A view of Union Street, as seen through a second-story window

Larry Janes, a retired pipefitter, remembers the Southside of his youth as “a good place to live.” Photo by his brother,  Pat Janes.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Larry Janes of Hannibal, born in 1940, called the living quarters above the Union Bar on Hannibal’s Southside home for much of his youth. It was in this environment that he gained a respectful perspective on the role played by blue collar workers during the years following World War II.

The second of three sons born to Frank and Martha Buskirk Janes, Larry moved with his family to the prime business intersection of Union and what is now known as Missouri 79, when he was still a preschooler. Larry’s father was union organizer, and co-founder of Local 350 out of Hannibal. The electrical union “got organized in the building behind the post office, where they are now,” Larry said. “(The building) used to be Murphy Motors garage and car shop. Dad and two other men bought the building and made a union hall out of it. That was in the late 40s or early 50s.”

Back at home on Union Street, Larry’s parents managed Union Bar together, and made their home on the building’s second floor.

Most of Larry’s early memories revolve around the people who frequented the neighborhood businesses, those who gathered  at the fire station - which was directly across the street - and the kids who played ball from morning until night on the nearby Stowell School playground.

While the Southside was home, the route that the Janes family took to this neighborhood wasn’t a direct path.

War years

Francis Robert (Frank) Janes, born in 1908, registered for military service Oct. 16, 1940, at the age of 32.

A medical infirmity, according to his family,  disqualified Frank for military service during World War II. But that didn’t deter his patriotism.

He left his job as electrician for the Hannibal Board of Public Works, and went to work at Weldon Spring Ordnance Works, located in St. Charles County.

Following service in this capacity, he relocated his young family back to Hannibal, where he and his wife, Martha Buskirk Janes, opened Union Bar at 504 Union.

Neighborhood

Larry Janes vividly remembers the neighborhood of his youth.

“Across the street on the corner, there was a fire station. Next to that was a cobbler shop; and next door to that Mr. Owens had a drug store. Next to him there was a barber who had a shop  and lived there. That shop was next to the creek.

“Up the block was a grocery store. At that time, almost every block had a grocery store. At the top of Union Street hill, the Roaches had a grocery.

“Down the street from us, on Sycamore street, there was a grocery called Newmans.” Typical of these small businesses, “Mom and Dad lived in the back and the grocery store was in the front room.

“A lot of people - young guys - played softball and basketball together at Stowell School; all my friends went to school there,” he said. Despite the fact that Larry attended McCooey School on Broadway,  “We all played ball together,” he said. “I was always welcome. If we wanted something to eat or drink, we’d walk to someone’s house, then go back to the ball park and play till it was time to go home.

"One good friend of mine is still alive: Donnie Martin. He lived up on Fulton and Terrace. His mother would feed us and take care of us guys.

“Everybody took care of everybody. Nobody had any money. I won’t say we were poor, we just didn’t have anything.”

Solid neighborhood

“In my memory, the Southside was a good place to live. Everybody had a job. Not a good job, but everybody had a job. They worked at the cement plant, or for the railroad. They had a roundhouse and lot of guys worked down there. They worked at the shoe factory or the rubber plant. They lived paycheck to paycheck. Everybody took care of their houses, nobody created any trouble. It was a close knit neighborhood; good hard working people.

“It was the way it was; they painted their houses, cut their grass. You didn’t see trash. All good hardworking people. Good old Americans, that’s what they were.

“There was no such thing as welfare, you had to work or you did without.

"They didn’t miss work. Mom’s friends, some were old maids and some were widows. They got up every morning and had to be at work at 7 a.m., and walk from the Southside to the rubber plant every day. They made it.

“When I’d get up in the morning, Mom would give me chores to do. When I got those done, I’d pick up a ball glove and go to Stowell playground and play till supper time. My mother was an absolute wonderful cook; she could make a meal out of nothing. Supper was on the table at 5 p.m. and if you were not there, you didn’t get any supper. You did without.

“It is good discipline.”

Gathering spot

Union Bar was a neighborhood gathering place.

“It was very popular. So many school kids came in there because my mom made them behave themselves. They’d buy soda or French fries; they never did cause any trouble. Kids were in and out of there all the time.”

Martha’s kitchen upstairs was just as popular.

“We always had a big crowd on the holidays,” Larry said. “Mom invited the neighborhood bachelors and widowers. There was always a card game going on somewhere in that building. They played a lot of cards: canasta, pinochle and pitch.

“There were always people coming in and out. My mom, she grew up poor, without anything. If somebody came by there, if they didn’t have anything to eat or were poor, my mom would feed them. They’d come back a few times and she would always feed them.”

Illness strikes

Larry’s father, Frank, had a stroke in 1958, leaving him bedfast for the next 11 years.

Larry, as the oldest son, stepped forward to help. “Mom took care of him, and so did I.”

Married to Ernestine in 1966, Larry worked days as a union pipefitter, and in the evenings he tended the bar.

“I was working at the (union) trade and helping Mom run the business, going to work at 7 o’clock in the morning, coming home to change clothes and then help Mom until 7-8 o’clock at night … 9 o’clock.”

Working together, they managed to keep the business going.

Larry ultimately renamed the business, “Larry’s Bar and Grill.”

“There was a salesman come through Hannibal selling pizza supplies,” Larry said, “and he had a franchise. There was only one pizza place in town,” he said, Leon’s Pizzeria on the corner of Market Street, right across from Eugene Field School.

"I bought the supplies. We also built a room to make the pizza, and we sold a zillion pizzas. They were very good. We delivered them.

“Mom did most of the kitchen work and I took care of the pizza end of it.”

All the while Larry was still working as a pipefitter.

“At nighttime, I did the pizzas; I’d go down there and work until 9-10 and all day Saturday and Sunday.”

Eventually, Martha Janes found two friends who wanted to take over management of the business, Bud and Wanda Wilson. Martha continued to live upstairs until she sold the building. She was living on Chestnut street when she died in 1990.

Bob Janes, 1936-2023, was the oldest son of Frank and Martha Janes. He followed his father’s career as an I.B.E.W.  Union electrician, working out of Local No. 34, Quincy, Ill. Bob died in 2023, at the age of 87.

The Janes brothers had a half brother, William Lee Oltman (1929-2021). He was a union electrician for more than 73 years, and was a member of I.B.E.W. Local 350 of Hannibal.

The youngest Janes brother is Pat, who is married to Jill Janes and resides in Hannibal. He chose the career path of education.