By John Cofield

For a few years, we had the run of the place. The Square was a safe space for us and our school buddies as we were watched over by many business owners and friends of our families. For a handful of years, Leslie’s Drug Store with its soda fountain was at the center of it all.

Granddad Cofield would be standing on the corner outside his photography studio, with a roll-your-on Prince Albert in his hand and fiddling with something else in the other hand. I saw him before he saw me and his face would light up when he spied me.

As I approached, “You want two bits, Johnny (he called me Johnny)? “Yes Sir, I do!” And he flipped me the quarter he’d been fiddling with. “You better hurry up there before the rest of them eat it all!” And off I ran joining the Grammar School crowd to make fond memories all these decades later.

Leslie’s was also a popular Oxford High hangout, as well as a gathering spot for the Square business owner coffee clubbers. In addition to his drugstore, John Leslie was mayor for many years, as long as he wanted to be.