"Elsmere Park" by Rose Lucas

Elsmere Park is celebrating 125 years since it was accepted into the city of Lexington as a subdivision.   Among the best aspects of Elsmere Park is the history of the people who have lived on the street.  However, rather than detail the lives of former residents, I am taking advantage of this forum to tell a more personal story. 

There is an ongoing rivalry between Joe Binford and me about who has lived on the street the longest.  Joe takes the record for continuous occupation.  He and Anne moved to the Park in September, 1963, thus they have 53 years in residence at 657.  Jack and I had moved to 612 in June, 1963, and I fondly remember the Binford and Lucas children playing together before Jack’s work took us to Ohio for 14 years.   I came home to 638 Elsmere Park as a newborn, lived here for much of the 1960’s, and I have lived at 612 or 638 for a total of 61 years.  So I claim the longevity prize from Joe.

I love parties – and one of my first memories of a boy-girl party was a dance my parents had when I was in the sixth grade.  My dad, who always had a surprise up his sleeve, rented a jukebox for the party, and one of the songs on the machine was The Tennessee Waltz, sung by Patti Page (it is available on line with a great video of her singing the sweet tune).  My cousin from Versailles brought his friend, Joe Binford (an older boy!!!) to the party, and Joe and I danced to The Tennessee Waltz.  What an impression I had of this guy – and then we lost contact until the Binfords came to live on the Park just after Jack and I did in 1963. Today, I count myself lucky to have such good friends as Joe and Anne just across the street! Elsmere Park circles are pretty overlapping!