Posted by Sarah Gold '23
When people reminisce about their childhoods, they often strengthen connections with meaningful people and places. Growing up on the West Side of Saratoga Springs was a unique experience for many children who, as adults, enjoy sharing stories about their immigrant and working-class neighborhood. As part of the West Side Oral Narrative Project, siblings Anna and Thomas Kondenar shared their stories of childhood on the West Side with Leona “Lee” Casey Signor in 1999. Thomas, born in 1919, and Anna, born in 1924, particularly recall memories of growing up on their family’s lumberyard during the 1920s and 1930s.
Their father, an immigrant from Eastern Europe, began the family lumberyard where Kondenars worked, including Thomas, Anna, and their brothers. Unlike other families on the West Side, the Kondenars were not Irish or Italian—the two major ethnic groups in that area of the city . When Lee inquired whether their father was Czechoslovakian, Thomas responds with “Yeah. My father was Austrian or it’s Hungarian or whatever it is. Whatever you say it is.” Thomas and Anna do not express pride in an ethnic identity, but rather, room their identity in the West Side. Through telling stories of their school, childhood games, and work, Anna and Thomas reveal how they co-remember their “West Sideness.”
The lumberyard, located at 200 West Circular Street, was the main source of family income and provided the setting for the childhood of the Kondenar siblings. In addition to the lumberyard, the family also operated a sawmill and had lumber chutes in other areas of upstate New York that provided wood. Growing up around the lumberyard and helping with activities was a memorable aspect of Thomas and Anna’s childhood. Thomas described, “Yeah, I helped ’em. I didn’t saw nuttin’. My brother Marty saw—did the sawing. He did all the sawing. I couldn’t saw. They wouldn’t let me saw.” Anna added, “And boy, all us kids worked in there. All my brothers and I, we bagged wood after school. And they boys helped my father deliver it.” The Kondenar kids not only worked on the lumberyard but also helped deliver wood all over Saratoga Springs for fuel.
Following the death of their father, Martin or “Marto”, the oldest Kondenar brother, took over the lumberyard and continued the family’s business. However, eventually, after the family ended the business, the land for the lumberyard was converted into the space for the Saratoga Springs High School.
Telling their story of the lumberyard, Anna and Thomas share more broadly about their West Side experience. By reminiscing together, they connect themselves and their listeners to the close, hardworking community that existed nearly 100 years ago.
Following the death of their father, Martin or “Marto”, the oldest Kondenar brother, took over the lumberyard and continued the family’s business. However, eventually, after the family ended the business, the land for the lumberyard was converted into the space for the Saratoga Springs High School.
Telling their story of the lumberyard, Anna and Thomas share more broadly about their West Side experience. By reminiscing together, they connect themselves and their listeners to the close, hardworking community that existed nearly 100 years ago.