Why We Live Here
Borderland tells its own story
March 28, 2018
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Linda and Ward pose for a photo in front of their home, 917 Riverside Drive.
Moving home again BY WARD MERRILL
D
uring the summer of 2 0 01, my wi fe Linda and I began looking for property on Rainy Lake in preparation for ou r planned retirement from teaching jobs in Bemidji and Blackduck. I had hoped to someday move back to the Falls, the place where I was born in November 1948. My father Jim Merrill was attending Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and my parents were living in veteran’s housing on the campus which offered scant comforts and amenities to say the least. It was also a period during which polio was prevalent and my mother Deloris decided it would be better to travel to the Falls that fall and stay with her parents Martin and Alice Molstre at 917 Riverside Drive to await the birth of their first child. An added bonus was that their home was only a half block from the new Falls Memorial Hospital on 2nd Street.
on Main A nd s o it Avenue was that i n Sout h my of fiF cia l place Falls until w of bi r th we moved to a new became Inhome at ternational 9909 Ninth Falls. S t r e et i n 917 R iverside b e 1954. came the Ninth first home S t r e e t for me. was one of Our famthose idei ly w o u l d a l 1 9 5 0 ’s spend the neighbornext fou r hoods. It and a ha l f had a coryears movner g ro ing becery store t ween G.I. w h e r e housing on you could t he Gu st apurchase vus campus candy for a n d s u m - A young Ward Merrill and his grandfather, Martin a p e n ny m e r s i n Molstre, take a photo on April 9, 1950 — Easter Sunday to a nickt h e F a l l s , — in the backyard of 917 Riverside Drive. el, bottled eit her on pop for Riverside Drive or my dad’s pleted a master’s degree at 10 cents and comic books parents’ farm at Roger’s the “U.” for a d i me. My brot her The year 1953 saw a move Reed Timothy and I had Corner (Jim and Edythe Merrill). From 1951-1953, back to the Falls and a job great friends that included vet’s housing on the U of M as school socia l worker Nancy, Susie and Terr y campus in St. Paul served and probation officer for Glowack, Chuckie Corrin, as home as my dad com- my dad. We rented a home Jimmy Scheela, Pat DeMar-
chi, and Butchie (Angelo) and Artie Gust. There was a crab apple tree to raid on the corner, forts in the backyard, outdoor games and the mill’s noon and 5 p.m. whistle to let you know when to come home. Starting Kindergarten in the A B School produced more friends and a great start to a lifetime of learning. As my father’s career progressed we moved again to St. Peter where he taught sociology and social work at Gu st av u s. We moved there during the 1956 -57 and 1958-59 school years coming back to the Falls in between. I remember being proud of being from International Falls back then and refusing to let my mom sew a St. Peter patch on my cub scout uniform — I’ve kept the Falls patch on all these years. I was devastated at the end of the 1958-59 school year to learn that we were not movi ng back to t he Home to 9 ®