Glass lemonade straw
Location 171
Date: mid 1900's
Owner: Sherry Plessner
This is a glass lemonade straw. The red scoop at the end serves to scoop out any stray lemon seeds that might find their way into a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. It is one of a set that belonged to my great-grandmother, Eva Mummert. I don't know how many straws were originally in the set, but I still have three of these clear, glass straws with red scoop ends. The three are not exactly alike. The straws are slightly different diameters, different lengths, and the holes at the bottom are different sizes and shapes. My great-grandparents, Oscar and Eva Mummert moved their family of five to Toledo during the Great Depression of the 1930's so that Oscar could find work. They ended up buying a house a few blocks from Historic Woodlawn Cemetery. I don't remember my great-grandmother because she died when I was a baby. My great-grandfather lived in that house until he died, just before I started my freshman year in high school. My parents then acquired the house for our family of five, and that's where I lived throughout high school, until I went away for college. When my family moved in, many of my great- grandparent's possessions were still in the house, and these lemonade straws were among their things. My great-grandparents, my parents, and my brother are all buried at Historic Woodlawn Cemetery, where I've served as a docent for the past 10 years, leading weekly birding tours. I have loved glass since I found out that Toledo is the Glass City when I was in school and I visited the glass collection at the Toledo Museum of Art. I have kept the glass straws as a treasured possession because they are a link to the history of my city and the history of my family.
