Those Fishing Shacks on Lake Road

Last summer, I had the opportunity to interview Alice Carter, the owner of Skate World. It was a chance to not only learn about the history of Skate World, but also the trailer park just west of the roller rink. That's because at one time, Alice owned it and all of the surrounding land as well. Thus during our conversation she was able to shed some light on what the property was like back in the 1970s.

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

Of particular interest to me were the two cottages (above) at the western edge of the grounds. Although after our conversation I no longer believe they were part of the Green Lantern Camp (which I wrote about here and here), they still have an interesting history.

Alice says that when she first owned the trailer park, she was told that the two small cottages were fishing shacks. She said that they looked very much then as they do now. However, they had no electricity or water; Alice had to run power and water lines to them.

Since then, the property has been separated, and one cottage is by itself. Alice still owns one of them.

She also said that the small brown shack (seen in the photo below) was something she put up, so it is not a leftover from an old camp.

The two cottages certainly fit in with the thought behind HGTV's Tiny House, Big Living show. They're really cute and 'on the lake' to boot.

Alice also told me about the white building that sits in the middle of the trailer park. You can see it in this vintage 1950s aerial (below). (The two cottages are a little obscured; you can see part of one of them.)

Courtesy Lorain Historical Society

Alice says that the white building was a house when she first owned the property. It had two apartments in it. She converted it into a utility laundry and kept the upstairs apartment.

Here is the building today (below).

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

Lastly, Alice was also able to tell me about the dark colored house that used to be located near the front of the property. It was visible in the vintage photo (below). 

She revealed that it was still standing in 1976. But it was not worth saving so she had it torn down. Today, some landscaping consisting of evergreens and shrubs marks the spot where the old house was located. You can see it in the Bing Maps aerial view below.

My thanks to Alice Carter for filling me in on the history of the property adjacent to Skate World. It’s nice to get the information from someone who was there when the area was going through massive changes.