Sheffield Lake Cleans Up – 1969

Here’s an interesting article about Sheffield Lake from late January 1969. (I was unable to squeeze it in on the blog last month and this month is almost over too – so here it is.)

The article above – which appeared in the Lorain Journal on January 19, 1969 –  provides a nice snapshot of Sheffield Lake at that time, and its problem of trying to clean up the automobile junkyards scattered around the city.

As the article noted, “A former resort area, Sheffield Lake’s problem is inherited from the years when many of the homes built were actually no more than cottages designed to house families during the summer vacation months.

“In the 1950s, hundreds of new middle-income homes were built. A small “Gold Coast” started to develop along the sought-after lakefront area, but many of the cottages remain.

“Scores of these have been remodeled into attractive permanent homes but there is no denying that some of them – jerry-built to begin with – provide substandard conditions for the families who live in them.

“The city has begun a campaign to vacate those which are considered unsafe and to level them if the owners are unable to restore them to a livable condition.”

Incredibly, the article notes that Sheffield Lake still had several outdoor privies (otherwise known as outhouses) standing in the city.

As you can see, I’ve also posted the article which profiles Ed DeChant, who served in the state legislature in Columbus for 18 years. He was also an Avon Lake councilman and a Lorain County Commissioner.