Meet Harry Wade of Amherst – May 1970

We'll close out the week here on the blog with an article that I found after I did my post about the iconic Lorain Journal clocktower. It's one of the popular "Bill Scrivo's People" features that ran in the paper regularly for years. In this edition, we meet 64-year-old Harry H. Wade of Amherst.

The Journal clocktower is behind him in the photo for a reason: he climbed it so that he could take panoramic views of the city from it (photography was his hobby). The article reveals much more about him, including his long career at the American Bridge Division of U.S. Steel, his deep religious faith and his opinions about what was going on in the country at that time.

In the years following the publication of the "Scrivo" profile, Mr. Wade contributed the occasional Letter to the Editor or question for the Hot Line column. The letters were always interesting and always reflected his keen interest in the subject at hand.

Feb. 12, 1979

He passed away in September 1992.

March 20, 1965 – First Day of Spring Sampler

Well, Spring is finally here. In a few weeks we'll see if March truly goes out like a lamb.

Apparently it didn't seem to be going in that direction sixty years ago. Above is an editorial cartoon that ran in the Journal back on March 20, 1965 by the great cartoonist Vaughn Shoemaker. That's a terrific drawing of a lion, representing March.

Let's look at some other items found in that same edition of the Journal. Elsewhere on that page was a pretty good pair of editorials – one about the confusion caused by Daylight Saving Time, and the other one a charming homage to Spring.

Also on that same page was the daily dose of Dennis the Menace. 

I like him as he is here, young and saying outrageous things to adults (love the pained look on the old lady's face). But in later years, Dennis was drawn to be older and taller, like on the later Little Rascals when Spanky and Alfalfa weren't cute anymore, and were literally growing out of their clothes.

That same edition of the Journal also included a very early The Passing Scene, appropriately welcoming Spring in one of the panels.

Also on the cartoon circuit of the paper were two visits by our old buddy, Reddy Kilowatt. 

Reddy was still in his heyday in the mid-1960s, not yet rejected by hippie-types who preferred 'flower power' to the kind he promoted.

Another local utility with an ad in the March 20, 1965 paper was the Elyria Telephone Company. But its ad doesn't feature the anthropomorphic phone mascot. Instead, we get an elegantly dressed woman yakking on her phone in her fancy bedroom. Sadly, the days of a land line on a nightstand are over. Now we get to wonder where we left our cell phone, and if we remembered to charge it overnight. 

Elsewhere in the Journal was this ad for the well-remembered Steve's Shoe Repair on Oberlin Avenue, just a little down from Yala's Pizza. 

It was always interesting going into Steve's to drop something off or pick something up. The store reminded me of the one in the old fairy tale about the Shoemaker and the Elves, with every kind and size of shoe piled up in rows, waiting to be repaired. Some of them looked like they had been there for years.

If you were in the mood for dancing, there were several options to be found in ads in that Journal. For adults, my old trumpet teacher Alex Visci and the rest of the musicians that made up his Quartet were appearing at Lincoln Park. 

For the teens, there was an upcoming dance at The Hut at 3709 West Erie. Lee Abel's Red Ryders were the featured band.

Lee Abel and Walter Rothgary were leasing the restaurant at that address as "The Hut," as well as the Lorain Arena behind it for dancing.

The movie screens were also catering to the teens. The Lorain Drive-in was about to reopen for the season, with a triple feature of popular Beach Party flicks.

The Palace had the T.A.M.I. Show – Teenage Awards Music International – with "the Excitement, Entertainment and Music of Teenage America."

I see one of my favorites on the bill: Gerry and the Pacemakers. While I was at Ohio State, 610 WTVN played "Ferry Cross the Mersey" a lot on their "Million Dollar Weekend" radio program. The tune came to be a real reminder of my college days.

More on Whiskeyville Cemetery - Part 2

The Lorain Journal did a great job covering the April 1959 disinterment and reburial of the people buried in the small cemetery at Whiskeyville. The paper included regular updates of the progress.

This article (which I posted before) appeared in the paper April 7, 1959. It includes the names of some of the people whose remains were identified at that point.

This article noting that the exhumations were complete ran in the Journal on April 11, 1959.

The next step was the reburial of the remains of the 18 persons at Kendeigh Corners Cemetery on Quarry Road. This poignant photo appeared in the Journal on April 16, 1959.

Today the reburial site for the 18 is located at the northeast corner (in the rear) of Kendeigh Corners Cemetery.

The 8 identified graves

Lyman Crandall and his wife Eliza

Cornelius Ferris, son of James & Lucy, died March 28, 1833 (38 years old)

Eliza Crandall, wife of Asahel, died March 6, 1838 (37 years old)

Rhoda Crandall, consort of Ezehiel

Some of the biographical dates and names presented here are from the Find A Grave website, which includes a page with information and photos of all the graves from Kendeigh Corners Cemetery. More information can also be found on the Kendeigh Cemetery page on Lorain County Chapter Cemeteries.

More on Whiskeyville Cemetery - Part 1

Since my post last week about the Whiskeyville cemetery and the relocation of the remains of the persons buried there, I've unearthed a few more articles about it. 

First up is this article by Blanche M. Jenne from the Lorain Journal of May 1, 1931, that describes a giant elm that towered over the cemetery. 

"In the tiny cemetery at Whiskeyville, in the rear of the famous Whiskeyville Tavern, Telegraph and Leavitt roads, stands a huge elm tree," it notes. "It has been standing there for over a century now but the peculiar thing about this tree is that it seems to have a grave stone coming out of its base."

The article goes on to tell the story of little Lucia Smith, as it is her marker that is enveloped by the tree. "There was no tree when Lucia Smith was buried, the great elm of today springing up from a seed dropped near the base of the marker.

"The tree to passersby looks as if it had almost unearthed the stone, but the stone seems intact, tho the roots have almost enveloped its base."

Blanche M. Jenne returned to the cemetery twenty years later and wrote this fascinating follow-up story that appeared in the December 13, 1951 Lorain Journal. She interviews the caretakers of the cemetery, Mr. and Mrs. Orville Kay (who lived next door) and even provides a photo of the marker of Lucia Smith and the elm in which it is partially encased.

Jenne notes that the Kays had built a fence around the cemetery on three sides and painted it white. This enables us to positively identify the cemetery in this aerial photo circa 1957 provided to us by our good friend and longtime blog contributor Dennis Thompson (who incidentally works tirelessly to make the Vintage Aerial website more informative with his detailed research).

St. Patrick's Day Ads – 1965

 

And a top o' the morning to you! Here's hoping you have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I started my day the way I do each St. Patrick's Day – with a bowl of Lucky Charms. I know, it's a wee bit goofy. But they are magically delicious, you know.

Speaking of Lucky Charms, here's what is supposed to be the very first commercial featuring Lucky the Leprechaun. He's kind of sadistic in these early TV commercials. 

Lucky's goading the two Lucky Charms-loving kids to come after him reminds me of Captain Kirk's old Irish academy classmate Finnegan in the classic Star Trek episode "Shore Leave." Finnegan kept Kirk on the run for a while, popping up here and there and teasing him to chase him, until Kirk finally catches him and beats the crap out of him. Maybe that's what those kids should have done to Lucky.

But getting back to my St. Pat's schedule. Lunch will be fairly light, because I know I'll be having a nice corned beef sandwich for dinner. The sandwich has been an annual ritual for decades. Starting in the 1990s, I used to pick up sandwiches (usually reubens) for my parents and drop them off, so Mom and Dad didn't have to go out on the holiday. After Dad passed away, I did it for Mom for another 15+ years. So I'll be a-thinking of Mom tonight.

The evening will reach a feverish Irish pitch when I pop in my DVD of The Quiet Man. Once in a while I postpone it for another night, especially when I'm tied up doing something else (like working on my blog).

Anyway – finally – here's a not-so-ample sample of St. Patrick's Day-themed ads from 1965. As you can see, dances were a longstanding St. Pat tradition.

March 15, 1965

March 16, 1965

March 16, 1965

March 17, 1965

For more St. Patrick's Day fun, feel free to visit the vast archive of posts with that theme, as well as my post in which I reflect on my Irish heritage.

Mormons to Help Locate Whiskeyville Cemetery Heirs – March 1959

Back on this post about Whiskeyville, I posted two articles about a small pioneer cemetery that was located just north of Rt. 113 on Rt. 58. Since that post I found another article from March 1959.

The story of that small cemetery apparently captured the imagination of Journal readers, and its fate played out in the paper during February, March and April 1959. 

I present them all here, and in order, for the first time. Here's the first, from Feb. 9, 1959.

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Cemetery’s Death Ordered With Widening Of Rt. 58

WHISKEYVILLE – The death of a cemetery has been ordered but the heirs cannot be found.

The State Highway Department has condemned the 141-year-old, 36-by-40-foot Whiskeyville Cemetery, in which at least eight people are buried, to make way for the widening of State Rt. 58. The plot lies just north of Rt. 113 beside Rt. 58.

A Highway Department representative told Amherst Township Trustees Saturday that the state will appropriate the land from the heirs – if any can be found – and that advertisements for bids on the project is scheduled for March 31.

The names of seven persons buried in the plot have been determined but the attempt to contact heirs so far has been unsuccessful. Title to the plot is uncertain.

The trustees passed a resolution to publish a notice of discontinuance of the cemetery in the daily papers within 30 days, which is the time state law allows for heirs to come forward and lay claim to reburial privileges.

In the event that no claims are made by heirs, the trustees will make arrangements for disinterment and reburial of the cemetery’s corpses. In this event, the highway department will reimburse the township trustees for all costs involved, the representative said.

Trustees indicated that the reburial would be made in the Kendeigh’s Corners Cemetery.

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But then in March 1959, there was hope. Members of the Lorain branch of the Church of Latter-day Saints decided to lend a hand and see what they could do. Here's the story that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 7, 1959.

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Whiskeyville Cemetery

Latter-day Saints Aid In Location Of Heirs

Members of the Lorain Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) this week took steps to help Amherst Township Trustees locate the heirs of seven persons buried in a condemned 141-year-old cemetery at Whiskeyville.

The 36-by-40-foot cemetery just north of Rt. 113 on Rt. 58 must make way for the widening of State Rt. 58. The State Highway Department has ordered the demolition.

Members of the Lorain church, learning of the inability of the trustees to locate their heirs, have taken down the names from seven headstones and sent them to the church’s archives division in Salt Lake City. Genealogical study is a specialty of the church.

Mrs. Ruth Shaver, 1007 W. 21st St., a member of the Church became interested as soon as she heard of efforts to locate the heirs, particularly since there are supposed to be one or more unlocated Mormon cemeteries in the county. The state will appropriate the land from the heirs if they can be located.

She was assisted in taking down the information from the headstones by Mrs. Elmer (Marjorie) Gabriel, 1226 W. 20th St., and Preston Cook, 2501 Sherwood Dr., chairman of the church building committee.

“It will take about two weeks for us to hear from Salt Lake City on whether they can help us,” Mrs. Shaver said. The service will be provided free of charge despite the fact that no Mormons are buried in the cemetery. Mrs. Shaver checked the names on the headstones against a list of Mormons who attended a conference in Amherst in 1800 provided for her by Frank W. Kosco Jr., 105 Arizona Ave.

Advertisements for bids on the project is scheduled for March 31. The trustees on [sic] publish in the daily papers within 30 days a notice of discontinuance of the cemetery. This is the time allowed by state law for heirs to come forward and lay claim for reburial privileges.

The highway department will pay the trustees for all costs involved in disinterring and reburial of the cemetery’s corpses if the heirs make no claims. The reburial would be made in Kendeigh’s Corners Cemetery.

Alas, ultimately no heirs could be located. Here's the story from the April 7, 1959 Lorain Journal.

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At Whiskeyville Cemetery

Graves Being Moved for Rt. 58 Widening

AMHERST – Remains of seven persons were found in the first day’s work of removing the graves of deceased Lorain County settlers at the Whiskeyville Cemetery on Rt. 58, just north of Rt. 113, to make way for the highway widening.

It was in the early part of the 1800’s that some of the bodies were buried in this plot, then known as the Crandal cemetery, and owned by Lyman Crandal. Wayne Garland of the Garland Funeral Home is working on the relocation project. Thomas Heusser and O. J. Ruth, South Amherst cemetery sexton, assisted in the findings.

Before work began it was known by cemetery markers, that eight graves would be found. But a baby’s burial uncovered Monday, had not been accounted for before. There are still two bodies that were known, that of Lucia Smith and her mother Nancy Smith, consort of Chileab Smith, both buried in 1824.

The first remains to be uncovered were those of Rhoda Crandal, wife of Ezekial Crandal, who died in 1818 at the age of 37. The next was the finding of a part of a baby’s casket, the two metal handles adorned with lamb carvings, which were found next to Rhoda’s grave. The remains of Eliza Crandal were next to be unearthed. She died in 1838 at the age of 37.

The remains of Cornelius S. Ferris, who died March 28, 1833 at the age of 36 were found.

"In most cases of the early burials, only the remaining bones were arm and leg bones, and part of jaw bones and skulls," Garland said.

The remains of Jane Carter who died Nov. 10, 1828 at the age of 30 were also found.

Garland explained that each burial will be taken to the funeral home in plastic burial pouches and placed in hermetically sealed steel caskets. They will remain at the funeral home until all disinterments have been completed, then the remains will be re-interred in the Kendeigh Corners cemetery.

The Crandal cemetery was turned over to Amherst Township a number of years ago.

The state highway department has allowed 17 days for relocation but Garland expects to complete the work this week.

It Was Supposed to Be Route 254

I've mentioned several times on this blog that my hobby used to be driving, photographing and researching old highways. While my area of interest was primarily the old federal two-lane highways like the old 6 & 2 (Lake Road), I was also fascinated by the process in which today's limited access State Route 2 was conceived and built through our area. We've all driven it, either heading east towards Cleveland or west towards Sandusky and it certainly made our lives easier. I've devoted many posts to it.

What has always been interesting to me about the highway is that before it was built, the planners hadn't decided how to designate it. While it eventually became limited access Route 2 (breaking up the classic 6 & 2), it was originally going to be called Route 254. That's what is revealed by the screaming headline above in the Lorain Journal of March 2, 1955.

"The proposed new Route 254," the article notes, "would provide a 30 minute link between Lorain ad Elyria to downtown Cleveland. Cost of this project is estimated at $40 million."

As we know now: the construction wouldn't start until the 1960s; the highway was built in pieces, with a chunk here and a chunk there; that the segment through Huron for be delayed for many years; and that it wouldn't extend seamlessly to Cleveland until the 1970s.

The "30 minute link" to downtown Cleveland" didn't quite pan out either. I know – I drove to Cleveland on the highway for many years. The traffic congestion is pretty bad. The planners didn't factor in urban flight, or the population explosion that is still taking place along the highway where new developments are still springing up.

And what about poor Route 254? Denied the chance to be a major player, the largely rural route doesn't even extend all the way through our area like it used to when I was a kid. I believe its western terminus is Route 57 – near where the E. H. Roberts man used to rock.