Lorain Crystal Ice Company – Part 4

1937 City Directory Listing

Although the Lorain Crystal Ice Company had a few branch locations listed in the 1931 Lorain City Directory, they disappeared in the following year's edition. But sometime in the late 1930s, the company really expanded into multiple branches.

The 1937 list of branch locations included:

• Iowa Avenue
• 934 W. 18th Street
• Northeast corner of East Erie Avenue and Georgia Avenue
• 1008 Fifth Street
• 1524 Lexington Avenue
• 3115 Palm Avenue
• 3230 Seneca Avenue
• 1014 10th Street
• 2124 E. 30th Street
• Northwest corner of E. 31st Court and Vine Avenue
• 220 E. 22nd Street
• Northeast corner of W. 25th Street and Reid Avenue

1945 City Directory Listing

By 1945 the list of branch locations has changed slightly, with a few additions and deletions

• South side of East Erie between Indiana and Iowa Avenues

• Northeast corner of East Erie Avenue and Georgia Avenue

• 934 W. 18th Street

• 1524 Lexington Avenue

• 2125 Oakdale Avenue

• Northwest corner of Oberlin Avenue and W. 20th Street

• 3115 Palm Avenue

• Northwest corner of Seneca Avenue and E. 33rd Street

• Northwest corner of 10th Street and Reid Avenue

• 2124 E. 30th Street

• Northwest corner of E. 31st Court and Vine Avenue 

• 220 E. 32nd Street

• Northeast corner of W. 25th Street and Reid Avenue

The 1947 City Directory was the last book to feature multiple branch locations. By the time of the 1950 book, there was only one branch listed (the Vine Avenue location) and by the 1952 book there were no branches listed at all.

Courtesy Paula Shorf

The personnel connected with the company were remarkably consistent through the years. By the time of the 1958 directory, the Dorn family was still involved, with Randolph J. Dorn as president. The 1958 directory was also the last time that the company would be listed in the directory under its original name.

Through the years, the company had also offered ready mixed concrete and building supplies along with its ice product. Apparently by the end of the 1950s, the time was right to make a change. The company took the name of Lorain Ready Mixed Concrete. Its listing in the directories continued under that name through the 1972 directory until it disappeared forever.

The 1973 directory included the listing for Myles Industries at 120 Oberlin Avenue, but the address went vacant in the 1974 book.

After that, the facility became part of the City of Lorain's Department of Utilities for many years. The building was eventually demolished, bringing to a close the history of one of Lorain's oldest and well-known companies.

The former home of Lorain Crystal Ice Company (the brick building) in 2003

You can see the empty lot where  the Lorain Crystal Ice building
was located where Oberlin Avenue meets First Street

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UPDATE (March 5, 2015)

Click here to read Part 5 of this history and see photos of the cement plant before and during demolition in the 1980s.