Real Photos of an Imaginary Town

The book Evie's Fall is written completely from Evie Robert's point of view.  But what about Jimmy's life?  These artifacts suggest part of Jimmy Burke's story.  While I was writing the book, these materials served as touch stones to the fictional story I was telling and added another dimension to the tale.  I hope you like them.  They were provided by Stacy Kinchen. Some images are of his own family (no relation to the fictional Jimmy Burke!), and some images are from the Bellefontaine Historical Society archives.  

1. Could this academic success have happened to Marion?

2. Old downtown in a small Ohio city. 

3. Downtown Stores.

4. A man down near the tracks.

5. Girls had to leave on a train in the middle of the night when they were shamed.

6. Classic Downtown in an Imaginary City.

7. My image of Jimmy in his uniform.

7a. As was typical for "colored" troops during the Korean War, Jimmy could cut the metal pieces, but not fashion them.  He was allowed only to prepare the materials for working with sheet metal and drive a truck.  

8. Jimmy's grandmother.

9. Jimmy's mother with Marion.

10. Last image of Evie and Marion together, taken by Jimmy.

11. Limited job options for "coloreds" in the fictional town. 

12. Jimmy left town from this train station.

13. Marion before she began embittered by lack of opportunity and then later died of polio.

14. What Burke family life might have been like-- a wedding of one of Jimmy's sisters.

15. It didn't matter what the season was; Jimmy never returned to this train station in summer, fall, winter, nor spring.

16. Young men had to leave town to get an opportunity like this.

17. Baseball was a consistent feature in Jimmy's life.

18. Olive-skinned, dark-eyed Italians were moving in down near the train yards, a different kind of "colored."

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PHOTOS AND MEMENTOS

1. Newspaper article, unknown origin

2. Downtown Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

3. Downtown Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

4. How Evie’s father might have looked—unknown man, Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

5. Train Depot, Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

6. Downtown Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

7. This is actually picture of M. Richard Jay Kinchen, who served during the Korean War.  His son, Stacy Kinchen, was kind enough to let me use it to envision what Jimmy might have looked like in his Korean War-era uniform.  The following was written by Stacy about his father:

   “He was born in Bellefontaine, Ohio Aug 07, 1928.  He joined the Air Force when he was about 17, so that would have been in 1945 when the military was still segregated.  He went to boot camp in San Antonio, a place he really enjoyed Commerce Street. He was later stationed in Cheyenne WY, and later Denver, CO about which he fondly reminisced for his entire life. He spent a lot of time on Colfax Avenue, the happening place at the time.  He was assigned the job of driving a truck though he wanted to work with sheet metal but was not permitted to because that job class was reserved for white men.  He enjoyed playing baseball (the teams of course were segregated and he played on one with Blacks and Mexicans), which gave him exposure to a culture he would not have experienced had he remained in Bellefontaine; and may be one of his best friends was someone that he called “Hayward”, maybe from Philly or Brooklyn.  When he returned to Bellefontaine he hitchhiked the entire way.  He said he walked all the way across Kansas because no one would pick him up.  When he returned to Bellefontaine he said he was never leaving there, and he meant it.  He stayed there his entire life until he had to leave in order to begin the process of his slow death by cancer.  His surgery, treatment, and non-recovery occurred over the course of a year in Columbus, Ohio, an hour southeast of Bellefontaine on route 33, until he returned to his house to die a week later, with my ex-wife at his side at 11 am on Friday July 8, 2005.  Mom and I had gone out briefly to get something to eat.”  

7a.  This is actually another picture of Mr. Richard Jay Kinchen, whose image I used for Jimmy’s.  In fact, Mr.   Kinchen served in Korea, wanted to weld and build airplanes, but he was not allowed to because of his race.  He was permitted only to cut the material and drive a truck.  

8. This is actually Stacy Kinchen’s great qreat grandmother, Bertha Alexander Kinchen, who was born in Bellefontaine.  She is of the same generation as Jimmy’s grandmother would have been.

9. Picture of Stacy Kinchen’s cousin Ardella Delandes and her older sister Beverly.  This picture was very useful for providing an idea of what Bucktown’ life might have been like on the other side of the cindered lane.  Permission of Ardella Delandes.

10. Two unknown women, Logan County Historical Society

11. Roundhouse in Bellefontaine, one of the main terminals for the Big Four Railroad Company and the largest between NYC and St. Louis.  Logan County Historical Society.

12. Big Four train Depot in Bellefontaine, Ohio.  Logan County Historical Society.

13. Unknown woman in Bellefontaine, Ohio—Logan County Historical Society

14. A woman Stacy used to call his “Aunt Leola.  Her son, Sid Wilson, give permission to use this picture, which really illustrates the happiness at experiencing this big life event.  I imagined this would have been what Marion’s little sister, Merry, might have looked like on her wedding day.  Used with permission of Sid Wilson.

15. Bellefontaine Train Station, Logan County Historical Society.

16. Picture of Einstein doing a guest lecture.  Taken from the Internet.  Opportunities were available but few and far between for many.

17. This is a picture of Mr. Richard Jay Kinchen in his baseball uniform.  If you recall from the book, Jimmy loved baseball.  Perhaps he was in a local league like Mr. Kinchen was.

18. Shacks near the railroad tracks in Bellefontaine, Ohio.