Memorial Day – 1926

Here's hoping you have a safe, enjoyable and meaningful Memorial Day 2026.

One hundred years ago, the holiday's evolution from its original name – Decoration Day – to that of Memorial Day seemed to have been complete, judging from the articles below on the front page of the Saturday, May 29, 1926 Lorain Journal. 

So who is the wizened gentleman in the large illustration? That's General Josh A. Logan, who as the article notes, "is credited with the first general proclamation setting aside one Memorial Day each year as a day of tribute.

"In 1868, when Logan was commander-in-chief of the G.A.R., story has it that his wife returned from a southern visit and told how the grave of each Confederate soldier at Petersburg was decorated with a wreath and a Confederate flag.

"It was then that "Black Eagle" Logan issued an order from G.A. R. headquarters on May 5, 1868, making Memorial Day a northern as well as a southern custom."

Click here to read a more detailed historical account of the origin of the holiday on the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs website.

Elsewhere on that same front page: "In Flanders Field," the well-known WWI poem; and an article listing the number of war dead from the six wars that the U.S. had fought up to that point.

Elks National Memorial – May 1926

Grandpa was an Elk.

Which on the face of it would seem to be a good thing. After all, Lorain was a hotbed of fraternal organizations and for decades beginning in the early 1900s, many men enjoyed memberships in several of them. "It's not what you know – it's who you know," was one of Grandpa's sayings that Mom often repeated, and he believed it. That's why he was an Elk as well as a Mason.

Grandpa and some fellow Elks. He's second from left (with the cigarette holder)

Grandpa worked at the Lorain Journal as a Linotype operator when it was located on Seventh Street, and he had to walk by the Lorain Elks Lodge on Sixth Street to get home. And since Grandpa (as Mom used to say) was a 'hale fellow well met," he used to stop there for a few drinks and songs with the boys. Unfortunately what was supposed to be a short visit used to last several hours. And many times, Grandma had to send Mom over to the Elks to go fetch her father for dinner. Years later, Mom still remembered the loud boisterous singing going on there.

Anyway, Grandpa was no doubt proud that his beloved Elks erected a memorial to the members who died in the Great War. This small photo and caption appeared in the Lorain Journal on May 18, 1926.

Years later, the beautiful Memorial was rededicated to honor all veterans, regardless of whether they were members of the Elks. You can find a great detailed history of the Memorial here on the Elks website.

Photo courtesy of Paul Saint John

If I'm ever in Chicago, you can bet that I'll stop and see it – as a tribute to Grandpa, and veterans.

The Elephant Pretzel Holder

Back in the days before our phones became our cameras (as well as the repository of precious photos), we used to have photo albums.

They were very handy indeed. If you were organized like my mother, then you had your photos all in order chronologically through the decades, and possibly even labeled. Really old color photos from the 1950s even had the date and Kodak information printed on the back.

And family photo albums were fun to look at. As a kid, I remember that we sometimes pulled them out on a rainy day to look at, just to have something to do. The photos of Mom and Dad as young parents seemed so old. But they really weren't.

Some of the photos from the early 1950s are hopelessly discolored, with a weird yellowish hue. I was looking at some of them around Mother's Day this year, trying to find one with Mom, her mother and my Dad's mother to scan. I found one (below) that had the whole motherly lineup.

From left to right: Mom's mother, Mom (holding my sister), Dad's grandmother, and Dad's mother.

I had seen this photo (and others taken at the same time around Christmas 1954) before, and never knew for sure whose house it was. 

I color corrected the queasy yellow photo a little bit to the best of my (limited) ability.

And then I saw it, in the lower right hand corner.

It was something I had forgotten all about: a pretzel holder shaped like an elephant. It used to be high on a kitchen shelf in our house at 1604 W. 30th Street. One of my earliest memories is seeing that thing and wanting to play with it, since it looked like a toy. But it wasn't a toy, especially with the tall spike on which you were supposed to hang your pretzels.

Mom never, ever used it once she had all of us kids toddling around the house. It was simply too dangerous. So it remained on the shelf for years, before finally disappearing.

I looked online to see if there was one on eBay – or anywhere – but to no avail. But it's just as well. The Snyder's of Hanover Sourdough Nibblers that I usually buy wouldn't work with it anyway.

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Mom must have liked elephants because another thing that was up on a kitchen shelf was that Toppie Top Values Stamp lunchbox that I wrote about several times. Unfortunately, like the pretzel holder, it too disappeared over the years. But at last check it was worth more than $6,000!

Boron Ad – May 1956

Anyone that grew up in Ohio in the 1950s, 60s and 70s no doubt remember Sohio service stations. My parents were pretty loyal to Sohio, seeing as it was right on Oberlin Avenue at Meister Road. Being a Sohio customer seemed both patriotic (with the brand's red, white and blue color scheme) as well as the right thing to do as an Ohioan. Mom and Dad's Sohio credit card also came in handy on our cross-country camping trips, as it was good at other gas stations affiliated with Standard Oil. 

Part of the mystique of the Sohio brand was its Boron gasoline, which was advertised as being better for your engine – especially in winter since it contained Ice-Gard®.

But Boron was advertised in the summer too. Here's an eye-catching ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 15, 1956.

It's actually kind of funny in that it resembles a horror movie ad. You can imagine the wide-eyed beautiful blonde reacting to a giant tarantula or crab-like monster. I also love the Boron logo with its rotating atoms (or electrons or whatever they're supposed to be).

Note that at the bottom of the ad there's a man's head next to the Sohio logo that looks like he's missing his pipe. That's Tom Holiday, the Betty Crocker-like fictional manager of the Sohio Customer Service Department. 

Here's the ad introducing Mr. Holiday. It ran in the paper on Nov. 22, 1955.

Other ads in the Boron campaign aren't as much fun, although the first one below is mildly amusing.

March 19, 1956

June 27, 1956

July 9, 1956

Nowadays, I doubt that most people think very much about the gas they put in their tank, other than whether it's regular, plus or premium.

I'm embarrassed to say it, but I almost put diesel in my car the other day by mistake at a gas station that I've never been to before. I was so used to the diesel pump looking a certain way (and being located at a certain spot) at my regular station that I missed all the visual cues. But a friendly Good Samaritanette saw me standing at the Diesel Pump and kindly asked me if that was what I really wanted – saving me a world of grief and a tow to boot!

Grand Opening of Lorain's Most Modern Service Station – May 16, 1936

Nowadays when a new gas station opens up, there's not a lot of hoopla. 

Why? Because it's not easy to reach people any more in the traditional marketing methods. There's no newspaper that everyone reads in which to place an ad. There are still a few local radio stations (although WEOL is no longer over-the-air) so it's probably a waste of money telling someone in another city that a new station in Vermilion is opening up. There's no direct mail opportunity either, for the same reason – there's no definite audience to reach, other than the people who will drive by it regularly.

Thus the advertising is pretty much limited to a sign and some flags out in front of the station announcing its Grand Opening. At least, that's what I witnessed with our new Marathon station on US Route 6 last year. 

But in the old days, the Grand Opening of a new service station was a big deal, as we've seen in countless ads on this blog. There seemed to always be flowers and corsages for the ladies, as well as a variety of freebies and/or items that were free with a fill-up, including pop, tumblers, a sack of potatoes, balloons and lollipops, and whisk brooms.

And below you see yet another ad in my quest to document the Grand Opening of every service station in the Lorain area. It's for the Rogers Oil Company's New Fleet Wing Service Station at 5th Street and Reid Avenue. It ran in the Lorain Journal on May 15, 1936.

Surprisingly the half page ad doesn't include any giveaways. But it does boast that it is Lorain's most modern service station, with a "lubritorium with hydraulic lift," "a homey waiting room," "5 pumps to save you time and service your car better," and "a full line of finest accessories of course."

These days, a gas station is merely that – not a service station, since they offer no service. Unless you count a Beer Cave. 

But then again, a good friend of mine who worked for BP back in the 1980s told me that the company made their real money selling snacks and pop at their BP stations. I believe it – now more than ever.

Anyway, a service station on that corner is long gone – as well as the Sisters Chicken & Biscuits that was there briefly.

Here's the view from Sunday.

Lorain Folk Festival – May 1956

Everyone's familiar with Lorain's International Festival that began back in 1967 (which I wrote about here) and is still going strong. But did you know that there was a smaller, predecessor festival that celebrated Lorain's various nationalities with ethnic music, dances, exhibits and culinary delicacies?

It was called the Folk Festival, and in its early days was held at the Ohio National Guard Armory at Oakwood Park in South Lorain. The first one was held on June 13, 1954 and included Polish, Ukrainian and Hungarian folk dances; a performance of Puerto Rican music; a Russian choral group; Scottish bagpipers and dancers from Cleveland; Mexican dancers; a Serbian song and dance show; the Inspirational Chorus of the Second Baptist Church; and American square dancers. The performers numbered 150 and the festival drew a crowd of 500.

Yes, being held in an auditorium, it was pretty small compared to the behemoth that the International Festival grew into at the Sheffield Shopping Center during the 1970s. But the Folk Festival seems to have been sort of a template for what followed. 

Anyway, in May 1956 the Folk Festival was in its third year. Here are some of the ads and clippings from the pages of the Lorain Journal that tell the story of the celebration that spring.

May 25, 1956

May 26, 1956

May 26, 1956

May 26, 1956

It looks like the 1956 edition of the Folk Festival was a success.

May 28, 1956

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The Folk Festival appears to have been held sporadically into the early 1960s. The news coverage surrounding the 1962 edition noted that it was the sixth annual celebration. It continued to be held in South Lorain. The seventh annual festival in 1963, and well as the eighth in 1964, were held at the Hungarian Reformed Hall at E. 31st and Globe. Interestingly, the Lorain Folk Arts Association held a folk festival in November 1967, at Admiral King High School, in association with the YMCA World Fellowship Committee.

The Circus is Coming to Town – May 1926

Nothing says nostalgia like a city getting excited about the circus coming to town.

It all seems so quaint now. But that's what Lorain was feeling back in May 1926 when Christy Bros. Circus – the first circus of the season – was due to arrive.

The Lorain Journal helped to build anticipation and excitement for the event with a series of teaser articles. Some featured the animal performers, others featured specific aspects of the show, like the Noah's Ark spectacle.

May 7, 2026

May 11, 1926

May 11, 1926

May 14, 1926

May 17, 1926

May 18, 1926

On May 19, 1926, the day of the circus, this article appeared on the front page of the newspaper.

"Amid the notes of a calliope, accompanied by prancing horses and swaying elephants," the article noted, "the parade of Christy Bros. Wild Animal show officially opened circus day in Lorain with a parade through the heart of the city at noon.

"Hundreds of spectators bordered the line of March, from the show grounds at 23rd-st and Washington-av, all along Washington-av, Erie-av and Broadway."

One mishap marred what was otherwise a great day, according to this article that appeared in the paper. the next day.

Here are a few more vintage posters that were either for sale on auction websites for on eBay. The unusual performers depicted on the second poster are the stuff of nightmares!