Tuesday, February 1, 2011

5th & West Erie Then and Now


I saw this postcard on Ebay and didn't immediately recognize the homes, although I get stopped at the traffic light at this intersection several times a week. (The 1924 tornado-battered homes in the photo face south towards Victory Park, across West Erie Avenue.)

When I drove over there to snap the 'today' shot (below), I was surprised to see that almost all of the homes in the vintage postcard seem to still be there, with the exception of the sad home on the left. Unfortunately, I couldn't quite capture the exact same angle of the postcard.

I briefly considered asking the person whose driveway I was standing in if I could please shoot from one of their upstairs windows – but I figured there are enough people out there already who probably think I'm a nut.



The postcard is kind of interesting in that the photographer is A. B. Reinhart. Usually when you see a Lorain Tornado photo, it seems to be one from well-known local photographer Rudy Moc, who produced a souvenir book of the disaster. The Lorain Public Library has several copies of it in its local history section.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My house is on the next block over on N. Lakeview and W. Erie, built after the Lorain tornado. It would be interesting to see a photo of that area immediately after the tornado, like the one you found.

By the way, great website!