Writer Larry Pope was born and raised in Shawtown (pronounced Shot-Town by some locals), a small, secluded neighborhood at the base of Mount Washington.

Today kids are more likely to charge into a virtual world of video games after school. However, this was not a possibility for youth in the 40s and 50s. Check out Larry Pope’s book Shot-Town Stories for a chance to experience what boyhood was like in the good old days in Eau Claire.

Larry Pope was born and raised in Shawtown (pronounced Shot-Town by locals), a small, secluded neighborhood at the base of Mount Washington, bordering the Chippewa River. He has recently compiled a bunch of stories about his growing-up years there, before television and video games existed, when boys spent their free time exploring manholes in the wilderness.

“We had to go out and make our own entertainment when we were boys. That’s what the book is about.” – Larry Pope, author of Shot-Town Stories

Pope was never a writer by profession. After he learned technical skills fixing electronics in the Navy, he began fixing vending machines and microwaves in Milwaukee, eventually becoming a shop manager. He missed Eau Claire life, so returned in 1974 and opened Larry’s TV, a business where he fixed televisions and eventually satellite dishes. However, Pope was always known for his rousing storytelling abilities. In 1996, he retired and began focusing his attention on his grandchildren and entertaining them through his stories. 

“I was always a natural storyteller,” Pope reminisces. But he never wrote any of them down. Pope began recounting stories to his grandchildren of the ‘good ole days’ back in Shot-Town when he was growing up. His storytelling became so popular with his family that his grandchildren told him he should make a book. 

Inspired to immortalize his stories, Pope began writing his stories for the first time in 2002. He wrote about his years between the ages of 5-15 growing up in Eau Claire and all the mischief he and his friends got into, such as alarming people at a bus stop by howling strange things through an old, broken manhole nearby. His grandchildren took the stories to school to share with their classes. The teachers liked the stories so much that they assigned all their students homework to write similar stories of their own. That gave Pope the idea to self-publish his memories. He acquired his own printer and put pictures with each story. 

“It was lots of fun and all the stories are true!” he affirmed. “We had to go out and make our own entertainment when we were boys. That’s what the book is about.”

Each story Pope writes about uncovers more imagination, truthful child insights, and, of course, the attempts to avoid getting in trouble. One story is about flying. 

“All kids want to fly. If they tried hard enough they thought they could,” explained Pope. “This story shows how important it is to keep the dream. It’s about the ingenuity kids have and how important it is they guard that.” 

Another story gives hilarious insight on the forgiving nature of mothers. Larry’s own mother passed away in 1941 when he was only six years old. All the other kids in his neighborhood had mothers. Larry was quick to realize that no matter what a kid did, even if he was a juvenile delinquent, his mother would stick up for him.

“Fathers might yell and threaten, but mothers always said they were proud of their boy,” reflected Pope with a smile in his voice. 

Find your own copy of Larry Pope’s Shot-Town Stories at the Local Store, Chippewa Valley Museum, and Crossroad Books. There are 37 different stories in the book and there are more to come, promises Pope. 

“Whenever my grandkids read my stories they say, ‘Ooh I wish I was little when you were, Grandpa, because it sounds like so much fun!’ ” said Pope. 

So pick up a book and bask in the simple pleasures of imagination, friends, and the great outdoors.