Thomas Folger House in Avon Lake

Ever wonder about the story behind that big house on the lake at the end of Route 83 in Avon Lake? Well, wonder no more. Here's the story, a great article from the Wednesday, April 19, 1967 Lorain Journal, written by Staff Writer Sandy Rider. (The photo and caption from the article are above.)

****

The 'Heart' of Avon Lake is Big Old White Building
By SANDY RIDER
Staff Writer

AVON LAKE – The womb of Avon Lake is in that big old white building they call the Avon Lake Park Hall.

There Avon Lake was nursed, rehearsed and born. Early settlers, government and a court of law were nourished inside its walls.

THE TIME – way back when it gets too foggy to remember details anymore.

FARMERS WITH purple stained hands and tired backs traveled dusty roads to get to Thomas Folger's big white house on the lake. Folger collected, weighed and boxed the grapes for the long trip by Nickel Plate rails.

Sometimes a starry-eyed couple came to the large white house to be married by Folger, justice of the peace.

Folger's children ran through the long halls with high ceilings and played hide and seek.

THE TIME – 1926 when the old duffers can remember –
The leaders of the village were trying to set up a government. They met in the room downstairs in the large white building they bought for $56,000. There they rolled up their sleeves and carved out a government.

W. R. Hinz of 31692 Lake Road, had quite a job as clerk, he remembers. "I had a devil of a time paying all the bills the former clerk had thrown in the wastebasket," he said.

The park hall was remodeled. Walls were knocked out and bedrooms were converted into offices.

It was a real tooth and nail government then.

THE TIME – 1950's
The thriving government outgrew the big, white frame building. It moved into a spanking new brick one on Avon-Belden Road in 1955 or 1956.

In its place came the court. Avon Lake had grown too sophisticated to rely on a rural justice of the peace. The days of meeting in a resident's home over a cup of coffee to haggle over lawsuits were gone.

THE TIME – THE 1960's
Now the almost 13,000 residents of Avon Lake come to the large, white frame building on the lake to the municipal courtroom. Now lawyers and judges define the fine points of law in the room downstairs. And the clerk keeps piles of records in cubbyholes upstairs.

There are some who would like to tear down the large white building and move the court to the city hall on Avon-Belden Road. They say it is too crowded. They say the 12-man jury is forced to sit with their knees almost on their chins during court and there aren't enough offices upstairs for all the officials.

But the people that have known the building want to keep it that way.

Avon Lake attorney Gerald Smith says "There may not be enough room for court, but I hate to see it torn down."

JUDGE ROBERT Hensen, "It's in much better shape than when we first came in. We used to wonder if we'd come back the next day and find ashes."

People around Avon Lake have gotten used to the large, white building on the lake. They may not even know its official name but they would miss it if it was gone.

It has become more than a pile of lumber nailed together. It is the womb of Avon Lake.

****

Here's my shot of how it looked a few weeks ago.