The recent controversy regarding a new Family Dollar store across from Lorain City Hall once again thrust Wickens Place – that short stub of a road running along the eastern border of Veterans Memorial Park – in the news. One of the reasons the Lorain Zoning Board rejected the variance for extra-wide driveways (here) was because of the traffic safety concerns of people getting in and out of the store from West Erie Avenue and Wickens Place.
Wickens Place was last in the news last September (here) when Lorain City Council considered renaming the street in honor of Airman 1st Class Eric Barnes, who was killed while serving in the U.S. Air Force in Iraq. According to the Morning Journal's article, the idea was dropped when Mayor Tony Krasienko noted that the street was named for "a founding family of Lorain" and that the proposal could face some opposition.
I think it was a wise decision not to rename Wickens Place. It's a link to a part of Lorain's history, and a memorial to a civic leader – George Wickens – who doesn't deserve to be forgotten.
Who was George Wickens? Stop back here next time to find out!
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