At that time, Vermilion was three years into the planning process of revitalizing its central business district with the historic (and tourist-friendly) theme of “Harbour Town – 1837.” In the article below, the newspaper tried to draw some comparisons between the successful restoration project that took place in Virginia, and what Lorain’s next-door neighbor to the west was hoping to accomplish.
The article – which continues on the Urban Renewal theme from last week – appeared in the Journal on August 2, 1970.
I wrote about the "Harbour Town - 1837" concept back here and here.
****
Can Vermilion Follow in Williamsburg’s Footsteps?By TOM ONEY
and SHEILA McCARTY
Staff Writers
Tomorrow night, they will ask city council to enter into a second contract with the Lorain County Regional Planning Commission to come up with recommendations for solving them.
“We will present the request to council, with complete financing arrangements and ask them to proceed without city funds,” said Art Crow Jr., chairman of the city’s Chamber of Commerce Business and Industry Development Committee.
The second phase of the fact-finding report will cost $3,900, bringing the total to over $7,000 spent by the “Friends” for the surveys.
“WE HAVE several things in mind to raise funds,” Crow said. “Entirely without city help. We are not asking for tax monies,” he said. “We will present the request for the contract with the initial down-payment and a letter guaranteeing the balance.”
Crow said that he had been approached by a number of “reliable businesses” interested in investing in the project.
“I am hopeful that new capital can be raised through these investors,” he said.
Vermilion has a heritage that is sleeping in many existing documents and buildings – a history of a ship building, sailing and of a booming fishing community of the 1800s.
Captain William Austin helped make Vermilion one of the outstanding yachting centers on the Great Lakes. He built one of the first boats on Lake Erie during the War of 1812 which was called “The Friendship.”
THE IMPORTANT ship building industries were located just north of the Huron Street dock frontage near the water works and near the present Liberty Avenue Bridge. Evidence of these ship building activities has been found along the West Bank of the river in the form of wood chips, pegs and irons.
In October 1780, Betty Harrison Randolph, the widow of the first president of the Continental Congress, made her will, providing for the disposal of the heirloom of two distinguished American families.
Today, a Williamsburg visitor finds the Randolph House remarkably well preserved, a white frame dwelling of ample proportions, its paneled interiors the finest surviving examples in town.
Guests enter the doorway where Peyton Randolph was once cheered by local militiamen as he prepared to leave for Philadelphia to preside over the first Congress; where French officers came to headquarters in the closing days of the Revolution; and where an aging Lafayette once addressed the people of Williamsburg on his farewell tour of America.
EIGHTY-FIVE other restored and reconstructed buildings are preserved in the Colonial Williamsburg area – following painstakingly difficult historical research.
Vermilion’s Harbour Town, its idea originating in 1967, is on the move. The hopes and dreams for the “Revitalizations” of the central city are moving slowly through the channels of city government, businessmen and private citizens.
The first problem survey, pointing to the problems of parking, traffic flow, decline of the downtown business area and land usage, was released this month following an almost two year study.
“What we need is parking,” said Paul Ludlow, owner of Ludlow Studio on Main Street. “That’s it in a nutshell.”
He, like fellow businessman John Muth, who operates The Ship’s Galley on Liberty Avenue, believes the program needs enthusiasm.
“I THINK it is a good idea, but you have to find the enthusiasm,” said Ludlow. “I was for this kind of thing 20 years ago, but basically there’s not many merchants left. What we really need is a new bridge – a covered bridge – with two more lanes,” he said.
“I’m all for Harbour Town,” said Muth as he was busily preparing steaks at his small restaurant. “I think all businessmen should contribute, however.”
The Harbour Town concept was characterized by Theodore Wakefield, who spearheaded the ‘revitalization’ beginnings in 1967. He now sees the ball he once carried being carried by more and more people.
“Its idea, in essence, is urban renewal via private enterprise in appreciation of its history,” he said. “It’s building an aura around a product or place that causes you to want to be there.”
The building where he has his office on Main Street was once a bankrupt laundromat. When an architect began tearing down the plaster and pine boards, large wood beams were exposed – bringing to life a sail loft of the early 19th Century.
“THIS BUILDING and office has been revitalized,” said Wakefield. “We have incorporated the beams with modern furnishings and have given the room aesthetic harmony.” The Sail Loft now houses professional offices and a modern French restaurant.
Wakefield estimates more than $450,000 has been spent in the Harbor Town area to date. This money includes construction of a wing at the Great Lakes Historical Society Museum, the revitalized Sail Loft and several other buildings on the corner of Main Street and Liberty Avenue and money spent by downtown merchants.
Also hired by private funds was Thomas A. Smith, a Bowling Green State University graduate student who is doing his master’s thesis on the history and heritage of Vermilion.
He will research the historical foundations of Vermilion through documents and then, according to Wakefield, historical markers will designate buildings of the area.
The small Virginia town, Middle Plantation, was renamed in 1699 and Williamsburg is now a “restored" city of 170 acres, 85 buildings, 100 families, 17 craft shops and 3,000 employees.
IT TOO developed slowly, but carefully. To date, over $83 million has been spent in the area and a million people visit annually. Were it not for such men as the late John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and a pastor with a sense of preservation, Williamsburg would have been killed by the asphalt jungle of our modern society.
Vermilion has no Rockefeller, but many people are uniting behind the Harbour Town idea hoping that others will have the foresight to see the city’s potential and save its business life.
****
And here’s a follow-up article from November 1, 1970.
****
As I have only lived in Vermilion for a few years, I am fairly ignorant of much of the city’s history and what has happened here in the last fifty years or so. But I have to say that I am impressed with the success of the Harbour Town project. There doesn’t seem to be a day that I drive through the Downtown area that I don’t see tourists poking their heads into the small stores and shops, or going into (or coming out of) the eateries.
No comments:
Post a Comment