Today’s post shows that big change was taking place on the other side of the river as well, out in Vermilion-on-the-Lake (which was not yet officially part of Vermilion). Below is an article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 11, 1957, noting the opening of a brand new school: Lake Elementary School, located at 320 Aldrich Road.
It must have been pretty big news to be able to consolidate the kids at one building, since as the article noted, the opening of the new grade school “marked the end of classes in the town hall,” which was located on the other side of the river (near the church mentioned in yesterday’s post).
I don’t know exactly when the school closed, but since the early 1990s the former school had been the home of the Vermilion Family YMCA. However, the organization moved to a new location at 1230 Beechview Drive this year, leaving the building on Aldrich apparently empty.
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| The view two Sundays ago |
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Call me old-fashioned, but I really think that the designers of these types of grade schools built in the 1950s had some good ideas. Windows allowed law enforcement the opportunity to quickly and easily see what was going on in each room if necessary. Having all the kids on one floor made for a quick exit; sometimes many of these classrooms even had their own door. And heating and cooling one floor would probably be cheaper than doing the same for several floors.
The biggest drawback seems to have been the leaky flat roof.
Most of today’s schools seem to be over-designed (ugly), multi-floored monstrosities that would seem to be more difficult to police, and would require more time to get the students out in case of an emergency. These new buildings don’t even look like schools, and would seem to have built with eventual repurposing in mind.
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