Tuesday, February 6, 2018

The House at Kolbe & Jaeger

The house at 4713 Kolbe Road as seen from Jaeger Road
There’s a lot of change going on around Lorain these days. Blink, and you might miss something. Suddenly, that building or house that you drove by for decades is gone – without fanfare. 

For instance, last October that I received an email from longtime blog contributor Jeremy Reynolds. His job takes him all around Lorain County, providing him with a unique perspective on whats going on.

Jeremy wrote, "Just wanted to mention that the old farmhouse that had been on the Northeast corner of Kolbe and Jaeger Rds has been demolished to make way for a new housing development (Cornerstone Farms) to be built along Kolbe Rd from Jaeger Rd north to just north and opposite from Spalding Ct. 

"The row of trees that had divided the two fields are gone as well. Just thought I’d let you know in case you wanted to do a follow-up blog about that area.”

I knew the old house that Jeremy was talking about, and passed it every time I went to Target via Jaeger Road. It was sort of a landmark. The Auditor’s website said it was built in 1920.

Here are a few aerial views of it courtesy of Google Maps.


I had even made a feeble attempt to research the unique house a few years ago; now, it was gone. 

Here are a few “Before and After” shots. The ‘Before’ views are from Google Maps 2013. This (below) is the view from Jaeger looking west towards Kolbe.


And here’s my matching photo from last fall. Note the revamped intersection.


Here’s the 2013 Google view from Kolbe (below) looking south.
And here’s my matching late fall 2017 shot.
It’s very likely that few people will remember the old farm house at all. The cluster of surrounding trees made it very difficult to notice when driving on Kolbe (below).
Time marches on. Thanks for the heads-up, Jeremy!

3 comments:

  1. As a kid growing up on Kolbe Road we always referred to the home as the Hageman farm. It's interesting that the home is listed as being built in 1920, I always thought that it was much older. I believe the original owner of the property was Johann Hageman (1799 -1877). He was from Germany and I believe settled in the area in the 1840s. He is buried in the Cleveland Street Cemetery in Amherst. The next time you are at the library you might want to check an old county atlas. I'll bet there was a house on that site well before 1920.

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  2. Thanks for the comment, Rick. I have the 1874 map posted online as part of the series on “The House Overlooking the Golf Course” and it does indeed show a house there in that spot on the Hageman property as you mentioned.

    http://danielebrady.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-house-overlooking-golf-course-part-3.html

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  3. I'm glad you wrote about that. I was coming home from Walmart right in the middle of them knocking it down and was gawking at the sight while trying to drive safely.

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