Avon Train Station Moved – Jan. 21, 1971

It’s always wonderful when a historic building can be saved from demolition. After all, when it’s gone, it's gone forever – with only some photos or a dot on a vintage map to prove it ever existed.

While, ideally, it’s nice when the threatened structure can stay put right where it is, sometimes this is impossible due to the area being redeveloped. Or perhaps the building wasn’t in great shape to begin with and needs to be restored.

That’s why over the years the solution by many preservation societies is often to move the building to a brand new location that is shared by other ‘saved’ structures to create a new historic village. 

One of the most famous of these collections of old buildings is Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. Here in Ohio, we have Historic Lyme Village in Bellevue, and Sandstone Village in Amherst.

Out in Avon, The Shoppes of Olde Avon Village is a unique place that illustrates another creative solution: using the restored buildings to house eclectic stores and businesses. One of the historic structures – the old train station – is the subject of today’s post.

This article from the January 21, 1971 Lorain Journal tells the story of how Avon’s 1882 railway station was saved, and moved from its original trackside location to the city recreation area.

Here’s a photo of the station from the Avon, Ohio Images of America book by Michelle Budzinski-Braunscheidel (click here to buy a copy on the Arcadia Publishing website).

And here a few recent views of the restored station in its current location (since the late 1990s) at The Shoppes of Olde Avon Village. It’s now the home of Avon Nutrition, a smoothie and juice bar that offers a variety of nutritional products. (Click here to visit its Facebook page.)

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UPDATE (Jan. 26, 2021)

Our old F.O.B. (Friend of Blog) Doug sent me these two photos of the Avon train station when it was still in its original trackside location where the Nickel Plate Railroad crossed Center Road (today’s Route 83). Note that it’s ‘branded’ Avon Lake.

Doug noted that his wife grew up in Avon Lake, and that her father enjoying making home movies. The nice color photo is a screen shot from one of them. The black and white photo is courtesy of eBay.

And here’s another vintage photo of the station, from the book The Avon Lake Story by Milburn Walker.