Tuesday, October 9, 2018

United Polish Club Burns its Mortgage – October 1963

The United Polish Club’s former building was in the news a few weeks ago.

It’s yet another iconic building in Lorain that very likely will have a appointment with the wrecking crew. A Morning Journal article by Richard Payerchin noted, “the building is in forfeiture to the state of Ohio for owing back taxes of at least $74,765, according to the demo board.”

But the future of the building looked a lot rosier back on October 7, 1963. That’s when an article by Jim Mahoney ran in the Journal explaining that the 1949 mortgage of $165,000 was finally paid off.

The photo that ran with the article is shown at right.

The article noted, "A spark that glowed in 1949 burst into flame Sunday night.

"The $165,000 mortgage of United Polish Club vanished in 90 seconds – PAID after 14 years.

"The ritual of the match and paper highlighted the 50th jubilee banquet with a capacity throng of 400 witnessing.

"After a week-long celebration, the half-century milestone was passed with a three-hour program of jubilation, speech-making and commendations.”

Mayor Woodrow Mathna gave a speech, noting “It has been a great honor for me to follow John C. Jaworski in the mayor’s chair. He served 10 years with dignity and was held in high esteem. The Polish people of this community have an outstanding history for being progressive and active participants in community affairs.”

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I covered the United Polish Club's 50th jubilee celebration in a two part series, here and here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's a shame that the once proud building is in such a sad condition.That part of town is bad.Drugs.Prostitution.Gangs.You can see gang spray paint all over the buildings and abandoned houses.I can see why the club is no more.This is how it is in Lorain.

Lisa said...

A book written by Lorain native and retired attorney, David Miraldi, "The Edge of Innocence: The Trial of Casper Bennett" sheds nostalgic light on Lorain at its peak, with a vibrant immigrant population, when people regularly shopped downtown, and industries were booming. I like to think Dan touches on this lost, long-ago (but yet not that long ago) era with his daily blog. Lorain has much to be proud of. I was recently at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Sweden where I saw a hanging "wall" dedicated to Toni Morrison, the 1993 Nobel Prize winner in Literature. Toni Morrison, a Lorain native. I felt proud to be part of her "territory."