Years ago, when the Coliseum was THE only venue in town (before the arena was built) the Ringling Bros. Circus was held there every year, around the 4th of July. Upon arrival of the circus train at the train station downtown, the circus would parade the animals from the train station North on 15th Avenue to the Coliseum with no fan-fare. We neighbors living along 15th Avenue would be alerted that something unusual and exciting was occurring by our barking dogs, beside themselves with the presence of this strange and unusual affair. There were the circus people and the animals - lions and tigers and bears in their fancy horse-pulled painted circus caravans and llamas, camels, the fancy trick horses, and the elephants of course, all walking with their handlers and trainers.

Once the circus run was over, there was another parade South on 15th Avenue back to the train station - but this time the parade would be posted in the newspaper and drew a crowd. People would come and line both sides of 15th Avenue to watch. It was something to look forward to, and now looking back it seems very much like a small town affair.

LIONS AND TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!

Submitted by,
Patricia Wakefield
F.Q. Story Resident since 1970

Like many house hunters, Margaret and Preston Brown ranked the local school high on their list of priorities when choosing a home. So when they fell in love with Kenilworth Elementary, it was an easy step to buy a house on Lynwood Street.

That was 68 years ago. The Browns were the second residents of the imposing house at 920 W. Lynwood Street, buying it from the Snell family for $5,200.

Margaret Brown recalled that the house was painted cream when she and her husband moved in during the summer of 1935. Just off the dining room was a screened-in room with a cement floor. Margaret later hired Edna Green, who she said was THE designer of the time, to help her with house renovations. One of those touches included installing French doors from the dining room to the screened-in patio.

The house came with a one-car garage and, typical for the times, no cooling save for a 10-inch fan. Lynwood Street in the mid-1930s was full: Every lot had a house on it, she said.

Margaret and Preston lived in Story for three years, until their growing family prompted them to look for a larger house. Preston Brown, an obstetrician and gynecologist, was president of the Arizona Medical Society and served on the building committee for St. Joseph's hospital. He also was a Phoenix City Council member (long before the district system, Story had its own representative!)

Margaret recalls that dining in was common in the mid-1930s, although she also remembers lots of parties being thrown at the Westward Ho. Popular groceries were the Bayless market on Central Avenue as well as Cobbs Market, also on Central near Willetta.

She shopped at the downtown department stores: Goldwater's, Korrick's, Porter's and Switzer's. By the time the couple's third child arrived in 1938, the Browns were looking for bigger quarters. They traded their Lynwood Street house for a two-story, five-bedroom home in the Alvarado neighborhood, behind what is now the Phoenix Art Museum. Amy and Harry Trittle moved into 920, completing the swap.

Margaret Brown still lives in Phoenix, and granted this interview to Story's Historic Committee, which was researching the early days of the neighborhood.