Monday, October 15, 2018

Ortner’s Airport Article – October 10, 1968

1956 Lorain Telephone Directory Ad
1947 Lorain Telephone Directory Listings
Many Lorainites are familiar with the various airports that were located on Leavitt Road near the intersection with Meister Road. Originally there was Port Mills (which opened in 1929); later there was the Lorain Skyport (on the east side of Leavitt) and Long’s City Airport (on the west side).

But there was another airport listed in the Lorain phone book for years that many people (like me) may have heard of, but never knew much about it or where it was: Ortner’s.

That’s why I was happy to find the article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on October 10, 1968. It provides a nice look at the impressive operation owned by Andrew Ortner, as well as a brief history.

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With the tragic deaths of Andy and Dean Ortner in separate airplane accidents, the company was left with no one to run it. It was eventually sold in the late 1970s, and continued on as a small country airfield. But in 2011 the airport came full circle, and is once again owned by the Ortner family. Here is the link to the Ortner Airport website.

Click here to read Richard Payerchin’s 2013 article about the Ortner family reacquiring the airport.
1963 Lorain Telephone Directory Ad
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 15, 2018 at 12:38 PM

    Small correction, Ortner's Field is in Erie County. ....Bill N

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dan BradyOctober 15, 2018 at 12:44 PM

    Thanks, Bill! I forgot that while Vermilion is in both counties, Birmingham (south of it) isn't!
    I'll fix it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dennis ThompsonOctober 15, 2018 at 1:26 PM

    The city of Bellevue is in Erie, Huron and Sandusky counties. Guess there are a lot of police cars there! "Hey, I'm arresting him!" "No you don't, he was on my side of the street." "Back off both you guys, he was definitely through the intersection."

    I actually had this happen to me on the Gore Orphanage Rd bridge. We were fishing there and a patrol car stopped to watch for a while then asked to see our licenses. Us teenagers tended to ignore such things. Then he told us he couldn't ticket us anyway, his jurisdiction was on the other side of the bridge!

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownOctober 15, 2018 at 1:43 PM

    I forgot to add the 3 counties meet in the center of Northwest St (Rt 1) just north of Arlington Drive.

    ReplyDelete