The Last Word on Green Lantern Camp

Well, I think I finally have an answer as to the location of Green Lantern Camp, thanks to the folks at HistoricAerials.com.

My obsession with the location of Green Lantern Camp has been going on since Paula Shorf sent me the vintage postcard above back in April of last year (here). Originally, the only address I had was Stop 110 1/2.

1939 City Directory Listing

Later, a 1936 city directory listing that I found identified its location as Meister & W. Lake Road.

1936 City Directory Listing

I did an update on my hunt as recently as November (here).

Now, after looking at a 1952 aerial photo of the intersection of Meister Road and Lake Road, I'm convinced that I've found Green Lantern Camp at last. All of the buildings on the vintage postcard have corresponding structures in the 1952 photograph (below).

The small cabins in the aerial are all in a row like on the postcard. The large building near the highway in the aerial corresponds with the large angled building on the right side of the postcard. Other buildings seen on the postcard seem to be represented in the aerial. And I'm guessing that the poles behind the cabins on the postcard were located on what is now called Brenner Drive (which makes sense since W. F. Brenner was the last person listed as the owner of Green Lantern Camp).

When Lake Road (now West Erie) was widened in 1956, much of the Green Lantern Camp property was lost to the new sweeping S-curve leading eastbound traffic to the undercut. The cabins may have survived for a time (only to be torn down later), but the large building near the highway was certainly a casualty. I believe that building was the Bohemian Tavern, and that originally it was the Green Lantern Restaurant.

Here is the area today, courtesy of Bing Maps. Some of the houses further back on Meister in the 1952 aerial can still be seen today on Fulmer (the former Meister Road).

And today's Brenner Drive is a nice homage to the family that owned much of the land in the area, as well as W. F. Brenner, operator of Green Lantern Camp.

Anyway, I'm satisfied that I have it right. So, as the sun slowly goes down in my "now" photo of the area today (below), it also sets on this particular quest.

Looking south from West Erie towards the same area as seen in the vintage postcard;
That's Frontage Street running parallel to West Erie; Fulmer Road comes out where the red fire hydrant is,