Torn Between Two Townships – October 1949

Here’s another tale of a house from October 1949. But unlike the subject of my posts earlier this week, this Lorain house had no treasure hidden in its walls.

Instead, the focus of the offbeat story above is where those walls were located.

As explained in the above article, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on October 29, 1949, the house at 1801 E. Erie Avenue  straddled two different townships: Sheffield Township and Black River Township.

This made it difficult for Mrs. Luella H. Hoffer, the resident, because she had a decision to make: in which township should she vote? Apparently the answer depended upon which side of the house she slept in.

This map from the Lorain County Auditor’s website shows how the boundary line crossed the property.

And here’s a September 2013 Google view of the lakefront house, which faces Maine Avenue.

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As a side note, I came very close in the late 1990s to seeing a lot of this house every day. The spouse and I had put in a bid on the house directly across from it on E. Erie.

It’s just as well that the owner rejected our bid, though. The source of heat in the house we wanted was an ominous boiler in the basement that was more than 80 years old; I probably would never have been able to sleep knowing that ticking time bomb was below.