Pauline Harris Eastman was not more than 10 years old at the time but the memory of hundreds of people gathered in the Shinglehouse field will probably never leave her..

Mrs. Eastman who celebrated her 90th birthday on Oct. 21, spoke with the Times Herald about this and other memories she has of the community that has been a life-long home to her. She was born in  Shinglehouse on Oct. 21, 1899.

"I remember that we had a stage and a building in the grove and people came from all around to hear speakers," Mrs. Eastman reminisced during an interview in her apartment at Honeoye Haven in Shinglehouse. The grove is the present site of a recreational park located across from the Oswayo Valley Elementary School on Oswayo Street.

The senior citizen said many people, including her family, often would spend two weeks at the end-of-the-summer affair because there werre tents available. The event not only had lectures, but also offered a variety of entertainment and services to people.

"They even had classes for little jids and they taught us a hymn in Greek," she said.

"A LOT of people were upset when alcohol was legalized," said Mrs. Eastman. She remembered even after prohibition, respectablw women would not enter hotels that served spirits.

The Shinglehouse resident also said she had heard of a man in the community who made alcohol and was later found dead.

Shinglehouse was a busy little town back at the turn of the century with many more shops and stores, Mrs. Eastman recalled.

The increase in business was due in part, to the glass and oil industries located in the town, she recalled.

"There were all kinds of stores here then," said Mrs. Eastman thinking back.

"There were drug stores, bakeries, two meat markets, dry good stores and four big hotels," she said.

With more shops in town, there was more to do then, she said, with a faraway look, as if to say she misses the olden days.

"The thing I miss the most is going downtown: to some of the old shops, said Mrs. Eastman. She especially misses the ice cream parlor where she worked as a high school student.

Of the other young people in town, the majority were patriotic and ready to serve their country when World War I broke out.

"THERE WAS a lot more enthusiasm back then," said Mrs. Eastman referring to patriotism and young men's attitudes about serving their country. "They had to go and they wanted to go."

Following the war, the town was so excited that everyone gathered in the streets to celebrate.

:I remember a farmer brought in a wagon filled with other farmers for it," said Mrs. Eastman.

A graduate of Shinglehouse's class of 1919, Mrs. Eastman said the students back then were able to create thir own fun and didn't have too leave town for entertainment. Of the class of 13 graduates, all but two are deceased, she said.

"Kids nowadays can't amuse themselves, they think the excitement is all over in the next field," said the senior.

Mrs. Eastman, who was married in September of 1919, said she raised four children with her late husband Clifford.

She also has 13 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
 

AS A YOUNG girl in button-up boots, Pauline Hanks Eastman (on left) said she had a memorable childhood and worked all through high school. Button-up boots were definitely the style, and Mrs. Eastman said she swore she would never wear low shoes,, but bought a pair afteer she was married in 1919. Shown here, in this postcard photo taken at a Shinglehouse photography studio in 1914, is 15-year-old Pauline with her friends (clockwise) Dawn Perry, currently doing missionary work in Sri Lanka; the late Bessie Norton Fenner; and the late Bertha Norton Harris.

PAULINE EASTMAN recently reviewed some of the moore memorable events of her life after celebrating her 90th birthday. Mrs. Eastman, who is a resident of Honeoye Haven apartments in Shinglehouse, Pa., said she was born on the same street that she now lives on and has been a life long resident of the community.                  (TH Photo by Kate Day)