, chase and track the game. During the chase, pitch and sound of the hounds barking or bay alerts the hunter to how far away the dog is, in what direction the game is traveling, how close the hound is upon its rabbits, fox, and how long it takes to tree a raccoon, possum or squirrel, and how quickly the hound dog would break of the pursuit, when he heard his handler's command and return.
Consider if you will the huge number and variety of hunting dogs there are. Dogs for hunting birds such as quail, pheasant, and doves, for example, there are English Setters, Irish Setters, German Short-haired pointers, Brittany Spaniels, Golden Retrievers, English Springer Spaniel, Gordon Setter and just plain Pointers. And I haven't even begun to mention the hounds used to hunt rabbits, possum, raccoon, and squirrels. Nor have I mention any of the domestic breeds people owned as pets and watchdogs.
To hold "Field Trials" took quite a bit of organization and cooperation, among a large group, comprised of individuals with competing interests. It not only effected the hunters and their dogs. The scale would eventually effect the entire family and community.
I was told that it was the "Field Trials" way out West of the City limits that brought the focus to Cheltenham. And in time, the entire area, which soon became synonymous, with dogs and hunting dogs in particular. People came from literally miles around to compete or participate as a spectator.
Remember to get to Cheltenham from the inner city, folks had to take the Missouri Pacific Train. Manchester Road was not paved so travel in those days was far more difficult and time consuming.
People began to identify Cheltenham, not by its proper name but by its preeminent activity, as they saw it the – town where the Dog Field Trials – are held each year, and that place were everyone owns a dog. Is Cheltenham where there more dogs than people are? And then it happened the people began to refer to Cheltenham as Dogtown. It was inevitable! While bureaucrat have the power to name cities towns, streets and villages. Citizens are free to choose what nickname the feel appropriate for their use. Such things happen on own volition. Bureaucrats chose to name that area Cheltenham. The people chose to call the area "Dogtown." By 1937 when our family arrived in the neighborhood Dogtown was use by our neighbors and non-residents as well.
I was told Father O'Connor he did not approve of any one referring to his parish as "Dogtown" and made it very clear to nearly everyone. He may have even announced his displeasure from the pulpit, in a vain effort to stem its growing popularity. On that point P.J. was adamant. His entire Parish covered a large part of the area know as Cheltenham. And no doubt he felt the unchristian name "Dogtown" was very inappropriate.
Father Patrick J. O'Connor or P.J., as he was affectionately, nicknamed by his friends and acquaintances, was a hunter himself. He was much younger when the field trials were being conducted. I would guess in his late twenty's or early thirty's. He owned two dogs that I can remember. One was beautiful Red haired Irish Setter named "Irish." and I believe the Field Trial Judges declared "Irish" Champion in his breed. The others was a brown spotted Pointer who's name I can't recall. I should remember it because it was the pointer that bite me on my arm when I reached over the fence, and tried to pet him one day as I was walking between the rectory and the old church.
P.J. loved to train his hunting his dogs in the fields nearby as often as he could. Because it was close to the Rectory (i.e. the clay mine area west of Kraft and south of Dale Avenues to Manchester Road his) presence seemed to over shadow most of the other hunters. Eventually the area became over hunted and the game stock fell victim to over hunting and creeping urban sprawl. However, by the late 1920's nearly every home had either a hunting dog or a domestic dog.
The Field Trials ended when the area they were held in didn't have sufficient game available to conduct quality trials. And with the automobile coming of age each hunter began to seek game in other areas to hunt, further west, north and South. And as the Great Depression approached many lost their jobs and hunting put food on their tables in a time of need. They tended to keep their hunting grounds a secret, out of self-interest and preservation.
Is it any wonder the area west of Hampton began to be referred to by those living in the area as "Dogtown." They had as much pride in the name "Dogtown" as they did their own hunting dogs?
Though the hunting slowed down because of the Great Depression, the pride of owning a pure bred well disciplined dog never ceased to catch the eye of other dog lovers and envious neighbors. Talk would spread about how fine a dog Joe, Ted, Harold or Bob had, and if the Field Trials were still open. That dog would surely win the Blue Ribbon.
Getting back to P.J O'Connor and his dogs. I understand his dogs were winner of several ribbons and "Irish" his Red longhaired Irish setter was judged a champion in his breed. Irish had the run of the neighborhood if got out of his kennel and kids would catch him and bring him home. P.J. would give his blessing on the spot. P.J. like all the other hunters loved his dog, and was afraid the new finagled automobiles, speeding up and down Tamm at nearly 25 mile an hour, would some day run over his precious champion "Irish."
As I said earlier P.J. disliked the term Dogtown; he preferred Cheltenham. I recall a lecture he gave me for wearing a Dogtown jacket. With my first paycheck I had purchased my first and only "Dogtown" jacket from the Geasler Jordon Sporting Goods store on Clayton Road, across from the Esquire Theater.
It was Kelly Green in the front and back with a one inch Kelly Green strip down the both white selves. And it had a white embroidered monogram of a bulldog's face on the upper left side of ones chest. And it had "Dogtown" across the back in two inch white letters on the Kelly Green back.
P.J. stopped me as I was walking south on Tamm Avenue on my way home proudly sporting my newly purchased jacket. He scolded me for me about the jacket. I could tell he was very upset that I had purchased it with, what he said "was hard earned money that have been better donated to the mission for starving children." That was the only time I think I had ever was at odds with Father O'Connor.
Like it or not Geasler had the jackets in stock, and it was a very popular item. A lot of fellows had them. But I digress.
The unique thing about sports is that the cream of the crop always rises to the top. Class athletes are Class athletes. And if you want to win; you must field the best talent available. Only the best will do regardless of their religion, race or nationality. I think everyone will agree with that principle.
There were many non sectarian-sporting events that went on; unrelated to the parish sponsorship. Those teams had the right to choose their team name. And the name many most often chosen was "Dogtown."
Dogtown was a name that over time came to represent outstanding athletes; more than an defined area. A name recognized through out the city and county as having produced A class athletic talent. Dogtown owes its identity, name, and renowned to the male sportsmen in all areas of sports, indoors or out door. Those individual athletes "A Class Athlete's" who played on those teams, whether they obtained individual recognition, well know as their team mates were, in truth, members of a recognized elite as well. They all made up the teams that bore it name "Dogtown,"
Bill Vorbeck' contribution to the Web site.
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