There was a time when trolley cars ran all throughout Bethlehem. Many times in her youth, Johanna Bees, 90, took advantage of the late night trolley, catching a ride home at 1 a.m.

After getting off downtown, Johanna would walk to her house on nearby Wall Street. A stone's throw away from God's Acre, Bees grew up amidst the historic Moravian buildings.

In those days Wall Street was only paved down the middle. Dirt and cobblestones filled the space between the pavement and the curb, and trees were planted directly in the street. This is one of the many captivating pictures Johanna painted for me as we talked about the olden days. After living on the same street for 86 years, she has quite a few stories to tell.

Born in Shimersville, Bees' family moved to Bethlehem in 1923. Johanna's father bought their home at 25 Wall Street because of its close proximity to the Bethlehem Steel, where he worked, and to Central Moravian Church, where the family worshipped.

During the Depression, her father worked three days a week, but they never lost their house. He supplemented the family income by tending furnaces, shoveling snow and cutting grass.

"We always had plenty. We had plenty to eat, clothing on our back, a nice clean house…we were poor but didn't know it."

Down the block sat the stately Neisser School, which Johanna attended for grades four, five, and six.

"In those years, the day began with the ringing of the school bell," Johanna reminisced. "The teacher read Scripture, we said the Lord's Prayer, and pledged to the flag."

Back then teachers had to be experts in everything. In addition to the major subjects, they also instructed their pupils in art, music and gym. At the end of the year, students celebrated May Day and an annual ice cream festival was held.

Bees continued her education at Liberty where she graduated with the class of 1942. On an interesting side note, Liberty at that time acted as both a junior high and high school so overall Johanna spent six years within those hallowed halls.

Towards her senior year, Johanna discovered she had a passion for horseback riding. Before the stable was moved to Hellertown, it was located on 8th Avenue, which, believe it or not, was nothing but farm land.

"I would go down every day and help with the horses, go out with people. And then my mother said, 'You know Johanna, I think it's time you looked for a job.'"

With war raging throughout Europe and in the Pacific, Bees got a job at the Bethlehem Steel in no time flat. Countless women were hired as men left to fill the ranks of the military. Johanna wasn't quite Rosie the Riveter, though.

"I worked in the office," Johanna explains. "I didn't work in the shop. That wouldn't have been for me. That's dirty, noisy work."

While at the Bethlehem Steel, Johanna met the man she would marry, Fred Bees. Early in their marriage, the couple moved to 33 Wall Street, just a couple doors down from where Johanna grew up and where she still lives today.

As a wedding present Johanna gave Fred a set of oil paints and he began painting in his free time. One day in 1949, Fred left his paints out and their 2-year old daughter got into them. With a blue baby on their hands, Fred decided to switch to watercolors. The rest they say is history.

When her daughters were in school, Johanna decided to get a job again so she could have some pocket money. Twice a week for 10 years, she worked as a maid in a Bethlehem Steel executive's mansion.

In his Prospect Avenue home, Robert E. McMath and his wife, Grace, lived a life of luxury.

"They had a cook, they had a waitress, they had two chauffeurs," lists off Bees. "A lady cleaned downstairs. I cleaned upstairs. And they had a laundress and a little dog. If it was raining they had to have an umbrella over the dog."

While Bees' home may not be a mansion, it does have charm. From her home, she can walk to church, to the library, and to all the shops downtown. The old cobblestones once in the street now line her flowerbed.

After living most of her life in the same neighborhood, Bees, like the last horse-chestnut tree that remains from her youth, is firmly rooted in Wall Street.

"This is a wonderful area. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else."