Memories, William A Murray R W Johnson From the Evening Guide  April 7, 1959 In my articles of March 5 on the location of the original Pigeon Hill, the Cavan Street 'Pidgeon' Hill, Monkey Mountain, and the need of an historical society to keep such place-names properly recorded, I asked your readers to try to identify such places, well known to everybody seventy-five years ago as The Flag Pole Corner, Patsy Connel's Wedge, Hatton's Lane, Wildwood, The Guide Board, and various others. As a result I have had several letters on this subject, many of them reminding me also of others I had forgotten, or which were before even those I had in mind. Some of the places these correspondents have now recalled include Barlow Cumberland's residence, Hemmick's Golf Course, Sam Hughe's Lane, and Smith's Woods; and such well known characters as Big Jimmie Hadden, Lou Holland, Plinkus Paul, Mandy Lee, Bruce Sisson, John James Floody, Tommy Hawthorne, Dave Hall, Fitzie Fitzpatrick, and others. One very interesting letter from W A Murray of Rochester says: 'The street which is now called Pidgeon Hill was in our time called Dodd's Lane. It ran up the hill past the old Dodds home, where later the Hansman family lived, then Roberts and Charley Cornthwaite. When you got to the end of the lane there was the large Pidgeon family. I remember all of them well, Tom, Bob, George, Dick, Bill, who married Fanny Firman, Martha, Fannie and Nellie. In time it became known as Pidgeon Hill.' He also calls to mind Mrs Hannah's Grocery on the King Street corner of Ward with the Fire Alarm Bell opposite, and the Chemical Hose Company between Harry Ward's and St Mark's Church. He recalls the time that Gull Lighthouse was struck by lightning while several boys were taking refuge there from a storm. He says they were General Welsh, who had a big toe burned off, Charlie McMahon, Kid Jordan, John Sinnott and others. He recalls Nick Winters' Hotel at the foot of King Street where Tom Burt lived later, Irish's Green, where we played baseball, opposite the Turner House, Kellaway's Sash and Door Factory, John Record's Pump Works, Peplow's and Salter's Flour Mills, later Dyers Woollen Mills for a year or two until destroyed by fire. He remembers the spring days when men speared 'Paddy Roach's Rock Rollers', commonly called suckers, on the flat rocks below Helm's Dam, and the roller rinks, Riordan's Brewery, Dick Smith's harness shop, where the Band boys used to congregate, and Dick Blackham's Rochester House on Dorset between John Street and the Midland Railway. He mentions Miles Ogden's hotel on John Street, and the St George on Cavan, not far from Walton which was run by George Hawkins and later by Bill Gamble, the crack rifle shot who went to Wimbledon and Bisley several times. He says E W Barnett had the soap and glue factory, later owned by Paul Lackner, and he mentions Spooner's Copperine sign and small office on John Street, Joe Hooper's marble works, Tom Leonard's blacksmith shop on Queen opposite the Post Office, Tom Van Horn's on Cavan Street, Barrett's octagonal residence on Martha Street, afterwards P H Passy's, the ice races on Corbett's Pond, and various other points of interest. He recalls the hot times on the Town Council when one year under Jim Quinlan as mayor there was a deadlock for six months. Councillors were Jack McMullen, Pete Randall, Stan Burnham and Charlie Merrifield. At one contest for council, Dr Might, after a door-to-door canvass that ended only in his defeat, said there were 300 liars in Ward One who had promised to vote for him and didn't. I trust this partial list of Bill Murray's will keep your readers busy for a few days in this off-season.