Oberlin Avenue Construction Then & Now

Courtesy the Morning Journal and the Lorain City Engineer

Seeing the barrels along Oberlin Avenue during its current repaving reminded me of this photo (above). It shows the view of Oberlin Avenue during its widening in the early 1970s.

Apparently the widening started in 1973 and finished in 1975. Why don't I remember that at all? Maybe it's because the construction coincided with my freshman and sophomore years of high school and I had other things on my mind.

The photo's vantage point obviously is from Tower Boulevard looking south. In the background you can see Big Town, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and off in the distance, Esco.

Hard to believe all of those establishments are gone, replaced by businesses more in tune with Lorain's economic downturn such as Cashland.

Here's the current view from this past weekend.

Although there are no national restaurant chains along that stretch any more, I'm glad that a national retailer like Big Lots is in the old Big Town space. It's one of our favorite stores.

Now if it only stocked peanut butter-filled pretzels more often.