Document Dump #2: Gentile Yarusso's 1964 Memoir of Swede Hollow and Payne Avenue

[Swede Hollow c. 1910.]

Here's one from my archive, that I first found in the Arlington Hills library. It's a short, compelling memoir of growing up in Swede Hollow by Gentile Yarusso, of Yarusso's Italian Restaurant of Statue of Liberty fame.

Here's my favorite part, about the old railroad line that went up through the Hollow and the experience of those loud trains rattling along next to the homes of Saint Pauls' most famous informal community:

The giant locomotives would come puffing put he track, their headlights glowing like the eyes of a serpent, winding around the curves of the Hollow. what noise, what thunder a the engines passed us! Cinders and sparks fell all around us, on our heads, on our shoulders. Windows in the homes would rattle. Mothers would call for their children. Some of the smaller kids would become rightened and start to cry. Fathers would bet cursing the whole spectacle in general. After the freight train was out of sight, we would slowly walk back home. Stillness would settle over the Hollow. Occasionally one might hear the barking of a dog.

Read the whole thing if you are interested in more memories of old Saint Paul.