Home Tour – September 1968

Back in the beginning of September 1968, the American Association of University Women, Lorain Branch, were promoting their 10th Annual Tour of Homes. The Tour of Homes was a fundraiser for an international fellowship program that helped finance the higher education of women all over the world.

There were seven homes on the tour and a few of them are featured in the full page article above, which ran in the Lorain Journal on September 1, 1968.

Of particular interest is the Watts Granary, located on State Route 113 about one mile east of State Route 58. As the article notes, the 125-year-old granary had been converted into a cozy little home.

The other two homes were located in Avon Lake.

Of course, the reason I posted this article was because I was curious: were all of the homes still standing today?

Well, during the last fifty years since the article was published, a series of additions have been built on to the granary.

The Lorain County Auditor’s website shows the gradual transition, with Google Maps providing the most recent views. That’s the granary at the far left of the building.

As for the two homes in Avon Lake, only the one on Lake Road is still around (below).

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

The house at 85 Coveland Drive was replaced by a modern, attractive home built in 2001 (below).

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

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UPDATE (September 25, 2018)

Longtime contributor Dennis Thompson sent me the photo below of the Watts Granary as it appeared in 1981. It’s fascinating how the Granary evolved from a cozy main residence into the structural anachronism that it has become today.

At least the current owners have recognized the Granary as an important link to the past, and to the land, as well.

In the photo, you can also see a windmill and barn near the highway. The barn was once an art gallery known as the Windmill Art Barn. You can learn more about it in the article by Judy Johnson below, which appeared in the Chronicle on November 6, 1977. The article includes an interview with Katheryn and Ervin Snyder, the owners of the property at that time, in which they also talk about their renovation of the Granary.