Robbinsville is NO MORE !

Gone is Robbinsville.  It had became one of Troy‘s eyesores. It will be another strip mall. I suppose that’s better than what it had became.  

The buildings are now being torn down, the bulldozer will take away the buildings and the eyesore. The buildings may be gone but not our memories, good or bad, they are ours.

 Lawrence and Margaret Robbins owned and built the houses for rentals,  My father, Monroe Vanover, was the carpenter that built the little houses behind the tavern. They were  built in the 1950‘s.  The tavern and some of the other buildings in that area were moved in from Wright Patterson Air Force  Base and were Ammunition Storage Buildings.  My Dad called them Powder Houses. The highway was County Road 25 A South which at that time was very busy.  I can remember seeing troop convoys moving along on it, there was no I -75 .  

As a child I had many good times there. We cleared fields for baseball games, basketball games, plenty of kids to have enough players for 2 teams.  

Many of the families are still in Troy , the Vanovers, Daniels, Woosleys, Bradley’s,  Browns,  McKinleys and Brownings.

 Bradley , Woosley, Daniels, McKinley  and Vanover Kids  

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The Daniels had the first and only TV in the neighborhood and we all spent a lot of time at their home. Brownie drove a pop truck for the Donald Duck Pop Company. My Mom was the neighborhood  barber, on the weekend some one always needed a haircut.

One of the biggest happenings was when someone set fire to an outhouse and the Troy Fire Department had to pay a visit.  

The Cutlips had ponies and we always were allowed to ride them. My favorite was almost a horse size pony called Jingle Bells, oh, how I loved Jingles Bells (my only regret was I never knew why that pony was called  Jingle Bells).  The Cutlips lived on Dye Mill and that was considered Robbinsville because it was also owned by the Robbins family. Just across the railroad was the Griffith family and Mr. Griffith was the only blacksmith around. It was exciting to watch the horses come  in and be shoed.                           

Then we had Joe’s Tavern ( aka The Bloody Bucket ) The tavern was a very rough and notorious bar, many fights broke out there and the name The Bloody Bucket just seemed to fit. Joe’s Tavern was also our bus stop. You met your friends there and had a good time. We all went to Concord school. I had a wonderful teacher , her name was Helen Updike, she made us feel like we were the most important people in the world. Our bus driver was Barney VornHolt , Barney was a great guy .

Joe’s Tavern ( E.J. Nite Club ) 

 Bus Stop for Concord School

On the corner of Dye Mill Road and County Road 25 A  South was a little grocery store and gas station called Jordan’s , I guess you would call it a Mom and Pop Store . The owner’s wife was Dorothy and she was the daughter of Lawrence and Margaret Robbins. As time went by, that little building  became an  office building for a used car lot then a used furniture store.  

One block building was the Skeen’s Ice House.  Some people would buy huge blocks of ice to keep their food cold, but as time went by everyone had refrigerators and it became a thing of the past. The building then was bought by Red Taylor and ice, pop and beer was sold. You would drive up and Red would come out and take your order and bring it to you. You didn’t drive thru.  

The years have gone by and I still keep in touch with many of the Robbinsville Gang. And a few years ago Mrs. Updike called and invited me to her 92nd. birthday party. A lot of the gang was there and we all had a wonderful time.  

Some of the other families that lived there were the Conards, Hoggs, Reeds, Bentleys, Dankworths, Johnsons, Pearcys, Cremeans, Browns, Suttons, Waters and Todds.

 Louise Vanover Vore

Billie and Jack helped with my memories.

I’m sure  this isn’t 100 % but from memories that have faded as years go by.

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