Nicely's

Most small towns have one of these:

A small corner store complete with the cash register as soon as you walk in the door.  And, don't forget a crotchety lady working, keeping her eye on all of the kids that barrel through the door.  I'm sure she had to keep a close eye on the kids to keep the merchandise from being stolen.
It was one of those neighborhood kind of places where the kids rode their bikes in search of the perfect piece of candy or gum.  You know the kind: you walk through the glass door and you see the old hardwood floors that are darkened with footsteps of others who have shopped in that same store.  There's an old cash register on the counter, complete with the "ching" when a sale is made.  It's not a big store, in fact, I remember it being a tad bit on the crowded side.
I mostly rode to Nicely's after swimming in the pool, which is just down the street.  There were times when I probably snuck over there when I was out riding my bike, too.  And, I may or may not have looked at the curb of the street for any amount of change that I could convert into candy or gum.  What a treasure it was when I found a nickel or a dime instead of a penny!  You would have thought we found gold!
Nicely's wasn't just a candy store:  it was an actual small grocery store.  I'm not 100% sure if it had a meat counter, but it does seem like there was one in the back.

I'm also not sure when Nicely's went out of business.  It seems like at one point the building was going to be torn down, but someone stepped in and saved the building.  (Too bad no one did that for the Mule Barn!)  The building has been used by the Masons, so it isn't empty.
Every now and then you'll see kids on their bikes with bags in their hands, but they aren't coming from Nicely's...they're coming from a convenient store that is across the street that has gone through several different names.  Just seeing the kids on their bikes brings a smile to my face with the memories of my childhood in the Small Town.

Mule Barn

I have to admit, I only learned about the "Mule Barn" a few years ago.  As you can guess by the name, the building housed mules.  Not just any mules, but the ones that worked in the construction of one of the three aluminum plants in the Small Town.  When the steam engine arrived, mules were no longer needed.
The Mule Barn was renovated and used as a school.  I found conflicting statements in the history:  1 place on the Small Town's site said it was a school for black children; the other said it was for white children.  Following more remodeling, it became the municipal building and also housed some offices.
Sadly, the Mule Barn no longer exists.  The building that  houses the Post Office and a bank stands where the Mule Barn once did.  The building stood in that spot from 1913 until 1961.  The first city manager of the Small Town was quoted as saying that the building was built as strong as it was because "the mule was an important member of the construction organization."

Favorite Landmark

My favorite landmark in the Small Town has to be "the bridge".  It's located next to the swimming pool (which is next to the Duck Pond), down the hill from the high school, across from the Methodist Church, and next to the park.

It's not a big bridge, but it is the place of adolescent memories.  The police have no problem with kids painting it, but, as one officer told me:  just don't paint the road.  Yeah, right.  It's said that the only thing holding it up is paint.  That, I believe.

In the past, it was a place to cheer on the various athletic teams or to show pride in your class.  Today, you often can find out whose birthday it is.  If something gets on it that the Small Town officials deem unfit, they will go over it with black paint.  In fact, I noticed that it was all black yesterday.

The bridge is unique to the Small Town.  Our "twin city" doesn't have anything like it, and the Small Town students used to fiercely defend it during Rival Week.  (I'll get into that more when we get to "R"!)  In my time, almost every student had painted the bridge at least once.

OS asked his high school girlfriend to the prom by painting the bridge.  When my oldest sister was in high school, they announced a friends' mother's pregnancy on the bridge.  I'm not sure exactly what they said, but it did prompt a visit from the police to our front door!  She and her friends had to go down and repaint the bridge.

For my 10 year reunion, several of us went down to the bridge to paint it.  When we got there, there were a couple of kids painting it.  One of the guys talked them into letting us have one side of it, so we were able to paint it.  One of the guys in my class said that it was the first time he painted the bridge.  Better late than never!