Since I've been blogging about the Washington Park area, I might as well post this photo. It's a little dark (it's from microfilm) but interesting nevertheless to old-time Lorainites, since it shows the long-gone line of buildings and businesses that were immediately east of the park. Click on it so you can get a closer look.
The park seems to have had several names... Washington, Memorial, and now Veteran's Memorial. I've even seen it referred to as Gilmore Park in an online edition of the 1910 History of the Western Reserve.
The photo appeared in the Lorain Journal on April 3, 1974, with the article below. (I added the labels to the photo in Photoshop.)
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One Last Look: These Old Buildings Soon to Fall.
A commanding view of the Crescent Center downtown Lorain urban renewal area is available from the roof of the new, seven-story City Hall, as this photograph shows. In the foreground is West Erie Avenue while Broadway is at the far left of the picture and Memorial Park at the right. The project is bounded on the south by Fourth Street. Most of the buildings on W. Erie Avenue visible here have already been purchased by the city. The Heilman's Ranch House restaurant in the center closed its doors Monday. Other buildings either have already done so or soon will as the city prepares to level the block for sale to developers for rebuilding. Demolition of structures downtown should begin within the next three months. The entire project will take up to four years to complete. (Journal Photo by Chief Photographer Tom Whittington.)
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I've gotta admit, this photo depresses me. I sure wish that Heilman's Ranch House was still there – a western-themed restaurant in downtown Lorain, right on Route 6 sounds like a great idea.
I guess the "Crescent Center" name didn't pan out. I'm not sure if anyone besides me even remembers the old "Golden Crescent" nickname that the Lorain Journal used to identify Lorain and the surrounding communities.
My brother Mike and I used to eat at the Ranch House back in'68, when we shined shoes downtown...great food there.
ReplyDeleteI remember the whole "Golden Crescent" thing, although, AFAIK, the Journal was the only one to use it.
So interesting to read about "Ohio's Golden Crescent"....we didn't go much further east than
ReplyDeleteHuron when I was a kid, so I never knew about that term. But I can still hear Sandusky's radio station (WLEC) always saying that it was "another great day in Vacationland."