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| Courtesy Lorain County Auditors website |
I've never been in the Maple Inn, but I've always admired the outside of the building. It looks like a nice, cozy place to hang out.
It's not an easy place to research, though. It's located in a kind of No-Man's Land between Lorain and Elyria, and its city directory listings shifted around between cities, depending on the year.
Superior Chips are mentioned in one of the congratulatory ads. They were a regional brand out of Detroit, Michigan.
Hey, I just noticed some of my favorite beers were available at the Maple Inn back then: Old Dutch and Black Label!
Anyways, the Lorain County Auditor's website has 1900 as the year that the structure was built, and that usually means that the real date is unknown and predates that year. So there's been a business at that corner for a long, long time.
In recent years, a sign with the words "Frank and Ellie's" was added above the iconic sign with the large maple leaf. A colorful standalone sign was also installed, ushering in a new era in the inn's history.
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| The view last weekend |
4 comments:
Great story Dan. Speaking of iconic signs. East of Maple Inn the Topper Inn??? As a kid looked like a fancy night club.
rae
I always kept an eye out for the Topper bar too as a kid, mainly because we watched those Topper TV show reruns! (With Cosmo Topper and the ghost couple.) It changed its name to something else in the last year or so.
Pretty sure they still have the same tap system with the faux barrels 50 years later… I'll try to remember to snap a photo next time I am in there. - Bill
There's an article in the Chronicle Telegram on September 16, 1947 headlined "Man who suffered body beating sues for $30,000". The article is about a man who sued several people who assaulted him as he was leaving the "Maple Inn Cafe at West River and North Ridge Roads". The assault occurred on April 27th of that year. He also sued the Lorain County Commissioners. So It's at least as old as 1947.
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