The Wrong Side of the Tracks? Really?

Wrong Side of the Tracks?

By: Dr. Jeff Fuller

Someone placed a post on Facebook which sent me on a search for meaning to the phrase which caused her to do the post.  Additionally there were a large number of individuals who commented on the post, as it sent all of us to thinking regarding our upbringing.

Alright here is the post:

“Someone said to me today that they didn't know I grew up on the wrong side of the tracks and they couldn't believe I was moving back, even if for a short time. Well, to you and others that feel that way....I am of the belief that God created us equal, people put labels and add their opinions of ‘where the wrong side of the tracks’ is located.  The side of the tracks I was on looked pretty good to me.  I had a very good childhood there and I am not ashamed that I grew up in my developing years in BRECON.  My parents both worked two or three jobs to get us there.  Brecon has produced Doctors, Pastors, Ministers of Music, Lawyers, Nurses, Businessmen and Businesswomen, Engineers, and more…”

From her post it appears that this was not said to be funny or cute, but evidently was meant as mean and hateful.  While some might be able to overlook a play on words, it is hardly possible to overlook someone who uses terms with a bite to them while they have their social nose up in the air.  It has a way of putting the other person in their place, condemning them for the plight of their upbringing, and for the one with no conscious, it makes them feel better than others.  A sure slap in the face in light of Jesus’ admonition to love everyone, no matter what their station or place in life. (Luke 10:25-37)

The above post, which is only a part of the entire post made me do some hard thinking regarding the term “the wrong side of the tracks.”  In doing some research, the following came in handy.ere the wrong side of the tracks"is located. The side of the tracks I was on looked pretty good to me. I had a very happy childhood there and I am not ashamed that I grew up in my developing years in BRECON. My parents both worked two and three jobs to get us there. Brecon has produced Doctors, Pastors, Ministers of Music, Lawyers, Nurses, Business Men and Women, Engineers and more.

“I have found one possible origin for this. In the early days of steam trains, the wind would blow the smoke and soot to one side of the tracks. The rich would live on the side away from the smoke, while the less well-off would be left in the pollution. However I find a problem or two with this explanation.  1 - Surely the side of the track that the smoke went to would depend on wind direction.  2 - You would have thought that rich people would not want to set up house anywhere close to a dirty noisy thing like a railway. Another problem I have is that the same source indicated that the origins of 'Rule of thumb' is from an Eighteenth century English law that a husband could beat his wife with a stick as long as it was no thicker than his thumb. There was never any such law passed!”

wiki.answers.com

A Slang Dictionary introduced the definition for the wrong side of the tracks as a noun: “the poor side of town.”  Therefore a person might say. “I'm glad I'm from the wrong side of the tracks. I know what life is really like.”

http://dictioary.reference.com/browse/wrong+side+of+the+tracks

Another source revealed this explanation:

Don't know exactly when it started but it is only my guess that it came about when the West was still wild and the railroad was being built across the USA in the 1800s. The [Rail Road] would build a depot on the up-wind side of the tracks so the smoke and cinders would blow away from the depot and [mercantile], business, schools and prosperity would also spring up on that side. The land on the other side of the tracks was cheaper for working class families but dirty, dangerous and harder to get to. And it was also very hard for the law to patrol there, so many houses of ill-repute sprang up on that side. As a poor family got ahead in the economy they would move over to "the good side of the tracks" where it was safer and goods and services were easier to find. Anyone who could not afford to was assumed to be a drug addict, a whore, a criminal or the offspring of one. Many were just people who lost their health or their descendants who could not get an education and were left behind. The "good" people did not like to mix with anyone who was from "the wrong side of the track".

In some small western [Rail Road] towns you can still see the difference in architecture of the two different cultures. On one side you will find churches, old schools, and classic Old West mercantile buildings with their high false fronts. On the other you will find tin-shack ruins, crumbling adobes, and sometimes a big suspicious looking Victorian style house that looks very out of place.

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1566583

Lastly, I wish to share with you this portion of research:

“Wrong side of the tracks -Before there were cars, trains were an important means of transportation. Of course, pollution wasn't a big concern so when a train rolled by, heavy black smoke and soot went with it. Usually the wind blew the black smoke to one side of the tracks and only the poorest of people would endure living in that hard to breathe environment. No one wanted to be on "the wrong side of the tracks."

http://www.meghan-mccarthy.com/articles_sayings.html

From these we learn several things regarding the phrase, both good and bad.  Towns were built around tracks, and in most cases the center of commerce was around one side of the tracks.  This would be where the elitist would build their homes, along with schools and their churches.  The other side of the tracks might have been relegated to the lesser of society because the land might be of poorer quality or not suitable to the taste of the founding family or families.  In some instances this was the way the land fell in relation to family divisions of property and one side of the family took a higher view of themselves and looked down their noses at the common part of their family who were on the other side.

I thought it was funny that one thought regarding the phrase had to do with the way the cinders and smoke fell.  Ain’t that a kick?  I wonder what they thought when the wind was blowing in the other direction?

Additionally, in reference to research on this phrase, I have a thought that would put these to shame.  Many southern towns I have visited were built around the railroad tracks.  A few towns I’ve been to the tracks crossed at the middle of town, with many of the businesses, courthouse and grand homes located within stone’s throw of the depot.  In my hometown of Fort Payne, the tracks run through the heart of town.  The depot is on the east side of the tracks, with the major businesses and fine southern homes on the west.  The main businesses butt up to the tracks in the heart of town and many of the mills and factories were started on the east side of the tracks.  Mill homes, provided as residences for the family of workers, were built on the west side of the tracks, others on the east.  So in reality the less economically sound families lived within a block of the finer, more polished families.  With that said, I would have to say that the phrase, “the wrong side of the tracks” is a bunch of snobbery.

It is this attitude that smacks of ridicule and derision.  We claim that we are better, more advanced in our society of the 21^st Century, yet we have those who still look down their collective noses and spout off slogans and sayings that still attempt to keep people in their places.  I am at fault, as well.  The separation of classes and walls that causes such a problem in society actually breaks my heart.  When it involves those who are of the Christian community it seems to be even more painful as it does break my heart, and I honestly believe that it breaks the very heart of God.

The Bible clearly teaches that we are to be united as Christians.  We to love each other and others outside of the faith in such a way that it mirrors the love of God.  We find in the sacred oracles of God that we are created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:26-27)  With that as the case, to slander or speak against a brother or sister, is to speak against the image of God.  Additionally the greatest of all commandments, given by Jesus was that we are to love each other as we love ourselves. (Mathew 5:41-47; Matthew 19:19)

With that said, return to the post with me and the real reason I am writing this blog today.  Our lady wrote that someone accused her of being from “the wrong side of the tracks.”  That side of the tracks was the Brecon area of Talladega.

That is an area I personally know something about.  I spent the first twelve years of my life on Broadway, living across from the Drive-In Theater, attending C.L. Salter School and Dixon Middle School, riding bikes along the roads within a few miles, and roaming through the old plants long abandoned and deserted by their former owners.  If it was “the wrong side of the tracks” we did not know that, because we were so very blessed.

Talladega, as a whole is rich in history, dating back to 1835, two years after the creation of Talladega County. The Creek village Talatigi was located near the site before white settlement. As settlers began to move into the area, the name gradually evolved into Talladega. The city had a population of 15,143 as of the 2000 Census and has always been the county seat of Talladega County.

“General Andrew Jackson's victories over the Red Stick Creeks at the Battle of Talladega and the subsequent Battle of Horseshoe Bend opened eastern and central Alabama to white settlement. The area officially remained Creek territory until the signing of the Treaty of Cusetta in 1832. In January 1834, lands were advertised for sale at a new government land office opened at Mardisville, just south of present-day Talladega. The Treaty of Cusetta specifically granted a half section of land to an African American man, Joseph Bruner, in recognition for his services as an interpreter. Bruner soon sold this tract to a local man, Jesse Duran. In July 1834, Duran donated the tract for a town site, with the proviso that he and his partner would receive a portion of the monies from the public sales. Six months later on January 9, 1835, the Alabama Legislature incorporated the town of Talladega.”

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1845

Soon after incorporation, Talladega began to grow as log houses, taverns, trading posts, hotels, and churches were constructed. Due to this extreme growth, by one vote, Talladega was chosen as the county seat. In February 1836, a special tax was imposed on activities related to gambling, such as racetracks, racehorses, billiard tables, and card playing, to finance construction of the courthouse, which was completed in 1838. Although later damaged by a tornado and a fire, it is the oldest courthouse in continuous use in Alabama.

“When the courthouse was completed, Talladega began attracting lawyers, merchants, doctors, teachers, and preachers as new citizens. It also became home, in 1858, to the first school for the blind in the state, now the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind. Most of the area's inhabitants were involved in farming, with 39 percent of the county's population consisting of slaves. Despite the number of plantations with slaves in the surrounding area, Talladegans were about evenly divided on the issue of secession from the Union. Nevertheless, when the Civil War began, the divergent groups came together to form a company of troops referred to as the Talladega (or Alabama) Rifles. Talladega further supported the war effort by providing uniforms, a nitre works, a hospital for the wounded, and a prison for federal soldiers.

In July 1864, Talladega was invaded by Union forces under the command of General Lovell H. Rousseau, whose mission in Alabama was to destroy the Western Railroad that was supplying Confederate troops to Atlanta. His forces burned the railroad depot in Talladega and inflicted considerable damage on Confederate stores within the area. Talladega was hit again two weeks after General Lee's surrender at Appomattox, when General Croxton led the last of Wilson's Raiders into Talladega, burning buildings and pillaging stores. A local judge saved the town from total destruction by approaching General Craxton with a Masonic sign and pleading mercy for the remainder of the community.”

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1845

The economy was in ruins following the Civil War.  Due in part to this ruined economy, many citizens moved on to the expanding frontier of the West. The ones who chose to stay survived by operating small farms. Following farming as a boost to industry, the economy was gradually stimulated by the development of iron foundries (such as Clifton Iron Company, owned by Horace Ware and Samuel Noble), marble quarries, and textile mills.

“By 1885, although the economy had vastly improved, Talladega still had the reputation of a lawless community. Outsiders terrified local citizens by storming into town on horseback with their pistols ablaze. Mayor William H. Skaggs, who took office in 1885, quickly brought this situation under control by installing a new police force and establishing law and order. During Skaggs's reign as mayor, he also stimulated the local economy by improving the streets, building a water-works system, opening a prison, and establishing a public school system.”

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1845

Economic growth into the first half of the twentieth century was strongly stimulated by building more textile mills, foundries, and other plants.

“The founding of the Bemis Bag Company, which manufactured cotton sacks, resulted in the development of an entire new community called Bemiston. World War II saw the rapid creation of wartime plants, particularly in the Brecon area on the outskirts of the city. These industries helped to increase population, which in turn, increased the number of schools and churches in the community and created new opportunities for recreation and entertainment. In 1968, construction began on the Talladega Superspeedway just a few miles out of town just off of Interstate 20. Today, the facility seats more than 140,000 NASCAR fans and is home to two of NASCAR's top-tier Sprint Cup Series races each year (the Aaron's 499 and the Amp Energy 500).”

   http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1845

Brecon on the outskirts of the town is a place where those of us who have roots, might be referred to as being from “the wrong side of the tracks.”  Yet we consider ourselves doubly blessed for what we enjoyed as a free, full life of growing and maturing in that section of the town.  It may have had its fair share of struggles and heartaches but we were blinded by the good school we attended, the great community we enjoyed, and even more it was a wonderful place of what appeared to be a carefree life.

I laughed at the comment made by one of the posters friends who writes:

“I could bury you in positive, fun facts about Brecon. And the statute of limitations have expired on (most) of the stuff we did...
‘Proud to be a BRECON boy. What I am was forged there. At one time the high school football coach, the team captain, the head cheerleader and the homecoming queen all lived in Green Acres. At the same time. Every kid I knew who didn't live there wished they did at one time or another.’”

Being from Brecon I have to say that the first twelve years of my life has had a dramatic effect upon my life as a whole.  This half Brecon boy/half Fort Payne boy has made some astounding leaps and grand milestones for someone from “the wrong side of the tracks.”  I graduated from High School, moved through the ranks of employment with one company, business involvement, and was selected as an Outstanding Young Man in America.  All of this by the time I was twenty four years old.  Since then I have attended three places of higher education (earning a Bachelor’s, Master’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees), I have been married to the same woman, we have one daughter who is smarter than I ever was, owned two businesses, and we are property owners.  I was called to preach at the age of fifteen, which I can trace that calling back to my Brecon days.

Also I am a published author with three books in circulation and three to come out in the next four months.  I write a weekly column for a local newspaper, The Coosa News, which has been running for almost six years.  I founded a journal five years ago, The Coosa Journal, serving as the editor with a circulation of over 1,500, plus the internet. (www.coosacountyso.org)  

You may want to look back at a previous post I made last year to see some of the things I remembered from my days in Brecon. http://jfuller2297.blogspot.com/2013/07/out-and-abouttalladega.html

All of this is to say that those who deem it necessary to use the phrase “the wrong side of the tracks” in reference to those of us who lived in Brecon, need to be very careful.  Every area has its own share of skeletons.  Be careful lest you be painted with the paint you paint others.

Brecon may not be what it once was; riding through the area actually was depressing and sad.  Yet, I look back and see the good days, the grand days of life there from 1964 to 1976.  We who lived in Brecon are continually thankful to God for the peace and quiet of the area, the good folks, and the way neighbors watched out for neighbors (that was before the Neighborhood Watch programs became popular).  We remember the days of riding bikes after dark, of playing together on the playground, of spending time around the water fountain on the playground, wandering through the woods and old buildings, and making friends for life.  All this on “the other side of the tracks.”