"The Coupling" Article – Sept. 19, 1976

For many years, I've driven past a small park on State Route 13 near Milan that has several train cars sitting on the property. I was always in a hurry to get wherever it was I was headed, so I never stopped to investigate why they were there. 

That's why I was happy to find the article below, which appeared in the Journal back on September 19, 1976. It tells the story of how "The Coupling" – a nature retreat located along the Huron River that today is known as The Coupling Metropark – was born of an idea conceived in a Sandusky church.

But first – why was it christened, "The Coupling?"

"First, it is taken from the fact that two old railroad cars, a caboose and a boxcar, have been moved and set up as the first structures on the site along SR 13, just north of the Ohio Turnpike," notes the article. "Second, it describes the purpose of the project, to bring people together.

"The Rev. Robert L. Berger, a Minister at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, at the corner of Perkins Avenue and Mills Street in Sandusky, says the group is convinced that well-planned retreats will aid families and other groups "to come together more meaningfully.

"The gift of the 22-acre site to St. Paul's Lutheran Church by Mrs. Lilian Horn of Sandusky in 1957 paved the way for the start of the project. The land has been used for occasional wilderness-type camping or hiking by Boy Scouts, but it wasn't until 1973 that Pastor Berger began an ernest effort to develop it."

Berger wrote letters asking for old railroad cars, and eventually received a caboose from the Chessie system. He was also able to salvage an old boxcar from the same railway.

I spent a little time at The Coupling Metropark on Saturday. Since the time of the 1976 article, a historic Wheeling & Lake Erie /B&O railroad depot has been relocated to the property from Monroeville. A caboose (identified by some experts as an old Western Maryland caboose) sits adjacent to the depot.

The two original train cars – the caboose and boxcar were still there, connected by a platform, as recently as 2016.

Photo courtesy The Coupling Metropark

However, the boxcar has since been replaced by a small cottage. 

The red caboose still looks pretty good. Here's hoping it gets the TLC it needs to keep this worthy idea alive for another fifty years.

Click here to visit The Coupling Metropark page on the Erie MetroParks website.

Journal TV Page Featuring "Maverick" – Sept. 20, 1958

Well, the weekend is finally here! I'll no doubt enjoy a few nights (when I don't have to prepare a blog post for the next day) watching some TV, most likely the GRIT or OUTLAW channels.

So appropriately enough, I'll close out the week here on the blog with a full TV page from the Saturday, September 20, 1958 Lorain Journal. 

Of course the item of interest for me is the photo of James Garner and accompanying promotional copy about Maverick, which was about to start its second (and most successful) season on ABC on Sunday.

Maverick has been the subject of several posts. It was, and still is, a Brady favorite.

I always enjoy looking at old TV grids; they remind me of how much simpler times were back then. I actually preferred not having as many choices as we do now. TV used to be a shared experience; we could all talk about it the next day. Nowadays, it's almost unlikely that everybody in a small group of people actually watched the same thing, with all the streaming possibilities.

Also on the page is a great ad for Charcoal Pit, the subject of a few posts as well. I like the clip art in the ad.

Pfeiffer's Beer Ads – Sept. 1956

Beer seems to be a recurring topic on this blog – and I hardly ever drink it. I've devoted many posts to Old Dutch, Hamm's, Carling's Black Label, Buckeye Beer and some regional favorites. 

I guess it's because beer ads (and hard liquor ads as well) appeared in the Lorain Journal just about every day in the 1950s. While they were usually in the vicinity of the sports pages, they could show up just about anywhere in the paper.

I thought I was familiar with most beer brands by now, but here's one that was new to me: Pfeiffer's. I had seen little statues of Johnny Fifer, the beer's mascot in antique shops over the last thirty years. But I never paid attention to the brand he was promoting. By the way he's dressed, I thought he represented some imported European beer; actually, he's supposed to be a Revolutionary War fifer.

Pfeiffer's was a Detroit, Michigan-based brewery dating back to the late 1800s, when it was founded by a German immigrant. By the 1950s it had become a top-selling brand in the Midwest. And for a while in the mid-1950s, Pfeiffer's placed a lot of ads in the Lorain Journal. 

Here's one that appeared on September 21, 1956.

It appears that the real marketing push had occurred the previous year, beginning in the spring, when a large ad ran about once a week. This ad seems like it was introducing Pfeiffer's to the Lorain area.

April 8, 1955

Several ads appeared in the weeks that followed.

May 6, 1955

May 13, 1955

A year later, the brand had apparently been around long enough for some of the ads to say that it was "Now.. better than ever!"

June 1, 1956

Aug. 24, 1956

Several times I've written about a long-gone regional beer that was ''revived" in name only, with none of the brand's equity (including its distinctive logo, label design, etc.). Examples of this include Buckeye Beer and Burger Beer.

Happily, that's not the case with Pfeiffer's.

Today, Pfeiffer's is still around. It's in extremely limited distribution but with its charming logo and packaging design virtually intact.

Click here to visit the Pfeiffer's website. It's extremely well done, and the love and affection for the brand is quite apparent. The website does an excellent job of telling the beer's story in an exciting, graphic way. 

Now if only someone could do that for Old Dutch.

Anyway, Johnny Fifer plays on, in 2026.

Colonel Sanders Article – Sept. 19, 1976

Colonel Sanders and his world renowned Kentucky Fried Chicken have been a recurring topic on this blog. 

I always found interesting that he was a latecomer when it came to chicken restaurants in Lorain, with several others (Chicken Delight, Minnie Pearl, etc.) making chicken tracks into town before him. The Lorain store on Oberlin Avenue didn't open until April 1971. 

We didn't have it very often in the early years. I remember Mom suggesting having it for dinner by saying, "How about Colonel Sanders tonight?" In later years, we brought it on picnics.

I've written before how I played 'Happy Birthday' on my trombone for the Colonel, when he visited the Ohio State Fair in 1976 and I was a member of the All-Ohio State Fair Band. He stood about ten or twelve away from me and the other trombones in our small group, and I remember thinking, "Wow, is he short!"

And I once visited his grave down in Louisville, Kentucky while visiting my sister, who lives in that fine city. (No, I didn't leave a grease-stained KFC bucket filled with flowers as a memorial.) We went to the Colonel Sanders Museum that same day as well.

Anyway, here's an interesting article about the Colonel, showing him at his crankiest. He was visiting some Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets and was less than pleased with how his famous recipe was being followed. The article (which is pretty hilarious) ran in the Journal back on Sept. 19, 1976.

The article mentions that he was handing out signed photos of himself. I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like this card (below). There's several of them on eBay right now.

I don't have Kentucky Fried Chicken very often these days. It's not the healthiest meal. But when I have a taste for it, I have to have it. Luckily that only happens about once a year.

Millbrook Bread "Snoopy for President" Campaign – Sept. 1976

Remember when the act of running for President was sometimes done as a gag, or as part of an advertising campaign?

Older readers of this blog remember when comedian Pat Paulsen ran for President in 1968.

I even remember when Yogi Bear ran for President. 

His opponent was Magilla Gorilla (of the Green Banana party?). I even had this coloring book (below).

 

That was a dirty trick by Magilla. The big ape probably rented a bus and drove all the animals in Peebles' Pet Shop to the polls too.

Anyway, Snoopy of "Peanuts" fame got into the act too as part of a special promotion by Millbrook Bread. It was an aggressive campaign too, with multiple small ads placed in the same edition of a local newspaper. 

As an example, all of the ads below ran in the Journal on Sept. 20, 1976.

Despite all the 'bread' spent on his campaign, Snoopy lost to Jimmy Carter. 

However, the ever-popular beagle had the last laugh. The campaign stickers enclosed free in the packages of Millbrook Bread are highly collectible today, and graded like baseball cards. There are several on eBay right now.

I guess the little blank boxes were there so you could write-in your own local candidate, and the position they were running for (although dog-catcher would have been somewhat inappropriate).

Arthur Treacher's Tries Something New – Sept. 1976

It's interesting how Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips has made a recent comeback.

Just a few years ago, there was only one store left in the entire seafood chain, located in Cuyahoga Falls. As of this writing, there are four, with a location in Lakewood that I might just have to visit sometime.

Many Lorainites have pleasant memories of the restaurant on W. 21st Street across from Westgate Shopping Plaza. I've devoted two previous posts to it on this blog.

Back in the summer and fall of 1976, Arthur Treacher's had a great Tuesday special that it ran for months: "a complete meal of fish & chips, creamy cole slaw & choice of beverage for only $1.59.

But the chain was also experimenting with new menu items. Do you remember the Krunch Pup™?

As the ad above from the Sept. 9, 1976 Journal notes, it was an 100% beef hotdog dipped in a secret batter with the result that it had a "krunchy" outside. Although I love corn dogs, a hotdog with the Arthur Treacher batter coating sounds pretty good.

The restaurant had already introduced Chicken & Chips in August. Here's the ad that ran on August 21, 1976.

I don't know if either of these two offerings were a success. 

Many fast food outlets today offer just about anything under the sun to draw in new customers, even if it means weakening their original brand. It's been many years since Arby's just pushed its trademark roast beef sandwiches. Perhaps Arthur Treacher's was ahead of its time.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if the Krunch Pup or chicken eventually make it onto the current Arthur Treacher's menu.

Old English Parlour Ad – Sept. 16, 1976

So you've just been to a high school football game (either as a spectator or as a member of the marching band like me) and now you're looking for somewhere to go afterwards. You're not old enough to drink (not even 3.2 beer) so where can you go to hang out for a while?

It might sound like something out of Archie comics, but a good choice would be an ice cream shop. And back in September 1976 (the fall of my senior year) that would have been Old English Parlor, which was part of the Lorain Creamery.

Here's an ad for the restaurant that ran on September 16, 1976 in the Journal.

As since a game day was usually a Friday, the ad encouraged a pre-game visit for an all-you-can-eat fish fry.

My family was pretty partial to the Parlour. My sister worked there for a while in the early 1970s, so we would go there knowing she would make extra-large sundaes for us. She even made it into an October 28, 1973 article about ice cream parlors written by the great Lou Kepler.

The Old English Parlour (both the one in Lorain and the one in Avon Lake) remained a good place to take a date for many years. The Avon Lake location closed first (in the late 1980s or early 90s) and the Lorain one followed a couple years later.

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Interestingly enough, the Lorain Creamery made its first attempt at having a parlor in the spring of 1968, as you can see in the full-page ad below from the May 29, 1968 Journal.

But Avon Lake was first to have an Old English Parlour, which opened in mid-October 1970. The Lorain Old English Parlour store followed in June 1973.