A Farm Mystery Solved – Part 3

In addition to his field work examining the transmission towers in Lorain, Dennis Thompson also “drove” the route on the internet via Bing Maps. While doing this, he compared their locations to some 1952 aerial views available on the Historic Aerials website

"Tower Blvd itself was not built until the 1960s and that has always stymied me. But what if the towers were there, before the road?” wondered Dennis. 

"I carefully followed the present day Bing aerial view and located each tower in turn. And I managed to find every one on the 1952 Historical Aerials, way before Tower Blvd was built. It just followed the path of the 1924 towers. They are hard to spot, but I located every single tower from South Amherst to Broadway.”

By comparing the photo from the Lorain Historical Society, the 1952 aerials from HistoricAerials.com and the Bing Map views, Dennis solved the mystery.

"There is only one spot where that photo can fit,” Dennis noted. "In fact, it is the spot I have always favored: the corner of Leavitt Road and Tower Blvd, filmed looking more or less north.”

Here is the 1952 aerial showing the farm, located at the bend in Leavitt Road, as well as the two towers. As Dennis mentioned, Tower Boulevard had not been built yet. The ‘X’ marks the spot where the photographer was standing when he photographed the farm in 1932. (But more on that tomorrow.)

So what farm was it?

"The farm is Anna Martin's, which the Martins owned from the early 1900s,” stated Dennis. “Compare the buildings to what is shown on the BRHS photo. Every building matches. You can make out the little outbuildings, even the back porch on the house.

"There is no question the photo incorrectly labeled as the Neuman farm is really Anna Martin's farm.”

Here’s a 1930 Black River Township map with the Martin farm highlighted.

In the interest of being thorough in his research, Dennis also contacted the Ohio Department of Transportation. 

"I finally got a friendly contact, who searched their archives and sent me the file of the blueprints from when ODOT widened Leavitt Rd.,” said Dennis. "The prints are very complex with dozens of elevation and layout lines, call-outs, altitude markings, etc that clutter it up. It took me all day to cull it down to the necessary lines.”

Here’s Dennis’ cleaned-up ODOT drawing in which you can how the 1964-65 widening of Leavitt Road completely wiped out the Anna Martin farm. The two transmission towers are also indicated.

Next: Then & Nows