Friday, July 8, 2011

Lorain Train Station Then and Now


Here's another one of those Ebay photos that were shot by a gentleman who drove around Lorain in the summer of 1986 and captured the city as it looked back then on film. This shot is of the long-gone Lorain train station. I was frankly surprised that it had lasted that long, all the way into the mid-1980's.

Here is the current view.


Although you can't tell from the photo, I was standing on the short stretch of old Broadway pavement that was bypassed by the Frank Nardini railroad underpass. You can see a bit of the barricade right before the dead-end in the bottom of my photo.

I posted one of my high school drawings of the station back here.

It's a shame (gee, I say that a lot on this blog) that the old train station is gone. But unless the residents of a city decide that something old is worth saving, and organize to make it happen, then a lot of historical buildings will continue to be torn down, along with the city's heritage.

6 comments:

Randall Chet said...

Hi Dan-

I sure love these photos circa 1986, especially since that was the year I left Lorain. I graduated from BGSU in 1986, got a job at an ad agency in Toledo, met my wife in 1987 and moved to CA in 1988. Keep them coming!

Anonymous said...

-Alan D Hopewell, expatriate curmudgeon....

Those tracks and the trestle were my shortcut to the East Side for years....when we were kids, we used to ride the old (swing) trestle when it rotated for ships.

Jerry A. McCoy said...

I have vague memories of riding my bike from the west side of Lorain to see this train station in the early 70s. I remember thinking then...and still wonder...why Lorain had such an architecturally insignificant structure when surely the money/ridership was there to warrant better.

Jeremy R said...

Hi Dan,

I love seeing these 1986 photos as it brings back memories of my childhood. Do you have any contact info for the gentleman who made the videos driving around Lorain in 1986? I'd be interested in purchasing some of the pictures and/or video from him

Dan Brady said...

Hi Jeremy,

I'm sorry I don't have contact information of the photographer. The gentleman's name was F. A. Beese who shot all those photos in the mid-1980s. Some of them even have his own embossed stamp on them.

Mr. Beese sold off a bunch of those photos to a Lorain man who put many of them on Ebay. If you email me directly I can give you that gentleman's email address who sold me a few of the pix.

Dan

Anonymous said...

I would like to know if anyone has photos of South Lorain, 28th & vine ave. to at least 31st and vine. LaRoyal restaunt, Johnny Roth's drugstore on 29th & vine, Neighborhood House on 30th street, Steve's store 30th & vine and the two old Lincoln School buildings on 31st & vine.