| Herndon's
Dog Named Kraut |
| It's hard for us to imagine what Herndon was like in the
early 1950s. It's a time that can never be recreated and a
time that is quickly becoming forgotten history. |
| This idyllic area had perhaps 2,000 inhabitants, give or
take 50 or so. There was one full-time police officer in town
and a couple of part-time deputies to help fill in. There
was no Dulles Airport, no Toll Road, no parkways, no Reston,
and Eastern Loudoun County consisted mainly of Guilford. Sterling
Park came along about the same time as Dulles. |
| Ashburn, CountrySide and Broadlands weren't even developers'
dreams. |
| It was rural out here, far from the heat and crowds of the
District. Tysons Corner was a fruit stand. Around Herndon
most commerce was based on cattle and dairy farming. It's
why there was a thriving depot here. Few had heard of Herndon,
and those who had heard of it knew it as a farming community
out west. |
| This week I heard from Roberta Keys of Herndon, who sent
me a letter about those times. The letter was a good lesson
in 1950s Herndon history for me and I thought I would share
it with you. |
| It's about a dog named Kraut. The letter begins: |
| "I thought that you might like a story about a dog and old
Herndon, so here it is. Back in the early 1950s a friend offered
our children a dog and they could have the pick of the litter.
So we got to see these lovely boxer puppies. They saw the
runt of the litter who was named Elmer and that was the one
they wanted. (Apparently, somewhere along the way they renamed
Elmer, Kraut.) |
| "From the beginning he was a great pet, and I think there
are still people in Herndon who could tell more stories about
him. He knew where each of our children were in school. That
was the old Herndon school where all the grades were in the
same building. Kraut would scratch on the door he wanted to
get in. Of course, he always got in. At one time the principal
advised me we would get a bill for redoing the scratched doors,
but it never happened. |
| "Kraut particularly loved the football games and rarely
missed one. But one Friday night was different. He did not
come home. We looked and called and then on Sunday evening
we asked the football coach who lived nearby to open the gym
so we could check. There was Kraut, who had been locked up
so long that when he left he visited every tree in sight. |
| "One day the dog catcher came to town and we were not surprised
to see the Herndon policeman drive into our yard with Kraut
in the backseat. On the very hot days of summer Kraut knew
who had air conditioning and that is where he would spend
his time. Every one in town knew Kraut. One year Kraut got
two write-in votes during the Herndon election. |
| "On nights the Safeway truck arrived (the store was across
from the fire station), this dog knew the schedule and would
be there to receive his nice bone. |
| "It was a sad time for many of us when he got sick and the
vet gave us no hope. When he died, we received phone calls
from many of the Herndon residents. This dog could not be
replaced but his memory is still with us. |
| "I hope you enjoy this little story." |
| Indeed we did, Mrs. Keys. |
| |
| The
Heebie Jeebies |
| Like so many Herndonites this winter, the flu bug, or some
kind of bug, finally got the best of me and sent me shivering
under my covers this week. I'm actually writing his column
at home in my sweats, which is a nice break from writing this
column at work in my sweats. |
| On Tuesday my son, Will, picked up a prescription for me
that my doctor had called in. It was an antibiotic, which
I thought it would be. |
| But it had a very famous name attached to it: Cipro. You
all remember that, right? With all the anthrax threats and
warnings I don't imagine there was a person in this country,
especially on the East Coast, who thought they couldn't be
victims of anthrax. Cipro was the antibiotic of choice. |
| And now I was taking it. |
| The notes on the patient prescription information form that
came with the medication gave me solace, however. |
| "This medication is an antibiotic used to treat a wide variety
of bacterial infections," it read. That "treat a wide variety"
was what I wanted to see. |
| Still, the thought of taking an antibiotic used to treat
a "weapons-grade biological warfare device" gave me the heebie
jeebies. |
| It still does. But it worked. I think I'm feeling better. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
