Five Small Lorain County Communities – January 1967 – Part 2

Here’s part two of that great article that ran in the Journal on January 2, 1967, profiling five small Lorain County communities – Pittsfield, Rochester, Brighton, Huntington and Penfield.

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Where Sights, Sounds Still Savored
Life of 5 Area Communities Explored – Part 2
By VIRGINIA WILLARD
Staff Writer

Huntington

Huntington is spread out on either side of busy SR 58, a feeder highway to the Ohio Turnpike and Cleveland-Cincinnati Freeway (I-71).

THE VILLAGE sees much traffic including the heavy summer travel to and from adjoining Findley State Park.

While Huntington has several lifelines, including a school, two grocery stores, a tavern, a grange, a Veterans of Foreign Wars post, much of the social life is centered around the United Church.

Its adjoining Ward Hall is brightly lighted on almost any given evening of the week. It is used by church groups, boy scouts, cub scouts and by county groups as a meeting place for southern Lorain County organizations.

The school houses four grades with approximately 100 students. It is a part of the Black River School District. There is also a pre-school mothers club in cooperation with nearby Sullivan.

Grocery stores are operated by Mr. and Mrs. Calvin Nicely and Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Hall. The Grange has an active organization as have the boy scouts and several 4-H clubs.

THERE IS also a town hall where trustees meet twice a month to discuss and administer affairs.

Penfield

Penfield is a going community, ever busy with school, church and Grange affairs. “There’s always a lot of activity going on,” said one resident recently.

Penfield’s school includes first through sixth grades. It is a part of the Keystone School District. An active Parent-Teacher organization takes great interest in school affairs.

Near the school is the local grocery store and filling station, operated by Lloyd and Dorothy Gott. Farther west on SR 18 is another store, Bara’s Market, with Steve Bara as owner.

Penfield has a number of businesses: Billington Company and Penfield Welding on SR 18; Myers Trucking, George Gnandt Electrical Company, Frank Parks nursery, and three dog kennels operated by Mrs. Dewey Abram, Joe Schmidt and John and Bea Chismar. The latter also have a tropical fish business.

THERE IS an active Grange organization, and two 4-H clubs.

The township also boasts an archery range on Foster Road with the Izaak Walton League as owner.

The entire community is served by United Church around which much of the social activity.

There are a number of women’s organizations who meet at Society Hall. Boys clubs and township trustees meet at the Town Hall.

The town is blessed with a beautiful community park which beckons not only to local persons but weary travelers on SR 18.

The crossroads of SR 18 and SR 301 is a dangerous one with a 35 mile speed limit posted but rarely observed by motorists. Local and county groups have sought to have a traffic signal installed at the intersection. The state department of highways has said “no.”

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Well, we know Penfield lost one of its lifelines – the Penfield Grocery Store – a little more than seven months later. The Penfield Grocery Store closed near the end of August 1967, which I blogged about here. I also did a then-and-now photo study of the store here in 2012.

Since the 1967 Journal article, the United Church of Huntington has built a beautiful new church adjacent to Ward Hall and the original church.