Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/9
black population. From this humble beginning a twice-enlarged elementary school was built in
1952 and still serves well. From a one-room high school in a commercial room "on the Boardwalk" to a mammoth plant opened in 1965, that still looks like new, one must marvel at this magic wrought by caring faculty, custodians, and students. Recently tucked between these two is a first rate middle school.
The forties saw room mothers organized with specialized responsibilities as they volunteered their services on a regular basis. The sixties saw them offering important services in the classroom and with small groups of children. Today, with about half of the mothers of school-age children in the work force, there is less dependence on great numbers of them on a scheduled basis.
From the very beginning of Brunswick until the proliferation of shopping centers and malls, there was always a place downtown to stop for a refreshing drink or lunch as one did the daily shopping. Today Brunswick has no downtown restorative stopping places for sit-down, light refreshment. (And only a few places downtown in which to shop!)
Before 1890, occupations in Brunswick needing hired help included farming,canal work, retail sales of the necessities of life, feed and saw mill work, railroad employees in increasing numbers, and probably one public school teacher at a time. Today? Delete farm work, canal work, mill work, and "railroad employees in increasing numbers."
Add about a hundred school employees, some hairstylists, bankers, a restaurateur or two, childcare givers, custodians, a few woodworkers for the town's one factory, one newspaper publisher, entrepreneurs in electronic communication or any other field one's genius can devise. Or seek employment in a nearby town.
Name changes could be a study in itself. Swank and many other family names existed before 1890 but have disappeared from Brunswick's phone list. On the other hand, three branches of the Wenner family were in Berlin and each has descendants here to this day. Other families are still represented, some with a name change because of a woman's marriage. New names, like Sofranko, have entered our lists. How many will still be here in 2090?
Ah, but those houses. Those company houses! They can still be recognized through the few cosmetic changes of paint, enclosed porches, added rooms, and now the pleasure-adding nod to the great outdoors: the deck.
No, the old town hasn't changed very much-until you take a deeper look. And then we know the truth: We can't really go home again. But, hey you, come on back anyway.
W-MMM
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