'Teen Town', playing ping pong at the local YMCA

When I think of Teen Town, I am immediately transported back to my high school days in Fort Scott. It was sheer magic. I wouldn't trade my high school days for anything. It (Teen Town) didn't look like magic, in fact it was held in our old YMCA building, that was an antique treasure. A big ole boxy brick building that was run by a man by the name of Christensen, but we all called him 'Christy'. He loved kids, and we all loved him.

At the time he seemed ancient, but thinking back on it, he was probably in his mid- fifties. The main floor had a big entrance hall and three huge rooms, all sort of open and flowing into each other. Two of the rooms had ping pong tables in them. We could use them as often as we liked, and believe it or not, just for three cents. I think that was maybe to defray the cost of the ping pong balls. The third room was a reading room and had books and the daily newspapers for the 'room renters'.

There was a big gym, that wasn't used any more, so the city decided that it could be used for 'our' teen town. There was a big open stairway up to the second floor, which had many rooms and I think a couple of shared rest rooms. These were rented to young (Christian) men, and men working on the Frisco Railroad, for a very reasonable price. Down in the basement was a swimming pool that wasn't used any more and a small two lane bowling alley. This was used for a short time, in fact, I worked occasionally setting pins. (before automatic pin setting) and believe me, you had to move fast when that ball came whizzing down the alley or you might get hit by the ball or flying pins. It was my job to gather up the pins and reset it. I guess you could say I was a tomboy.

Now back to Teen Town. The word was out that they needed a chaperone, and a lady came forward by the name of Emily Kells, who was a widow lady. At the time she too looked really old. When you are a teenager anyone over 30 is old, but she probably wasn't over 60 at the time. I can hardly remember a time that Emily wasn't there, if for some reason she couldn't be there, her daughter Ann, would come and take her place. She was in her 30's.

Someone donated a record player and donated records began pouring in. It was decided by a board that teen town would be open every Tuesday and every Friday night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. We all loved to 'slow dance,' but jitter bugging was what we all came for. We danced the night away to bands like Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton, Glen Miller, Artie Shaw, Les Brown, Benny Goodman and Harry James, to name a few. We never seemed to tire, or run out of steam. (Too bad we couldn't have saved some of that energy for our senior years). If we weren't dancing or singing along with the music, we were playing ping pong. I challenged all of the guys, and we played until we were worn right down to a nub. No one ever missed going to Teen Town unless they were on their death bed.

On Friday nights, if there was a ball game, we all swarmed into Teen Town as soon as the game was over. There would be Emily, just a tappin' her toe, and waiting for us to arrive. Yes, it was pure magic, and I wouldn't have missed it by a long shot.

When we come home to visit in Fort Scott, I always go by where the YMCA used to be and what memories it brings back. In my minds eye, I can still see it standing so tall and proud and I can see myself inside dancing or playing ping pong.