According to her obituary, "Mary became one of the most successful African American female entrepreneurs in Lorain County, when she and two friends bought 125 acres of land off Albrecht Road in Elyria and opened the RMR Ranch Club in 1956. The club, which consisted of a riding stable of 17 horses, picnic grounds, restaurant and motel, also was a nightclub where notable entertainers such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green appeared. She later became sole proprietor and renamed the establishment the DMD Ranch. The last acreage was sold to the Lorain County Regional Airport in 1991."
Rae's question to me was,"Where the heck was this?"
That's a good question. And I didn't have a lot of luck finding out!
I hit the Elyria phone books and city directories at the Lorain Public Library and only came up with one listing (below) of the complex, in the 1961 phone book.
That's it. It was not listed under Restaurants, Night Clubs, Motels, Stables, etc. I checked several years before and after 1961 and came up with nothing. It wasn't in the street listings section of the books I checked either.
Looking at the Lorain County Auditor's website, there seemed to have been a few transactions of land on the south side of Albrecht Road adjacent to the aiport in 2006, but there are none listed that have the 1991 date listed in the obituary.
Here is an aerial view of one of those Albrecht Road properties that the airport purchased in the 2000's. At last this map gives you a general idea of where the RMR Ranch Club was located.
And here's a Mapquest map of the same area. According to an old map I have of the area, the intersection of Fowl and Albrecht is kind of Lorain County's answer to the 'Four Corners' area of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado – except in this case it is Amherst Township, Elyria Township, Russia Township and Carlisle Township.
Since there are so many private residences along Albrecht west of Fowl Road, there would have to be some undeveloped Ranch land left for the airport to purchase. So I'm betting that the Ranch was on the south side of Albrecht, somewhere between Fowl Road and West Ridge Road.
I'll try and dig some more in the more recent books, under the other name – DMD Ranch – listed in the obituary.
Does anybody have any recollection of the RMR Ranch? If so, please leave a comment!
4 comments:
-Alan....
Dude, I've never heard of this place, or this woman, and I grew up black in this area. Also, I'm certain I know the families mentioned, but I don't even remember hearing the Grone Folx talk about this place.
In some cases, I guess it's a good thing that what you put out in cyberspace never dies. My niece, Mary L. DeRamus' great-niece, was Googling "The Farm," as we referred to it, and came across your blog. I don't know who the person is that wished to remain anonymous, but my siblings and I grew up in Lorain and spent half our time on my aunt's ranch, particularly in the summer. I wrote the obituary and it is factual. During our growing up years I don't recall any other Black families in the "area" only White farmers. so, I'd be interested in knowing where "Rae" lived. What I do know is all the "Grone Folx" in Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties knew about the RMR Ranch Club, Inc. even if they didn't desire or couldn't afford to frequent the many activities (e.g. horseback riding, celebrity entertainers, barbeques, clambakes, or the lounge, motel or restaurant) that took place there. The address of the property was 43515 Albrecht Road. Our property, as well as the farms in the surrounding area, were taken over by eminent domain and is now the Lorain County Regional Airport. https://vintageaerial.com/photos/ohio/lorain/1963/DLO/57/16.
Thanks for the great & informative comment!
I have to apologize, because one of this blog’s contributors (Dennis Thompson) who likes to do research saw this post and did some more digging. He sent me an article, an ad & an aerial photo of the RMR/DMD Ranch but I never went back and updated this post. If you email me at danielebrady@hotmail.com I can send you the materials, but I promise that in the weeks ahead I will clean up the ad, clippings, etc. and either post them here as an update or do an entirely new post.
Your apology and promise to "clean up...in the WEEKS ahead" are too little, too late. The audacity of "anonymous Rae" to question the legitimacy of someone's obituary was insulting, insensitive, and ignorant. However, your response to it rises to the level of and satisfies the requirements set forth for a cause of action in DEFAMATION ("The publication of words...that tends to injure another person's good reputation"), and LIBEL ("...defamation that is widely disseminated as in a radio broadcast) or in this case, a blog. As a bogger you are held to the same standards and ethics as journalists and broadcasters, I would have assumed you knew that. The fact that your research was substandard and a "contributor" found information that was just as accessible to you is inexcusable. "Anonymous Rae," obviously fueled by cowardice and jealousy, chose to use her too much free time to disparage a family that she obviously doesn't know at all. Unfortunately, this is all too common among African Americans of lower socioeconomic status. Rather than strive for their own achievements they choose to denigrate and do anything other than celebrate the achievements of others of their own race. However, when Caucasians with a platform, such as yourself, support this behavior it is abhorrent, RACIST, and another attempt to erase history. Mary L. DeRamus, before being actually robbed by one of her partners and attempting to start her business all over again, was the first African American millionairess in Lorain County at a time (the 1950s) when women, particularly Black women, were not entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, she was never able to reestablish her initial success. We are of Native American, as well as African American descent, so the government land grab disguised as eminent domain was a very personal affront. It not only stole our land it all but erased her legacy. The information you state you received from your "contributor" probably contains the story written by my former colleague, Cindy Leise, a veteran journalist. I worked as a staff writer at the Chronical Telegram with Cindy for four years before I left to attend law school. I won't post my email address here. I will contact you at yours and you can, as offered, forward the information your "contributor" provided. Treat it as a subpoena.
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