Lake Breeze Welcomes You – May 1927

Here's yet another vintage ad for the Lake Breeze area in Sheffield Lake, but this one goes waaaaay back – all the way to 1927 and the interurban days.

The full-page ad appeared in the Lorain Times-Herald on May 27, 1927 and announced the sale of lots by Sykes & Thompson. It read, "You can build a small home at Lake Breeze and live a lot cheaper than you can in the city. You and your family can enjoy the advantages of beautiful Lake Erie. Our private beach and bath house are at our disposal. You can have a garden if you like and raise fresh vegetables or flowers. Your wife can be healthy, happy and contented. Water, electric lights, good streets are available. You can get to your work by auto, bus or interurban and the assured electrification of the Nickle Plate R.R. will in a short time bring this section as close to Cleveland as Lakewood now is."

The ad also make a direct appeal to investors, stating, "The rapid growth of Cleveland, the scarcity of lake shore property and the very strategic location of Lake Breeze assure a rapid rise in value. Lake Breeze lies in bottle neck between Lorain and Cleveland. Five main highways and two forms of rapid transit are assured of passing directly THROUGH it. Excellent interurban and bus service available, both stopping at Lake Breeze. It will not be long until the outskirts of Cleveland reach the outskirts of Lorain and the two cities will merge in just the same manner as it did in Collinwood and Lakewood and as it is now doing in Euclid and Bay Village. Lots purchased today will double and treble in value in a short time. Will you be one of the fortunate ones?"

The ad is interesting in that it is a veritable snapshot of Sheffield Lake at the very beginning of the process of evolving from a dairy farm community to a bedroom community.

Some of the predictions obviously never came true. But the ad does help explain why much of Sheffield Lake is the way it is today – full of very small lots with small homes on them, but nevertheless close to the lake (and far from the big city), enabling its residents (like me) to enjoy a laid-back lifestyle with country charm.

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For more information about the evolution of the Lake Breeze area, I suggest you join the Sheffield Village Historical Society. The current issue of its full-color journal – The Village Pioneer – spotlights the history of Lake Breeze Road. The incredibly well-researched story contains amazing vintage photographs of some of the early farms and homes that any lover of local history won't want to miss.

And membership is only ten bucks a year!

For membership information, contact Eddie Herdendorf, President at (440) 934-1514 or email him at herdendorf@aol.com.

And in the meantime, drop by Drew Penfield's Lake Shore Rail Maps website to read more about the history of Sheffield Lake in the interurban days.