THE SODA FOUNTAIN WAS THE PLACE TO BE

Kay Kerstner Sneed sits at a marble table that used to be in the soda fountain part of the drug store her family owned for many years. Kids would stick their gum underneath it. The soda glasses on the table date to the 1950s.

It was "the hangout."

Of the several businesses that have occupied the 94-year-old Hoffman building in downtown Jackson, none stayed there longer than Kerstner's Rexall Drug Store, and only Kerstner's introduced the colorful slice of Americana known as the soda fountain.

Cherry Cokes, chocolate Cokes, banana splits. Bobbysoxers in poodle dresses and bluejeaned boys with flat tops. Elvis Presley on the jukebox.

For decades the youth of Jackson descended on the soda fountain minutes after the dismissal bell rang at the nearby high school.

Ice cream cones were a nickel and a dime would buy a large Coke "spiked" with most any flavoring imaginable.

"It was busy, busy, busy," recalled Kay Kerstner Sneed of Jackson, who not only "hung out" there, but who also worked behind the counter during the annual Homecomers celebrations in the '50s.

Her grandfather, Ed Kerstner Sr., soon after graduating from the St. Louis School of Pharmacy, rented the building from Otto Hoffman in 1914 and opened a pharmacy.

In 1936, Kerstner's son, Edward Jr., Sneed's father, joined his father in the pharmacy business. Ed Jr.'s sister, Cornelia Sander, who lives in Texas, worked there as did Ed's wife. It was a family affair.

Sander recalls the business was originally called Kerstner's Pharmacy, and during the '20s and '30s it was a place where men liked to gather and talk, especially in the winter months. They would sit around an old potbelly stove "and smoke up a storm until one could hardly see, but everyone had a good time."

The drug store opened about 7:30 every morning and closed between 9:30 and 10 most every night, said Sander. The store was open seven days a week.

When later renamed Kerstner's Rexall Drug Store, a soda fountain that could accommodate 60 patrons was added. Sometimes, more seats were needed.

Sneed, who graduated from Jackson High School in 1955, remembers those years as the era when girls wore poodle skirts -- so named because the skirts were full, made of felt and had pictures of poodles sewed on them.

It was also the time of black and white saddle shoes and bobby socks. The boys dressed in jeans and they wore their hair short, very short -- crew cuts, also known as flat tops, abounded.

"We had a juke box in the store that was always going when the kids got there from school," Sneed said. "It played a song called 'Mr. Sandman,' and lots of songs by the Platters. Some of the kids would play Elvis Presley records.

"There were pinball machines, and in the back of the store was a phone booth. The kind where you'd go in and close the door."

Ice cream concoctions flowed like water in those days. Sneed remembers piles of dishes and glasses that had to be washed every night, as the kids finally departed and headed home, only to return the next day.

"I went there after school like everyone else," said Sneed, who has one of the original soda fountain tables in her home. It's made of marble, and kids used to stick their gum underneath it. "Cherry Cokes, chocolate Cokes, my favorite drink was lemon Coke. And most everybody liked the chocolate malts."

There was an old-time electric player piano in the back of the store, where the kids would "spoon and dance." It cost a nickel to get the tunes rolling.

Sundaes sold for 15 cents, a banana split was 20 cents and small Cokes were a nickel; large Cokes were a nickel more.

Sneed remembers those days as one of the happiest times of her life. She thinks others of her generation feel the same.

Ed Kerstner Sr. died in 1956, and the drug store was sold in 1962. The soda fountain didn't survive much longer. It kind of went the way of the drive-in theater -- gone, but far from forgotten.