TEUTOPOLIS — As volunteers of the Teutopolis Monastery Museum, Sharon Brummer and Marilynn Heuerman would hear from visitors about some of the village’s past grocery stores.
Curious, in June 2022, the two decided to gather information on them for the museum. Brummer and Heuerman, who are not natives of Teutopolis, were surprised to learn there were seven grocery stores in the village.
“That’s a lot of grocery stores, and there wasn’t that many people here in town,” said Brummer.
That fascinated them, so they wanted to do more.
After interviewing several people, they realized they needed to interview the 80-90-year-old residents about the history of their youth.
“Marilynn came up with the idea to interview some of the older people so we don’t lose this information about T-town,” said Brummer.
Even though they didn’t know most of the people they interviewed, they found them willing to share their memories of Teutopolis.
Heuerman and Brummer said the “storytellers” enjoyed reminiscing about many parts of their past, from the days many of them spent at Plain Tree School, a one-room schoolhouse southeast of Teutopolis, to popular local dance hangouts.
“I think the people enjoyed it because it brought back memories, and they got to talking,” said Brummer.
Heuerman and Brummer got something out of it, too.
“We learned so much,” said Heuerman. “And laughed a lot.”
Among the memories they found interesting is how residents used to get their goods. The Huckster Wagon, which wasn’t a wagon but a truck, was how many stores started.
“A lot of people didn’t know what that was. They had eggs, flour, and sugar and went up to the country and visited homes that didn’t always get to town. They did their trading like that,” said Brummer.
Other memories the two found interesting were of bread boxes in front of the store. According to Brummer, a pastry vendor would come in and deliver the bread at night, and then customers would get their bread out of the box during the day. The boxes sometimes served another purpose.
“There are a couple of ladies we interviewed, and they said they used to sit there and watch people go by,” said Heuerman.
Other memories recalled hard times and the Great Depression.
“We found out a lot of them all felt like they were poor, but they didn’t know it because that’s the way everybody lived,” said Brummer.
For some, The Depression was no different than their everyday lives.
“I thought it was kind of amazing the way they didn’t know they were poor. They didn’t know they were going through the Depression because that’s the way things were. They didn’t know any different. For Christmas, they might get an orange and a few peanuts,” said Brummer.
Common among the memories shared was a hard work ethic passed down from generation to generation.
“I think they saw their mom and dad working hard and knew they had to put food on the table. That’s just something that’s instilled in them,” said Brummer.
The two hope that resonates with future generations.
“They need to know what life was about. It’s not all sunshine and roses,” said Brummer. “They had it hard back then. A lot of them didn’t get an education because maybe they went to eighth grade and then had to stay home and help dad with the farming.”
Heuerman and Brummer also asked the people they interviewed about their personal lives, including education, work and marriage. They discovered Catholic weddings were a bit different back then.
“’Cause back then, they couldn’t eat before communion; weddings were at 7 or 8 in the morning. They would go back to the bride’s parents’ house, have breakfast, go to National Studio to get their pictures taken, go back home for the reception – and that was usually at the bride’s parents’ house – and then that night, they’d have a wedding dance. That could have been at the Thoele Pavilion, Midway, St. Anthony Grade School basement, The Orchard Inn,” said Heuerman, naming a few venues.
Another part of the tradition was that everyone was invited.
“Anybody could go even if you didn’t know the people,” said Heuerman.
However, Brummer notes if you wanted alcohol, you had to bring it yourself.
Heuerman and Brummer also asked if they ever got in trouble, smoked, dated, or went to dances, which was a popular pastime. Some were candid.
“It was funny to hear how some of them tried to smoke; some would wrap a grapevine or tree leaves,” said Brummer.
A few even mentioned an illicit activity in the town that was often not talked about — bootlegging.
“One guy told about how they used to hide it in the culvert. A bootlegger would put it in the culvert, and then the next guy would come along and pick it up out of there,” said Brummer.
While Heuerman and Brummer asked questions, they let the storytellers share what they wanted and strove to keep their words as they were said with minimal editing.
“We tried to keep it as personal as we could to let people know how they lived,” said Heuerman.
One of the most challenging parts of the project was having enough time, as several of the “storytellers” died before the book was published.
“The urgency kept hitting me. We need to talk to more people,” said Heuerman.
Heuerman said she still feels it and has already begun interviewing for another book in the next couple of years.
“We’re not going to do this for a while, but if I don’t get it now, I’ll never know this stuff,” she said.
Of the 300 copies of “Memories” printed, less than 70 are still available for purchase. Books are $25 each and are available through the St. Francis Church parish office by calling 217-961-6404.