Changes on THE PIKE

How I wish I had some pictures of The Pike to add to this post, but I don't. All the pictures are in my mind.



There have been many changes on The Pike. I mentioned previously that the firehouse was on The Pike -- located next to the Gulf gas station, between First and Second Avenues. When the firehouse was on The Pike the siren had different signals -- perhaps it still does -- but at the time two siren cycles meant someone needed an ambulance. Eight cycles meant there was a fire. Four cycles meant another town needed help.



I recall the feeling in my stomach whenever that 8-cycle signal went off. Fires were usually not contained and if there was a fire it usually mean total destruction of the building on fire. When that 8-cycle signal went off, my dad and I would go out on the front porch and scan the sky for a red glow (since usually the 8-cycle sound was at night), and if we saw nothing, we'd go to the back porch and scan the skies visible from that part of the house. If we saw nothing we were happy because that meant that it wasn't a bad fire. But if we saw that glow.....



Anyway, back to changes...



So, in the late 50s, early 60s the firehouse (not sure of the year) the firehouse moved from The Pike to East Second Avenue -- just a block away from our house. They tore down some houses, and moved one. It's ugly -- well, what can I say, it isn't a quaint old-town type firehouse. It's a big two storied cinder block building and the upstairs was a hall for the towns people to rent for weddings, parties, etc. Oh, yes, the fire department was manned by all volunteers.



One fire I recall at night was the town theater (movie house) burned to the ground. That was in the early 50s. I was never in that building, but it was located across the street from Hegeman's (remember my music teacher?). When it burned it was replaced with a car dealership.



The deli's in our town were several. One was located at the corner of Sixth Avenue and the Pike, another was near the corner of Clements Bridge and The Pike. Mom preferred the one near Clements Bridge because it was truly Italian. Some years later Vince's opened which was on Clements Bridge right near the railroad tracks. And Vince's had the best hoagies in the world. No one, but no one, made hoagies like Vince and his wife. He also had fresh rolls, every day, a pickle barrel, and the smell, oh my!



Whenever we headed east from our home here in KY we would go to Vince's and load up. You see, out here we have no deli's, or at least if we do, I haven't found them. Oh, there are "deli's" in the large grocery stores, but they don't have the Italian meats that were avilable at Vince's. Last time I was there (about two years ago) Vince told me he was retiring, so I imagine that store is gone now.



The post office was originally located at Clements Bridge and The Pike (on the railroad side) but in the early 60s a new post office was built (I know it was at that time because I recall visiting the old post office for two years hoping there was a letter from Africa). The new PO was built on The Pike between Second and Third Avenues. I don't recall any buildings being demolished to put it in. I think it was built on a vacant lot, next to Joe's (ice cream/soda store).



I've searched the net to find "history" of Runnemede. There are four pictures on the Runnemede town's website, but that's the sum total of any history I could find. Bill Leap wrote a book about Runnemede which I have in my library. It has a few pictures and is a very interesting book about the town's history up to 1976. (The History of Runnemede New Jersey 1626-1976, William Leap, 1981). I did find a very short article about the town's history which was printed in the Courier Post (http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/SPECIAL20/610190343/-1/Runnemede).