I first heard about the hotel in an email from longtime blog contributor Rick Kurish. He wrote, "I ran across an interesting picture postcard today on Ebay that I had never seen before. It is a postcard of the Buckeye Hotel in South Amherst circa 1910.”
That’s the vintage postcard at right.
"The little that I currently know is that the Buckeye Hotel was owned and operated by the South Amherst Sandstone Quarries,” continued Rick. "I’m not sure of the years of operation, but I have run across references to the building from about 1900 until the 1920s. I believe that the hotel served travelers, visitors to the quarries, as well as quarry employees.”
Rick did some research on the hotel and was able to find out a lot about it.
"The first thing that I wanted
to do was identify its location,” he noted, "which I have been able to do with certainty.
“I believe that the hotel dates to circa 1900, which
is about the time that a Chicago banker named John R. Walsh purchased some
sandstone operations in South Amherst and incorporated the Ohio Quarries
Company. At that time (1903) he greatly expanded both the quarries and the
stone cutting operation.
"One of the quarries that was part of the Ohio Quarries
Company was the “Buckeye” quarry reputed to be the deepest quarry in the world
at the time. This quarry was probably the genesis for the names Buckeye Street
and Buckeye Hotel, which were associated with the Ohio Quarries.
"An early mention
of the Buckeye Hotel appears in the Elyria Chronicle of November 15, 1907. The article would indicate that the hotel served more as a boarding
house for quarry employees, and closed during the winter when the quarries were
inactive.”
So where was the hotel located?
Rick observed, "That the Buckeye Hotel was located on the southwest corner
of Buckeye street and South Amherst Road, also known as Lake Street, can be
confirmed to my satisfaction by several sources.
"First, the postcard shows the
Hotel facing South Amherst Road with a large home behind it. That home still
exists on Buckeye Street. In fact the south side of buckeye street is lined
with about ten homes of identical construction, which indicates to me that they
were built by the quarry company.”
Here’s a vintage photograph (courtesy of Drew Penfield) showing that row of similar homes on Buckeye Street that Rick is talking about.
Here’s a vintage photograph (courtesy of Drew Penfield) showing that row of similar homes on Buckeye Street that Rick is talking about.
Rick confirmed his hunch by checking census records. As he noted,"The 1920 census enumeration lists the
occupants of the homes on Buckeye Street and the next enumeration, listed as
being on South Amherst Road, is the Buckeye Hotel.
"A Howard Hunt was listed as
the proprietor of a boarding house and lived there with his family and thirteen men
identified as boarders who worked at the quarry. An article from the Amherst
newspaper of April 17, 1919 indicates that Mr. Hunt had been
given a lease to run the hotel/boarding house, and that the hotel was
undergoing extensive renovations and would reopen shortly. That would seem to
indicate that the hotel had been closed for a period of time.
"Another snippet
from the Amherst newspaper of April 6, 1922, under "South Amherst News," indicates that the Ohio Quarries had donated property just south of
the Buckeye Hotel as athletic grounds for South Amherst High School. This was
the property that South Amherst High School used for football and track before
they were consolidated with the Firelands School System. This athletic field is
still there, just south of Buckeye Street.”
Tomorrow: the rest of the story
7 comments:
Can't wait to hear the "rest of the story!" My dad lived there in the 1950's while working for the Quarry's before he started his 30 year career at Lorain Ford plant.
The house on corner is original hotel building minus second floor(and of course some remodeling)
Hi Eric!
Wow, thanks for posting that! Tuesday's post deals with the 1961 fire that destroyed the roof and second floor, but I had no idea that what was left was converted into a house. I guess that explains why in the historic aerials, the same U-shaped bldg is there both before and after the fire years! Thanks!
Dan,
I've been in that house a few times. It was owned by Jerry and Phyllis Hughett. Phyllis passed away last year but Jerry still owns it. They had always told me stories about it being the old Buckeye Hotel. It is broken up to a three unit home. If you have further question about the house, One of their sons, Paul owns P J Sanitation. As he grew up in that house I'm sure he knows the stories and could shed more light on this topic.
Eric Long
My grandpa bought the hotel and went to kentucky and brought back workers to work in the quarries and live in the hotel which burned down and built a duplex which is still there today dates I'll have to ask my mom
My 89 year old father stayed at the Buckeye Hotel on South Amherst Street (he says on the corner of Quarry Road- "the sandstone center of the world" to quote him), when he was working in the quarry in 1946. He has been telling me all kinds of stories of his time there. He was 15 going on 16 at the time and from Kentucky.
One of the stories he tells me is of a cook at the hotel who at Thanksgiving wasn't able to find some turkeys to make for them. My dad went with the man and they couldn't find a turkey so he bought a goat to cook. My dad said the goat was pretty tasty even though he had never ate goat before. He said they had a big long table they all ate together at.
He says there was a man named Roy Russell who worked there or ran the place and his sister and niece also worked there and brother, Bill. My dad says they were getting up a bunch of guys from where he lived in Artemus, Kentucky to come and work in the quarries. He says some guys named Gene and Marvin Gray also went from his area.
My dad had a friend there named Doc Gray who would have been maybe a year or two older than himself (so born about 1928-29)
My dad says also that he went to one of the 1948 World Series games in Cleveland (Cleveland Indians VS Boston Braves) with Roddy Hewland (spelling?). He says he was in Cleveland in 1946-48. My email is nellienotnelly@gmail.com if anyone is interested in more of my dad's exploits in Cleveland. He remembers EVERYTHING!
Yes Roy was my grandfather. My aunt and uncle still own the house, sadly my aunt passed away but my uncle still lives there. I love hearing about the different stories about the hotel as I am the daughter of Roy's youngest daughter and never met my grandfather.
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