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Old 10-04-2018, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
928 posts, read 2,706,884 times
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Good morning all, Just a few of my observations of Huntsville. I recently visited HSV for work. I had lived in SE HSV from 1965 to 1978, age 2 to 14. Many fond memories. I realize many places change , but HSV has changed a lot. We lived in Double Tree, the area behind the old Grissom High. I was surprised how many homes have been built on the mountains. How do the residents deal with those crazy steep driveways and walk ways? The large open areas we played and rode our dirt bikes are all developed.
Grissom High ( old one ) all closed up and Whitesburg Elementary/Middle rebuilt.
When we moved away, there wasn't much on the back side of Monte Sano. We would buy plants from a Nursery out there. Also an occasional trip with the old Boy Scout Troop 303 to the caverns that was out in that direction. Green Mountain was very rural. We would connect the trails, power line right a ways, and ride motorcycles from our neighborhood to and all over Green Mountain. The Mall was still somewhat busy for the folks on the North side. Parkway City had received an update, grown, and was enclosed from an open style shopping center. Nothing really but cotton fields South of Whitesburg Drive and the Parkway. I think the plaza on that corner, S/W was Haysland Square, we did a lot of shopping in the stores there over the years.
Just from my observations, if my work brought me there full time, I would look forward to living in HSV again.
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Old 10-04-2018, 06:22 PM
 
Location: Madison, Alabama
12,635 posts, read 9,142,776 times
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Yes, it really has changed a lot over that time period. The county has just about doubled in population since the 70s, maybe even more than that. Most of the development has been on the west side of the city and in Madison. There's quite a bit of residential to the north, and a limited amount to the east toward Scottsboro, and a lot over Monte Sano toward Guntersville. Probably the area that has changed the least is where you lived, on the far south side along Memorial Parkway and Bailey Cove Rd, but even that has changed quite a bit. I lived in Whitesburg Estates during that time.
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Old 10-10-2018, 04:17 PM
 
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
928 posts, read 2,706,884 times
Reputation: 635
Hey Rocketdawg,
Back in my day , there wasn't much out West that I recall, meaning nothing much past The Space and Rocket Center and UAH. We would occasionally go out to the "new" airport, maybe a trip or 2 during the Summer to Point Mallard.
Funny you mentioned SE HSV, the neighborhoods are locked in time. When I was younger, we lived on Annlau Ave., the street still looks the same. Same goes for our other house on Triple Creek Trail. Yes the trees are larger or removed all together. Still looks like a decent area from my drive by. I drove my old route from Annlau Ave to Whitesburg Elementary, same route I route hundreds of times on my bicycle to school, many of the houses along my route looked the same.
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Old 10-11-2018, 08:38 AM
 
Location: Boonies of N. Alabama
3,881 posts, read 4,085,284 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostrider7811 View Post
Hey Rocketdawg,
Back in my day , there wasn't much out West that I recall, meaning nothing much past The Space and Rocket Center and UAH. We would occasionally go out to the "new" airport, maybe a trip or 2 during the Summer to Point Mallard.
Funny you mentioned SE HSV, the neighborhoods are locked in time. When I was younger, we lived on Annlau Ave., the street still looks the same. Same goes for our other house on Triple Creek Trail. Yes the trees are larger or removed all together. Still looks like a decent area from my drive by. I drove my old route from Annlau Ave to Whitesburg Elementary, same route I route hundreds of times on my bicycle to school, many of the houses along my route looked the same.

Yeah.. there wasn't much out that way. And Bailey Cove didn't go as far south as it does now either.
To me, besides how much the infrastructure has changed one of the biggest changes since I moved here in early 70s is back then, I didn't find too many yanks. Now, I don't find near as many natives. There's a LOT more people walking around with northern and midwestern accents nowadays.
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:51 AM
 
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
928 posts, read 2,706,884 times
Reputation: 635
Default 60s and 70s HSV

Quote:
Originally Posted by writerwife View Post
Yeah.. there wasn't much out that way. And Bailey Cove didn't go as far south as it does now either.
To me, besides how much the infrastructure has changed one of the biggest changes since I moved here in early 70s is back then, I didn't find too many yanks. Now, I don't find near as many natives. There's a LOT more people walking around with northern and midwestern accents nowadays.
Yes I recall Bailey Cove stopping Weatherly Road to the South. There was a trail we rode motorcycles on and continued Southbound , if I recall correctly , there were ball fields in that area .
My family was a member of the YMCA that was in the area. spent ,many hours either in their pool or on the ball fields.
Some how we rode South down to the area of Mountain Gap School. Mostly on right of ways and power line access roads.
Another funny-ish thing, my father would drive "over the river" to fill up his car with gas. It must have been cheaper South of the City.
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Old 11-09-2018, 10:54 AM
 
Location: Butler County Ohio and Winters in Florida
928 posts, read 2,706,884 times
Reputation: 635
Default 60s and 70s HSV

Quote:
Originally Posted by writerwife View Post
Yeah.. there wasn't much out that way. And Bailey Cove didn't go as far south as it does now either.
To me, besides how much the infrastructure has changed one of the biggest changes since I moved here in early 70s is back then, I didn't find too many yanks. Now, I don't find near as many natives. There's a LOT more people walking around with northern and midwestern accents nowadays.
I did want to comment on your statement above. I didn't recall any Northerners back in those days, but due to the Space & Rocket Business in the area and on Red Stone Arsenal, we did get a big mixed group of kids at Whitesburg. I bet we had a kid or 2 from most countries, all nationalities.
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Old 11-09-2018, 11:29 AM
 
605 posts, read 519,356 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostrider7811 View Post
Yes I recall Bailey Cove stopping Weatherly Road to the South. There was a trail we rode motorcycles on and continued Southbound , if I recall correctly , there were ball fields in that area .
My family was a member of the YMCA that was in the area. spent ,many hours either in their pool or on the ball fields.
Some how we rode South down to the area of Mountain Gap School. Mostly on right of ways and power line access roads.
Another funny-ish thing, my father would drive "over the river" to fill up his car with gas. It must have been cheaper South of the City.
Was known as Gasoline Alley. We used to make the trip from North Huntsville.
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Old 11-09-2018, 04:21 PM
 
Location: Madison, Alabama
12,635 posts, read 9,142,776 times
Reputation: 8708
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostrider7811 View Post
I did want to comment on your statement above. I didn't recall any Northerners back in those days, but due to the Space & Rocket Business in the area and on Red Stone Arsenal, we did get a big mixed group of kids at Whitesburg. I bet we had a kid or 2 from most countries, all nationalities.
I've been here since 1966, and during that time Huntsville has always had people from other areas, being northern, western, eastern, southern, or foreign. It was a tiny town in the middle 1950s, and by the middle '60s had around 130,000 folks. They had to come from somewhere. And things have continued to be that way.

The city had 16,000 in 1950; 72,000 in 1960; and 140,000 in 1970. Today it's probably >200,000 but the increase in the metropolitan area has been fairly huge.
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Old 11-09-2018, 04:22 PM
 
Location: Madison, Alabama
12,635 posts, read 9,142,776 times
Reputation: 8708
Quote:
Originally Posted by Preston3124 View Post
Was known as Gasoline Alley. We used to make the trip from North Huntsville.
Stations in Gasoline Alley were usually quite a bit cheaper than "in town", I suppose largely because of taxes. Almost all of those stations have closed now.
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Old 11-19-2018, 02:05 PM
 
138 posts, read 154,244 times
Reputation: 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostrider7811 View Post
Yes I recall Bailey Cove stopping Weatherly Road to the South. There was a trail we rode motorcycles on and continued Southbound , if I recall correctly , there were ball fields in that area .
My family was a member of the YMCA that was in the area. spent ,many hours either in their pool or on the ball fields.
Some how we rode South down to the area of Mountain Gap School. Mostly on right of ways and power line access roads.
Another funny-ish thing, my father would drive "over the river" to fill up his car with gas. It must have been cheaper South of the City.



Yep, our family drove "over the river" too -- it was called Gasoline Alley and was cheaper during that timeframe.
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