Their church, St. Joseph's Roman Catholic, was at the end of a block of Church Street in Downingtown. The other institution that served as the the social core of their Italian American community, St. Anthony's Lodge, was just down the street from the church.

For many years they were a self-supporting community, raising their own food at a couple of family farms or buying it at five grocery stores and a butcher shop in the neighborhood. There were also a pool hall, barber shop, shoe-repair shop, and coal and livery stable.

Although their neighborhood is south of the railroad tracks, they always referred to it as going "downtown" when they went to Downingtown's main shopping district on Lancaster Avenue.

Downingtown's Little Italy has been part of the borough landscape since the late teens and early 1920s.

And some of those raised there will share their experiences of "Growing Up Italian-American in Downingtown" on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the lodge, 259 Church St.

The program, cosponsored by the Downingtown Historical Society and St. Anthony's, will begin with recollections by Ben Valocchi, Rose Formica Castaldi and Jim Mascherino. All three were raised in the Johnsontown section, one of two early Italian American enclaves in the borough. The other was known as Glasstown, in the borough's east end.

As part of a Historical Society oral history project, the program will be videotaped. Audience members will have an opportunity to share their memories.

"In 1930, Johnsontown had 850 people on about six named streets and several lanes," said the 87-year-old Valocchi, who was born in Mascherino's grandmother's house at 311 Bradford Ave. "I know, I used to deliver papers to them."

Like so many others in Downingtown, Valocchi went to work in one of the four paper mills in and around the borough after graduating from high school. He later got an accounting degree.

"Just about everybody worked for the [Pennsylvania] Railroad or the paper mills," Valocchi said. He said the availability of jobs was the most likely reason his family and other Italians eventually came to Downingtown after immigrating to this country.

"And the lodge was the focal point of our growing up," he added, praising Satch Talucci, who as an officer for more than three decades helped keep the lodge a viable institution in the community.

"A lot of similar lodges have folded," Valocchi noted.

Castaldi, 75, wasn't old enough to join the lodge's ladies auxiliary when it was formed in 1947, but she's been an active member since she turned 18. The auxiliary held its annual banquet Monday night.

Once, floor shows and a three-day celebration with fireworks honoring St. Anthony were staples of the lodge. Time and costs have changed that.

"We give scholarships to seniors from the local high schools and donate money to organizations like Little League," Castaldi said.

Castaldi, who was born on East Church Street, moved to West Church and now lives in Glasstown, has taught Italian to friends and others wishing to learn a bit of the language.

She plans to discuss a few common phrases that she says those in attendance will be familiar with, particularly when it comes to family discipline.

Mascherino, 72, remembers going to pickup football after being told not to go as 12-year-old. He broke a leg in a rough pickup game and had a little explaining to do later.

One of 11 children, Mascherino recalled that as a child, "We didn't know there was anything beyond Johnsontown until we started school, which was on the other side of town."

The Valocchi and the Mascherino families eventually moved from Johnsontown to find bigger homes.

"We simply ran out of room," Valocchi explained.