Do you remember when the coal man made deliveries to the homes in your neighborhood?

Question

In the mid 50's, the coal man used to come to our home & deliver a load of coal on a certain date each month. My dad would go to the basement, unlock the coal bin window, then the coal would come tumbling into the coal bin, via a short slide that the coal man stuck in through the window. What a lot of noise & what a dirty mess. I can still picture my dad loading up the ole furnace with coal, especially on those cold Ohio winter nights. It sure kept our home toasty warm. :)

Yes, I guess the last thing the deep south needed was a coal man huh? ~lol~

Thanks to everyone for sharing!!! It was all so interesting. I truly enjoyed each comment :)

Answer 1

No we didn't need coal in San Francisco, but I remember the ice man coming by,, and the produce man.
Also remember when we were kids, if the roofers were tarring a roof in the neighborhood they would bring the tar burning trailer, which melted the big blocks of tar. When they used to chop up the block of tar to put in the burner, we would pick up the small pieces of tar and chew them like gum. We didn't eat them, just chewed on them.

Answer 2

Yep-and I remember the milk being delivered on a horse drawn wagon. The ice man came by too to bring a big block of ice for the icebox. We had a real live man lighting the gas lamps on the streets at sunset. There was also a man who made horseradish in a big wooden box he rolled around the neighborhood. I can still hear the call-Horse Radish. Coal was a big old dirty mess. Not to mention the bugs that liked the coal dust. I'm from Pennsylvania and was born in the late 30's. We've both seen a lot of changes,eh?

Answer 3

No coal. When my parents first bought this house in 1955 there was no source of heat except the radiant heat from the wood burning stove. Mind you the only finished part of the house was the basement. The upper storey was just tarpaper over a wood frame, waiting to be finished.

When my parents put in the first furnace, they bought a state of the art (for 1955) oil burning furnace. I think that must have been lowered into place before the floor was finished because I can remember it being a huge mother!

Answer 4

before my time, but my grandfather's house had a section of the basement called "the coal bin". Loved to play in there! Dirt floor, low ceiling! My mom told me about how they used to dump the coal thru the window.

I do remember the "gevelle" (bleach) man and the bakery man who used to come to my house regularly and deliver bread and whatever else you asked for (like the milkman). They used to actually open the door, announce who they were and come in and leave the items (the bleach man went into the basement). Nobody in the house even blinked an eye!! Who would do that now???

Answer 5

No, we didn't use coal in the city I grew up in, but I remember having milk delivered, and there was a little door on the side of the house where the "milk man" put the bottles of milk. Also remember the "bread man" in a truck delivering bread, rolls, coffee cakes, etc. in much the same way that the ice cream truck delivers today in some neighborhoods, mine included.

Answer 6

I remember coal heating from my years in Chicago (until age 6) and Colorado (ages 6-16.)

If I was good I got to shovel coal into the electric stoker when we were in Colorado. I was so fascinated with the machine I didn't think of it as a chore at all.

Answer 7

OH! MY! Yes! It was my older (by 13 months) brother job to shovel the coal into the furnace, after Dad had gone to work. He had to do that again when we came home for lunch from school. We kids would get into big trouble for sliding down the coal shoot we would get so dirty! We lived in IL.

Answer 8

In the 70's I lived in Berlin Germany. I remember them delivering coal to the home where I lived. Remembering back when we were young is very soothing.

Answer 9

My Father delivered the coal. We even used it to cook with. Before we got a gas stove.

Answer 10

I remember that my Dad burned coal at his shop in town. He would bring it home to burn in the stove. That stove was hot! It had a cavity for holding water to keep it hot. I barely remember living in that house and when we moved we had a fireplace. I remember one morning the kitchen counters had a thin layer of ice on them. Not solid but in places. We was po'