At age fourteen, Kenneth worked with the Erie Railroad and got used to lifting heavy things in a storehouse, which quickly built up his upper body muscles. He worked various kinds of jobs before working in the blacksmith shop, where he learned to…
As a young boy, Kenneth used to travel by train to New York, using his pass and spending time with his aunt Maude. He enjoyed riding the ferry, the street car, and the horse trolley across the city. Aunt Maude was his great favorite.
Kenneth grew up thinking that the most respectable people in town were Presbyterian and Republican, until he went to Washington D.C., where he discovered that the best people were often Democrats and from other denominations.
Orphans chased Kenneth's brother home, threatening to beat him up. Once home, Kenneth's mother called the orphans cowards and challenged them, saying her son would beat them one person at the time. No orphan wanted to take up the challenge singly and…
The Landon brothers got in a furious fight in which Kenneth's brother ran after him until he vanished away for the rest of the day. The boys were alone that day so Mae, their mother, who usually protects Kenneth could not help. Kenneth was gone for…
Mae became sick and the doctor asked that she take stout to fortify her blood. Kenneth was asked to receive the keg from the brewer when it came. The keg was delivered but Kenneth lost control of it while trying to bring it down to the basement.…
Kenneth tells the story of his brother, Bradley, starting his "business" manufacturing ATV and hiring Kenneth (who thus got his first job) to do advertising work for him. Kenneth addressed up to 10,000 circulars while working from a phonebook. He…
Kenneth talks about his friendship with the kids of the people on the Landons' side of the street and how he became a graceful dancer. He tells of dance parties they held at each other's houses and the lasting friendship that ensued. Kenneth…
Kenneth and his family traveled to Niagara Falls and the boys had to eat fig newtons, which Kenneth came to love very much. He would eat fig newtons in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
Kenneth and his brother built an elaborated tree house across the street from 710 Walnut St., ran an aerial to the tree house and put electrified wires around it to prevent "unauthorized" access to it. He tells how the tree house became the locus of…
Kenneth's tells about his boyhood friends and fighting, how he got beaten up so often, how he developed attack strategies that made it too costly for those who could and wanted to beat him up.
Kenneth talks about his love for ham, which he would eat a lot and carry around in his pocket for snack. He tells about his use of zippers, which a man at an old shack had invented.
Kenneth dressed up as a girl for a party, went to play baseball with his brother and a friend after the party, still wearing the girl clothes, and was mistaken for a girl by men watching the baseball game
Kenneth tells about the houses he lived in as a child: the house in which he was born, the houses on N. Main St., Park Ave., Baldwin St., and Randolph St., as well as some of the events associated with the time they were in each one of them.
The Landon family eventually moves to 710 Walnut St. where Kenneth's father, Brad, would stay until 1938 or 1939. The furniture from the house would come to Kenneth and Margaret in Richmond, Indiana.
Kenneth started to get into fights with a number of kids and enjoyed playing with his friend Juddy. He and his brother's behavior draws criticism from neighboring families and the Landons eventually moved away to live at the edge of the town
The Landons' moved to Randolph St. when Kenneth was about seven and a half years old. He was playing baseball and later began to run into gang battles.
Kenneth (age 6 or 7) and his older brother made a propeller at their father's railroad shop. He tells of how they got into trouble again with the motorman (whom the propeller almost hit). The kids vanished but were eventually found.
The Landons move to Baldwin St., where at age 6 or 7 Kenneth met a girl named Jean Kitchen, whom he refers to as his first great female love, and was pleased to play with her.
Kenneth worked for a neighbor called Lottie Price and got ice cream or a nickel. He would also go to Mister Griffith's store and beg him for sour balls.
Kenneth and his brother caused trouble in the neighborhood, including starting fires and building things in the trees, which caused his family to have to move often. He tells about how he put a girl named Martha's hair in a ink well.