"The Most Beautiful Home in Lorain” – 1923

If you’re a Lorainite, you probably recognized the home featured in this full-page ad for the Lorain Lumber & Manufacturing Company. The company supplied all of the lumber for the house, located at 3363 E. Erie Avenue.

The ad ran in the Lorain Times-Herald on November 24, 1923.

Recent Bing Maps view

Although the Lorain County Auditor lists the house as having been built in 1910, the ad gives the distinct impression that the house had just been built. The 1923 construction date is supported by the data in the city directories, where the 3363 E. Erie Avenue address does not appear until the 1924 edition.

The advertisement reveals that the original owners of what the ad described as both the “Most Beautiful Home in Lorain” and the “Most Perfect Home in Lorain” were Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Myers.

Sadly, John and Roxanne Myers did not get to enjoy their wonderful home for very long. By the time of the 1926 directory, Mrs. Myers was a widow. She continued to live there until the time of the 1931 edition of the directory, when the house was listed as vacant.

By 1937, however, the house at 3363 E. Erie had a new owner: Joseph Gerhart, merchandise manager of the Smith & Gerhart department store and his wife. Within a few years he was joined at the address by his father, Jacob Gerhart, Vice-President and Secretary of the company, and his wife.

The various caretakers over the years, including Geo. McFarland and D. M. Strickler – lived in the house located in the rear of the property.

The Gerharts lived there many years, right up into the 1950s. By the mid-1950s, however, the house was listed in the directory as “No Return.” It had a new owner by 1958.

It would be easy to make the argument that the stately home still lives up to its nicknames.

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UPDATE (November 30, 2017)

I received an interesting email from researcher and regular contributor Rick Kurish about this home's original occupants. 

Rick wrote,"Since I live on the east side, I pass the house at 3363 East Erie Ave. on a daily basis. I have often wondered who built such a magnificent home on the lake. While the article you posted answered that question, I was surprised that I had never heard of the family as being prominent in Lorain. I decided to do a little research on John W. Myers and see if I could find how he came to build such a home.

"It turned out that John W. (Wilber) Myers was from Ashland County Ohio, and according to a brief obituary that I found in the Chronicle-Telegram of November 17, 1925, he was listed as a “Capitalist” whose business interests were in Akron Ohio. He died at his home in Daytona Beach Florida. So it appeared he had shallow, or non-existent roots in Lorain, so what led him to build such a palatial home in Lorain? I thought that perhaps he was enamored by living on the lake, and the land on the east side of Lorain was just conveniently available. However, a little further research revealed that the strong roots in Lorain belonged to his wife Roxanna Myers. 

"It turned out that Roxanna was descended from the Gillmore family that was one of the first families of Lorain (Black River). Roxanna was the daughter of Cornelius Reid Gillmore (1841-1912), and the granddaughter of Quartus Gillmore. According to the excerpt of North American Family Histories 1500 -2000, she also had in her family tree the Root and Day families, which were also pioneer families of the area.

"Apparently after John W. Myers died in late 1925, Roxanna sold the Lorain home and spent most of the remainder of her life in her home in Daytona Beach Florida. City directories confirm her living in Daytona Beach into the 1940s. She died in Florida on January 10, 1944 and was buried next to her husband in Ashland Cemetery, Ashland County, Ohio."

Thanks as always to Rick for his great research.