The Twine House in Huron

Vintage Postcard

Vintage Postcard showing the Twine House cocktail lounge

Another unique and popular Huron restaurant was the Twine House. Like the Showboat, it was also located on North Main Street in Huron.

It also had an interesting history, which was related in this article which ran in the Lorain Journal on March 28, 1964, a few months before the restaurant opened.

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Landmark To Be Restaurant
History of Twine Becomes Entwined
By JUNE COMSTOCK

HURON – A century-old river bank landmark on N. Main St. will soon start a new career as a two-level family restaurant, keyed to both vacationing and resident diners.

Seven local men have combined their efforts to develop “The Twine House,” the name derived from its most recent function as a warehouse for twine.

The building started as a maintenance facility for engines of the old Oxford-Tiffin Railroad, later was turned by the Wicham family into a small factory for making fish boxes, and still later was a planning mill for the V. A. Fries Lumber Yard.

It has been a twine house since 1913.

Dining rooms in the new restaurant will seat 220 people. There will be be a separate cocktail lounge and rooms for private parties. Ample parking space is planned, and 130 feet of dock space will be available for private boats.

A large wood burning fireplace will be at one end of the main dining room. The entire lower elevation of the building will be glass enclosed, with a view of the Huron river from any place in the split level dining area.

Goal for an opening date is the end of May or the middle of June.

The seven co-sponsors are John J. Hills, Franklin Wilkes, Donald Reese, Richard E. Hulme, Carl W. Klepper, George Krumlauf, and Amico (Cootch) Carmel.

The announced restaurant policy is moderately priced family and “special occasion” dining, with year-around service for breakfast, lunch, dinner and evening snacks.

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Ads for the Twine House ran in both the Lorain Journal and the Lorain Telephone Company directory.

Lorain Journal ad from October 10, 1964

1972-73 Lorain Telephone Book ad 

Sadly, the Twine House is no more.

According to the City of Huron website, a fire destroyed the Twine House on December 28, 2000. As the website noted, “About 75 firefighters, freezing temperatures and all night operations left a pile of charred rubble in between a bar and a hotel.”

The Clarion Inn next door was spared, according to this account of the fire on the Toledo Blade website.

Nevertheless, memories of the Twine House, as well as the Showboat, live on in the minds of their customers, their ex-employees and the families who ran them.

Modern restaurant entrepreneurs could learn a lot from the ambitious and imaginative people who thought of and created these Huron landmarks.