Suhr's Store in Mitiwanga

It's always a little sad when a local landmark is lost. 

It's not just the physical loss, the disappearance of something – a building, or whatever – that we're used to seeing year after year. It's the memories, especially when they're directly connected with good times.

Suhr's Store in Mitiwanga was one of those landmarks, a favorite stop for seasonal visitors to Vacationland.

As noted in the article below from the June 3, 1966 Journal, "The store is a landmark on Rts. 6 and 2 and has been operated by the Bowen Suhr family of Norwalk for 50 years. They stock nearly everything a vacationer might need – food, sunburn remedies, magazines."

Sadly, 59 years ago this month, the days when Suhr's Store catered to vacationers came to an end when a truck trailer crashed into it. The photo below from the October 14, 1966 Journal tells the story.

A day later, more details emerged in this Journal article that ran on October 15, 1966.

The following spring, the demolition of the damaged store was completed, as noted in this clipping from May 25, 1967.

As observed in the October 15, 1966 article, "So Suhr's Store seems destined to become only a memory, and pass from the local scene like the old Ruggles Beach Dance Hall and the Farmhouse (LSDA Club), Cicco's Tavern, and the Lake Shore Electric railway."

Burt Shotton, Major League Baseball Player from Brownhelm

My blog post about the community well that used to be in front of the Brownhelm Store noted, "Not far from the well is the former home of Brownhelm's contribution to professional baseball – Burt Shotton –former manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Schotton was born in the village."

I was not familiar with Burt Shotton and after a little research, was surprised to learn of his long, successful career in both Minor and Major League Baseball. He did it all – from player to coach to manager. Near the end of his career he even coached with the Cleveland Indians.

Below are selections from the Wiki page entry with photos and Journal clippings interspersed.

"Burton Edwin Shotton (October 18, 1884 – July 29, 1962) was an American player, manager, coach and scout in Major League Baseball. As manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947; 1948–50), he won two National League pennants and served as Jackie Robinson's first permanent Major League manager.

"Shotton was born in Brownhelm, a township in Lorain County, Ohio. In his playing days, he was a speedy outfielder – he was nicknamed "Barney" after record-setting race car driver Barney Oldfield – who batted left-handed and threw right-handed. The 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 175 lb. (79 kg) Shotton compiled a .271 batting average with 1,338 hits in 1,387 Major League games played for the St. Louis Browns (1909, 1911–17), Washington Senators (1918) and St. Louis Cardinals (1919–23).

"In the early 1920s, as a player and coach, he was the Cardinals' "Sunday manager", relieving skipper Branch Rickey, who always observed the Christian Sabbath. Rickey and Shotton had formed a longstanding friendship and professional relationship dating back to their years together (1913–15) with the Browns, when Rickey was his manager. After Shotton retired as a player, he served on the Cardinals' coaching staff from 1923 to 1925. 

"Then, in 1926, Cardinal owner Sam Breadon appointed Shotton the manager of the team's top farm club, the Syracuse Stars of the International League. His 1927 Syracuse club posted a 102–66 record, but finished second, ten games behind league champion Buffalo.

March 1, 1926

April 26, 1926

"Shotton's first formal Major League managing opportunity came the following year with the NL's then-habitually tail end team, the Philadelphia Phillies. 

Nov. 8, 1927

Nov. 14, 1927

Nov. 25, 1927

April 3, 1928

June 4, 1929

Brooklyn Robins manager W. Robinson (left) shakes hands
with Phillie manager Burt Shotton (right) before a 1930 meeting
of the teams in Brooklyn

"He lasted six seasons (1928–33) with the Phils, who twice lost more than 100 games during his tenure. 

"Shotton then coached for the Cincinnati Reds in 1934. On July 28, he had a one-game stint as interim manager after the firing of Bob O'Farrell and before new skipper Chuck Dressen arrived from Nashville to take command of the last-place Reds; in that game, Cincinnati defeated the Chicago Cubs, 11–2. Then Shotton returned to the Cardinals for a seven-year term (1935–41) managing their top-level Rochester Red Wings and Columbus Red Birds farm clubs and spent four years (1942–45) on the coaching staff of player-manager Lou Boudreau of the Cleveland Indians.

"But prior to the 1946 season, Shotton hung up his uniform and settled into a scouting role for the Brooklyn Dodgers, for whom Rickey was now part-owner, president and general manager.

"On the eve of the 1947 season, Shotton received a telegram from Rickey; it read: "Be in Brooklyn in the morning. Call nobody, see no one". Flying immediately from his Florida home to New York, not knowing what to expect, Shotton was ushered into Rickey's presence. Leo Durocher, the Dodgers' manager since 1939, had been suspended for the entire 1947 campaign by Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler for "conduct detrimental to baseball." In his search for a temporary replacement, Rickey had been rebuffed by former New York Yankees manager Joe McCarthy, then in retirement, and two of Durocher's coaches, Clyde Sukeforth(who managed the first two games of the season on an emergency basis) and Ray Blades.

"Rickey pleaded with Shotton to take over the Dodgers for the remainder of the season. Then 62 and convinced that his on-field career was over, Shotton reluctantly took the reins on April 18, still in street clothes. In doing so, he became one of the last MLB managers to wear everyday apparel rather than the club uniform. 

April 19, 1947

"He inherited a contending Brooklyn team that had finished in a flatfooted tie for the 1946 National League pennant before losing a playoff series to the Cardinals. He also inherited what historian Jules Tygiel called Baseball's Great Experiment — the Dodgers' breaking of the infamous color line by bringing up Jackie Robinson from their Triple-A Montreal Royals farm club at the start of the 1947 season to end over sixty years of racial segregation in baseball. The rookie was facing withering insults from opposing players, and a petition by Dodger players protesting Robinson's presence had only recently been quashed by Durocher.

"Shotton's calm demeanor, however, provided the quiet leadership the Dodgers needed. They won the National League pennant by five games and took the New York Yankees to seven games in the 1947 World Series. 

"With Durocher's suspension over, Shotton retired again, this time to a front office post as "managerial consultant" in the Dodgers' vast farm system. But the 1948 Dodgers did not respond to Durocher's return; they even (briefly, on May 24) fell into the NL cellar. 

"With the New York Giants also floundering, owner Horace Stoneham decided to replace his manager, Mel Ott, with Shotton. He called Rickey to ask permission to speak with Shotton about the Giants' job and was stunned when Rickey offered him the opportunity to hire Durocher instead. On July 16, 1948, Durocher moved from Brooklyn to Upper Manhattan to take over the Giants. The following day, Shotton was back in the Dodger dugout — still in street clothes.

"After his return, the Dodgers rallied to take the lead in the 1948 NL standings by the end of August, before they faltered in September to finish third, 71⁄2 games behind Boston. Then, in 1949, Shotton won his second pennant, with Brooklyn capturing 97 regular-season victories to finish a game ahead of the Cardinals. Robinson won the National League's Most Valuable Player award and batting championship. But Brooklyn again bowed to the Yankees in the World Series, this time in only five games. 

"Despite Shotton's two pennants in three seasons, he continually faced criticism from Durocher loyalists on the Dodgers, who claimed that Shotton was a poor game strategist and lacked Durocher's competitive intensity. Because he eschewed wearing a uniform, Shotton was prohibited from stepping onto the field of play during games to argue with umpires and make pitching changes; those tasks fell to one of his uniformed coaches.

Manager Burt Schotton and Dodger centerfielder Duke Snider, May 1950

"Shotton's last connection with baseball was as a consultant for Rickey's Continental League, the planned "third major league" that ultimately forced expansion of MLB in 1961–62. 

"Shotton died in Lake Wales, Florida, from a heart attack at age 77 during the second All-Star break in 1962."

July 30, 1962

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Three years before he passed away, Shotton's former home in Brownhelm Township went up for sale. Here is the real estate ad that ran in the Journal on August 5, 1959.

Cutcher's Brownhelm Store – Part 3

Bill and Bonnie Cutcher at the time they sold the Brownhelm Store in 1999.
(Photojournalist photo by Katy McElroy)

When the Cutchers sold the Brownhelm Store in 1999, the Lorain Journal sent well-known staff writer Darlene Brown to do a final interview with Bonnie. It was the end of an era and fortunately the Journal recognized this. The well-written article has an appropriately wistful tone. It appeared in the Journal on August 5, 1999.

Bonnie Cutcher passed away on June 26, 2019; Bill Cutcher followed on December 8, 2023.

Photo courtesy of the Cutcher family

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There's not a lot of information available online about the Brownhelm Store. Before the Cutchers bought it, Clifford Elliot and William R. "Bud" Nickel owned it during the early and mid-1960s.

And before them, a longtime owner was Ben Shaeffer, who appears to have operated the store from the late 1940s until the early 1960s.

An undated vintage photo of "Corners, Brownhelm" appeared on eBay back in 2019. 

I have no idea if it shows a predecessor of the Brownhelm Store (at least one of them burned down), but I suspect it does. Is it possible that the pump and horse trough mentioned in a few of the articles are shown in the photo? Perhaps a member of the Brownhelm Historical Association will leave a comment.

Cutcher's Brownhelm Store – Part 2

Bill and Bonnie Cutcher's Brownhelm Store continued to be a favorite subject of Lorain Journal articles over the years, as we shall see. 

Twenty-one years after Bob Cotleur's 1974 profile of the Cutcher's, the well-remembered and beloved Journal reporter Darlene Brown conducted her own interview with Bonnie Cutcher. Brown's story ran in the Journal on December 14, 1995 and includes a nice capsule history of not only the store and its predecessors, but of Brownhelm Township as well.

Here is Darlene's article.

Darlene's article mentions a community well that was located in front of the Brownhelm Store. I wrote about it back here in 2012.

One date in the article seems to be a typo. 1947 is noted as the year that the Cutcher's tore down the old store and built a new one, but according to the small item below, it appears that the date should be 1974.

From the Journal of Sept. 12, 1974

Two years after Darlene's article, Bonnie and the store were profiled in the Journal again – this time by well-known professional writer, editor and coach Kelly Boyer Sagert. Her great interview ran in the Journal on August 10, 1997.

Tomorrow: One last interview with Bonnie Cutcher – and some other tidbits

Cutcher's Brownhelm Store – Part 1

I commute from Vermilion to Oberlin each day, so I spend a lot of time driving Baumhart Road – which is great, because I pass the Brownhelm Store twice a day. It's very handy. I love their homemade chicken paprikas and soups, as well as their wraps. Plus, it's a good place to stop for coffee at 6 o'clock in the morning (especially during the recent power failure in Vermilion).

(Oddly enough, I recently made the very pleasant acquaintance of a woman who coincidentally is the daughter of the culinary genius who makes that delicious chicken paprikas and all those great soups for the store.)

Anyway, I've been familiar with the Browhelm Store going back to the mid-1970s. Back then my friends and I rode our bicycles everywhere, and once or twice on the way to Mill Hollow we stopped at the Brownhelm Store for a pop or snack. It was – and still is – a real oasis out in the country.

The Browhelm Store changed hands this year, so it's a good time to look back at an earlier era in the store's history with perhaps its best known owners – Bill and Bonnie Cutcher. They bought the store way back in February 1969.

From the Feb. 13, 1969 Lorain Journal

Below you'll find a great profile of the couple about five years after they became the owners. Both of them have very interesting backgrounds and became prominent in Browhelm Township because of their extensive community involvement. The article was written by Journal Staff Writer Bob Cotleur and ran in the paper on April 14, 1974.

It's interesting getting a glimpse of the old store in the photo. Back then it was a gas station and the store portion of the building was not as large as it is now (below).

V.O.L. Gets a New Fire Siren – October 1955

One of the things that I like about living in the east end of Vermilion is the daily six o'clock test of the siren at the Vermilion Fire Dept. Station No. 2 in the Vermilion-on-the-Lake neighborhood. Once you get past the mistaken idea that it is some sort of sinister "get out of town" warning to minorities, you accept it as a charming aspect of living in a small town. And it's kind of handy sometimes when you lose track of the time in the early evening and you're not staring at your phone, TV or computer.

And above you see the front page of the October 3, 1955 Lorain Journal with a photo of what I believe is the current siren being installed. It sure looks like it.

Elsewhere on that not-so-newsworthy front page: the Lorain County Kennel Club's annual all-breed puppy and obedience sanctioned match; a coal burning tug causes soot to fall on Lorain east side homes; the Lorain Port List; and some advice from a 'nationally prominent home economist" about successful meat cookery, including the suggestion that "Meat should never be seared!"

"The Allotment" in Avon Lake – October 1968

The part of Avon Lake roughly being
referred to in the article

Avon Lake doesn't get very much coverage on this blog which purports to be about Lorain County. So to help rectify that, here's an interesting article from the October 13, 1968 Lorain Journal. It's about a section of Avon Lake known as Stop 45 or The Allotment.

The article is a fascinating history of the area, as it transitioned from a 1920s summer cottage area with beach privileges into the cozy, unique neighborhood that it is today.

Seeing as the area was known as Stop 45 during the days of the Lake Shore Electric Railway, today the neighborhood is referred to as The 45's. Its residents love its character and history, and strive to preserve that cozy cottage vibe.

The summer cottage on South Point being worked on
by Stan Orth in the 1968 photo as it looks today