Vian’s Part 1

1969 Phone Book ad

For decades, the highway known as U. S. Route 6 and Ohio State Route 2 (6 & 2) was the main east-west route through Lorain and Sheffield Lake.

The road was eventually overshadowed by I-90 and the new, limited access Route 2. But until then, the highway was pretty important to many businesses that depended on its steady stream of traffic.

Courtesy jumpingfrog.com

One such business was Vian’s in Sheffield Lake.

The story of Vian’s is one of a highway business that started out in the 1930s as a roadside restaurant with cabins, and slowly grew to eventually include a motel in the 1950s. Through the years, the business became not only a Lake Road icon, but a symbol of the entrepreneurial spirit of its owner.

The business and all traces of it are gone now. Today, Vian’s former location is occupied by the Residence condominium complex (below).

But I hope you’ll join me next time for the rest of my multi-part series in which we travel back in time to revisit a well-remembered piece of Sheffield Lake roadside history.

Vian’s former location, currently home to The Residence