The End of Black River Township – Part 4

The former Black River Township Fire Station today

This article (below) from the August 17, 1963 Chronicle-Telegram tells a story similar to yesterday’s blog of the absurd situation that the Black River Fire Station found itself in, thanks to annexation. A nice history of the fire department is also included in the article.

It’s rather timely, since Lorain is in the process of constructing a new No. 7 fire station at the corner of Kolbe Road and West Erie, replacing the one just off W. 21st Street on West Park Drive (which replaced the one originally known as the Black River Township fire station).

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Black River Twp. Fire Department:

one piece of equipment per home

All dressed up and no place to go – that’s the position in which the Black River Township Fire Department will find itself when the annexation to Lorain of the few remaining acres of unincorporated property takes place.

In 1952 the growing township bought a second pumper. In 1956, a year after a third pumper was added, the township had 1,298 eligible voters. Then annexation began to eat the township away, piece by piece, the city of Lorain getting the largest share.

When the inevitable happens and the last unincorporated parcels are annexed, an ago-old township name going back to maps of the original Western Reserve Territory and early Ohio subdivisions will disappear. The township fire department will go with it.

The Black River fire department has four pieces of equipment – three pumpers, 22, 9 and 6 years old respectively, and an emergency vehicle purchased two years ago. Annexation has deleted the township to the point where the department serves only four private properties.

Still unincorporated are the properties of Frank Linn, Rt. 254 and Oberlin Ave. and three parcels on Rt. 58 near Rt. 254 owned by Dr. J. M. DeNardi, Michael Sikora, and Charles Plato. The total area is less than three acres.

City limits

The fire station is located at Meister and Leavitt Rds., two miles within Lorain city limits from the nearest piece of unincorporated property. Said Black River Fire Chief Walter Wilker, “We’re probably the only department in the country which has one piece of equipment for every home.”

The unique position of the department extends to one other land parcel west of Broadway. The dividing line between that parcel and Sheffield Township cuts right through the middle of Clearview High School Auditorium.

This means that legally, Black River firemen would be acting outside of their jurisdiction if they attempted to douse a fire in the side of the building falling within the Sheffield Township boundary. The same would hold true if Sheffield Township firemen entered the area within Black River jurisdiction.

Also remaining within Black River fire department jurisdiction is a section of Rt. 254 between Broadway and Kolbe Rd. Amherst city annexed to the middle of the road, leaving for Black River the north half.

Black River firemen, then, can put out any fire occurring on the north side of the 40-foot stretch of road, for example a car or truck fire, but they step beyond their jurisdiction if they tackle a blaze in a trash can by the roadside.

The gradual annexation of all but a minute portion of the township has left the station and its 22 men high and dry. Every one of the firemen lives within the city limits of Lorain. Chief Wilker explained, “If my own house caught on fire I would have to call in the Lorain department to put it out.”

Thus firemen would violate lines of jurisdiction if they attempted to battle a fire in a building across the street from the station.

Most ironic

Most ironic is the fact that if the Black River station itself caught fire, the men could legally take no action but to watch as the Lorain department put it out.

A conversation with Chief Wilker revealed that since the township has disappeared through annexation, the fire fighters have not been in action since the Thom McAn Shoe Store blaze in the O’Neil-Sheffield Shopping Center March 31, 1962.

What will happen to the Black River Fire Department if present action toward annexation of the remaining parcels is successful?

Lorain Solicitor Adrian Betleski said Monday the annexation would eliminate any reason for its continued existence. Therefore the Black River Fire Department as such would be dissolved.

This by no means suggests that the facilities would go unused. Officials speculate that the station and equipment would go to the city of Lorain. State law, Betleski said, provides that possessions of a previously unincorporated area becomes the property of the incorporator.

Lorain Fire Chief Alfred Nickley has made it clear in the past that he wants the Black River facilities absorbed into the city’s system. They rest in the heart of the rapidly expanding Eighth Ward.

The nearest Lorain fire station is located at 18th St. and Hamilton, and it is now responsible for the Eight Ward area.

Besides providing a new station with good equipment in an advantageous location, the Black River station could be used to store some of the apparatus now kept in the old No. 5 station on 32nd St., admitted by city officials to be an eyesore of long standing.

Also looking for a share in the township facilities is the city of Amherst. As early as June, 1962, Amherst City Solicitor Richard J. Martinek informed Lorain County Commissioners that since Amherst annexed a portion of Black River Township, it felt entitled to a share of the fire equipment when the township was dissolved.

Asked how he felt about the imminent end of the department, Chief Wilker said, “How would you feel if someone walked into your home and told you you had to get out?”

Wilker said he started the volunteer department 23 years ago. He said before annexation began seven or eight calls a day used to be a matter of course.

“Despite our recent inactivity,” he said, “The men have continued to drill and train. Two of our men will attend the Ohio State University fire training school in September.

“Our men have worked hard and learned well,” he continued. “It’s a shame that the area will lose so many men trained when the department no longer exists.

“The problem,” he said, “probably could have been solved years before it was created if a mutual aid pact had been made between Lorain and the township. In past years, when we were favorable to such a move, we found no interest in Lorain.”

The Black River department presently has mutual aid agreements with Amherst, Sheffield Township and Vermilion. It was because of the Sheffield Township pact that Black River firemen fought the Thom McAn blaze.

Before the fire department goes, however, those last parcels of unincorporated land must be annexed. An interesting facet of this is the petition submitted by Lorain Solicitor Betleski to the Lorain County Board of Elections requesting the annexation question be placed on the November ballot for township residents.

The board of elections reported that the unincorporated township areas house a grand total of eight eligible voters. Sentiment previously expressed by these residents is so aligned that a tie is a distinct possibility.

If the issue were put to a vote and defeated for lack of a simple majority, it could not, according to law, be placed on a ballot again for five years except by petition from the freeholders themselves.

Betleski said, however, that county commissioner would have the authority to annex the areas to Lorain. The Linn parcel might be annexed to the closest contiguous township, Amherst Township.

He pointed to state law which says that no township shall be laid off containing less than 22 square miles or have its boundaries so changed as to reduce the territory below that quantity, unless it includes a municipal corporation.

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The Black River Township Fire Department was very proud to be the owner of a 1913 Republic fire engine that the firemen had lovingly restored. Read all about the vintage hose truck and how the department acquired it in this article that appeared in the Chronicle-Telegram on June 21, 1957.

By the way, Elmer Holzhauer, the gentleman in the photo and assistant Black River Township Fire Chief, lived in the small white house that was located immediately west of the fire station.

Photos courtesy of Lorain Historical Society

Next: Wiped Off the Map