Monday, February 10, 2025

Lorain Woman Owned a Land Grant Signed by Lincoln – 1929

President Abraham Lincoln's real birthday – February 12th – is only a few days away, so it's a good time to post this. It's the story of a Lorain woman who owned a small piece of history related to our beloved, martyred President: a Land Grant document that he signed shortly after taking office.

Below is the account that ran in the Lorain Times-Herald on March 19, 1929. (Sorry, I don't have the continuation on page 2.)

It notes, "An original land grant signed by Abraham Lincoln and deeding 80 acres of land in Springfield, Ill. is being offered for sale by Mrs. Irene White of Nichols-av.

"Henry Ford to further stock his Dearborn museum with relics of early American days has asked Mrs. White to set a price on the parchment. Pending the sale of the document to the auto magnate, Mrs. White is awaiting word from Washington telling of the real value of the precious "bit of paper."
"Dated April 2, 1861 the land grant is 68 years next month, according to Mrs. White.
"The deed has been in our family for many years," she states. "It has been one of our treasures and now we must sell it."
But why did she need to sell it? The story from the Lorain Journal from the same day provides the touching answer.
The Journal's account notes, "Henry Ford is negotiating for the purchase of a document signed in two places by Abraham Lincoln, which is in the possession of Mrs. Charles White, Nichols-av, city.
"The paper is a deed to 80 acres of land in Springfield, Ill. and was given to Mrs. White by her grandmother, Mrs. Edward Shepherd, Akron, to sell when she was attracted to a story of Ford's collection of Lincoln's effects.
"Mrs. Shepherd, now past 80, has an object in selling the document. Her husband is buried in Litchfield and Mrs. Shepherd would take the proceeds to purchase lot in a Lorain cemetery. She wants to have her husband brought here for burial and, when her time comes, wants to be buried next to him."
I couldn't find a follow-up story on the sale of the document to see if Mrs. Shepherd's wishes came true.
****
If she did sell the land grand document to Henry Ford, I hope Mrs. Shepherd received a good price.
A land grant document also signed by President Lincoln went up for sale on the RR Auction website. It noted, "RR Auction makes history selling history. As a globally recognized source for rare documents, manuscripts, autographs, and historic artifacts, RR has hosted over 600 sales since its inception in 1976. Specialties include presidential autographs, music memorabilia, space artifacts, science and technology hardware, sports cards, and Hollywood costumes. 
"Our current Fine Autographs and Artifacts auction (Jan. 19 – Feb. 7) includes a featured section relating to US Presidents. There are many unique and rare documents, but here is one stand-out: A land grant signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

"The item (Lot 53) is considered “excessively rare” and was signed by President Lincoln on Jan. 2, 1863 – the very day after signing the Emancipation Proclamation into law, ending slavery in the United States. 


 "The rather mundane presidential practice of signing land grants was discontinued in 1833 during Andrew Jackson’s second term, when Congress passed a law authorizing the president to appoint a special secretary to sign them on his behalf. It is therefore incredibly rare to find an authentically signed land grant after that.


"Indeed, this is the only Lincoln-signed land grant we have ever encountered, and our research suggests that no other authentically signed example has appeared at auction. The vast majority of land grants issued during the Lincoln administration were signed by William O. Stoddard, who was specifically appointed for the task on July 15, 1861.


"This Item Sold At Auction For $15,496."



Friday, February 7, 2025

One Hundred Years Ago in Lorain – the End of the World That Wasn't

One hundred years ago today, the headline of the Lorain Journal was about an anti-trust drive being undertaken by the justice department. But the really big story was the fact that the end of the world hadn't taken place, as predicted by Robert Reidt, the "Apostle of Doom."

The fact that the world did not come to an end was covered in several stories, with the lead story reporting that "Lorain had two victims who went insane over the predicted millennium." There were reports from other locations across the country under the heading, "Doom Day Doings Elsewhere in America." There was a story about an employee of the National Tube company who was run down by a car on Lake Road near Stop 84 in Sheffield Lake, who had thought that the end of the world had indeed come. And at the bottom of the page, United Press Staff Correspondent Frank Getty followed up with Mr. Reidt.

Elsewhere on the front page: A photo of a pretty young lady as part of the "Lorain Girl Series," photographed by Rudy Moc; a dog saves his master and friends from being asphyxiated by gas fumes down in Greenville, Ohio; and James Bond – not the secret agent, but a Lorain man – was apparently not shaken or stirred up after crashing his car into a telephone pole at 28th and Fulton, since he attempted a getaway.

Other than that, just the usual mayhem, tragedy and chaos.

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Moulas Bros. Furniture Ad – Feb. 25, 1954

We always think of the 1950s as being pretty conservative. But every so often I run across a vintage advertisement from that time frame in an old edition of the Lorain Journal that surprises me. 

Above is a pretty good example. It's an ad for Moulas Bros. Furniture located at 1024 Broadway in Lorain. A sale on Serta mattresses is the focus of the ad, but a rather offbeat approach is used. The illustration of the doctor (with dangling stethoscope) examining the bare back of an attractive brunette looks like it was poached from a sleazy paperback from that era – especially since they are posed right next to a mattress!

What do you think?

(No, these are not from my personal library.)

Looking at the Moulas ad (remember, I was a graphic designer for more than 35 years), I get the feeling that the ad was slapped together at a gallop. Graphic elements (such as the Serta logo) are positioned crookedly; one logo overlaps the border of the ad; the top of a whole line of bold type is cut off by the bottom of the mattress art; and the top of the head of the doctor (if indeed that's what he is) is trimmed to fit somewhat sloppily.
I wasn't sure if the ad was assembled in the Journal art department or if it was supplied by an agency since the Serta sale was a national event. But a quick Google search, I had my answer: it was actually part of the national campaign! Here's the magazine ad version.
The Reddit website page where I found the magazine ad had some hilarious comments. So I'm not the only one who finds it amusing.
I'm guessing that the Journal pasteup artist was given a copy of the magazine ad, and told to cut it up and use it as needed to assemble one for Moulas Bros.
Anyway, I'm not surprised that it's a Serta ad. I had a crush on Joey Heatherton thanks to Serta's early 1970s TV commercials.
I still like a nice pixie cut on a woman, thanks to Joey.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Beware of Bananas! – Feb. 1930

Does anyone else think that it's almost impossible to buy a really good-tasting banana these days?

I've pretty much given up finding a good one. Even though they might look very nice (like the stock photo above), they either have no flavor at all, are too hard in the middle even when ripe, or – worst of all – when peeled, they reveal unsightly black bruises and are rotten in spots. Yuck.

But at least you don't have to worry about finding a tarantula in with your bunch of bananas, unlike a grocer's wife in Wellington back in February 1930.

I found the story in Looking Back on Lorain County (1978) by Ernie Henes. He wrote, "A tarantula, the venomous spider that brings instant death to the victim it bites, was found by Mrs. T. M. Pfeiffer in her husband's grocery in Wellington on Saturday evening, Feb. 8, 1930.

"She had cut a bunch of bananas from a stalk and wanted one more. When she lifted the last bunch preparatory to cutting it off, she saw the spider and screamed. Her husband captured the insect and kept it in a glass container for several days. 

"The spider was about the size of a saucedish when its legs were stretched out. It was minus four of its 10 feet, indicating that it had been seen and attacked before. The lack of these feet may be the reason it did not jump when uncovered."

I don't think that a tarantula's bite actually causes instant death (unless the person dies from fright, like I would). I wonder how they stretched out the legs to measure it? (On second thought, I'd rather not know.)

The Lorain Journal included a short version of the story in its Feb. 11, 1930 edition.

Anyway, the possibility of finding a tarantula mixed in with the bananas is one more reason for me to dislike them.

****
I probably should like bananas more than I do. Mom bought them all the time when we were kids. She used to whittle slices onto our cereal once in a while. She made banana cream pies, banana bread, etc. 
Mom even bought us a banana-flavored cereal called Wackies one time. Remember? It was the wack-wack-wackiest!
But we didn't like it. Other kids didn't either, and the cereal didn't remain on the market for very long.
These days, I still buy bananas once in a while. I've been told that Discount Drug Mart bananas are the best. The point of purchase sign above the display said they're from Costa Rica (which I've visited once) so I gave them a try.
They're okay. At least they don't have tarantulas mixed in with them. Pura Vida!

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Ohio Fuel Gas Underground "Warehouse" – Feb. 4, 1955

Speedy, the Ohio Fuel Gas mascot (above), has something he'd like you to see: a 1955 article about his company's underground storage field in Wellington.

I first read about this underground 'warehouse' in my copy of Looking Back on Lorain County (1978) by Ernie Henes. In an article entitled, "Ready-Made Warehouses," Henes writes, "Nature has been kind to Southern Lorain County by providing just the right underground rock formations for storing tremendous volumes of natural gas needed to heat homes, commercial buildings, and for industrial purposes.

"When Mother Nature formed this earth, she buried layer upon layer of rock underground. Far under Lorain County she placed several layers of sponge-like rock. When combined with decaying organic material, these porous rocks soaked up natural gas produced by natural chemical reactions. The gas was there for man to drill and release.

"Gas became so popular that it took relatively few years before these reservoirs were emptied, at which point they were used for storage. Today, practically all of the gas used in Lorain and adjoining counties is brought in through large pipe lines from rich fields in the south and southwest.

"Wellington's field has 243 wells into which about 22 billion cubic feet of gas are stored The compressor station on West Road pumps the year around. In cold weather, not enough gas can be brought in to meet the demand, and storage gas is used to augment the pumped flow."

I remember reading this story and being somewhat confused as it was hard to visualize. Thus I was happy to see the article and photo below about the Wellington underground storage field. It ran in the Lorain Journal back on Feb. 4, 1955 – 70 years ago today.

So is the underground storage still in use?

Apparently it still is. The AI Overview (we know that's reliable) provided by Google notes, "The Columbia Gas Wellington Storage Field is a natural gas storage facility in Medina and Lorain counties, Ohio. The facility is part of the Columbia Gas Transmission system, which connects major natural gas basins to markets." 

TC Energy acquired Columbia Gas Transmission in 2016. Here's the link to its website about the underground storage.


Monday, February 3, 2025

Shinrock Post Office

Have you ever heard of Shinrock – and did you know it used to have its own post office?

The U. S. Post Office at Shinrock was a tiny one that once helped to define the small community (or neighborhood) of Shinrock, located in Erie County. The post office was the subject of the article below, which appeared in the Journal on Feb. 19, 1965. At that time, it occupied a small corner of what was both a grocery store and bar, located on Barrows Road. Postmistress Georgia Dute was in charge. The story is a charming account of a surviving slice of small town America.

As noted in the article, the history of the post office there was unclear. So the Journal did a follow-up story less than a month later on March 5, 1965 with a little more detail.

The first article pointed out that the Shinrock was a fourth-class post office. That meant that rather than having its own standalone building owned by the federal government, it was one of many rural post offices that was located in an existing building or business. Postmasters of these small post offices were paid by commission.
The days of these small post offices were numbered, however, and the government really wanted to get rid of them. It's amazing that the Shinrock post office managed to get through the 1960s and 70s. But as the article below from October 4, 1980 explains, with the dawn of the 1980s and Georgia Dute's impending retirement, it was a good time for Uncle Sam to 'cancel' operations there and move them to the post office in Huron.
What's interesting about the story is that it notes, "The post office has been housed in a converted storage shed owned by Mrs. Dute and her husband, Sylvester, since she took over as postmaster in 1960. The shed was next to her home and was convenient for her and her daughter, Mrs. Pat Linden, her unofficial part time assistant. That's it in the photo below of Mrs. Dute hanging the flag outside. 
Today out on Barrows Road, both buildings – the grocery store/bar and the post office 'shed' next door – are still there.
Some comments on the Sandusky Register Facebook page (which helped me figure all this out) included one by a gentleman whose parents own the building that was home to the grocery store and bar. He points out that it was also a gas station and that "the front yard still has the raised cement where the gas pump used to be."
1962 ad in the Berlin High School Yearbook

Friday, January 31, 2025

It's almost Groundhog Day 2025!

Sunday is Groundhog Day! It's nice, because we can watch the festivities on TV live from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania without worrying about getting to work on time. It's always interesting see which Weather Channel personality gets to make the trip.

One of these days I'm gonna make that trip to Punxsutawney. (I know, I keep saying that.) It's on my bucket list (along with a lot of other intriguing activities requiring road trips, such as eating at the last Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken, located in Hartsville, South Carolina).

I thought it was interesting that as far back as 1925, the Lorain Journal was mentioning Punxsutawney in its Groundhog Day coverage. Here's the front page story from Feb. 2, 1925 (below). As noted in comments left on past Groundhog Day posts, the critter didn't get the 'Phil' moniker until much later. Note how other cities also received some coverage for their groundhogs, including Detroit.

Even Lorain's arch rival Elyria received a Groundhog Day mention in the Journal in 1925.

There was no Groundhog Day coverage of Punxsutawney on Feb. 2, 1935 but a front page Journal story noted, "If tradition means anything, Lorain can look forward to an early spring because the groundhog failed to see his shadow today – traditional Groundhog Day.
It was a snowy Groundhog Day in Lorain in 1945, with snow blocking secondary roads and with a high of 21 degrees. Nevertheless, Lorain's Groundhog saw his shadow. The story was the same in Punxsutawney, as noted in the Journal story below from Feb. 2, 1945.
The Lorain Journal apparently ignored Groundhog Day 1955. Oh well, some years were like that. 
But ten years later, the paper mentioned both of Pennsylvania's famous furry forecasters: Punxsutawney Phil and the one at Quarryville. As a bonus, we get a photo of Woody, a groundhog who lives in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.
And even the Journal editorial from that day couldn't resist getting in on the fun.

Anyway, Happy Groundhog Day 2025!