Over the last couple of months, a monumental demolition has been taking place in Lorain, largely unnoticed: the knocking down of the old St. Joseph Hospital. As noted in a comment left on a previous post, the parking garage will remain.
The demolition kicked into high gear earlier this month when only one portion of the building remained. Here was the view on Feb. 6, 2021.
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| The view from Broadway looking west |
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| Heading west on W. 21st Street |
Ten days later on Feb. 16, 2021 only this chunk remained.
By Feb. 20, 2021 only a small portion of the structure – dangerously close to W. 21st Street – was all that was left.
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| The view from Livingston Avenue looking south |
But in the meantime – so long, St. Joe’s. Many of the people who read this blog were born there, had operations there, and lost loved ones there. Thank goodness the spirit of St. Joe’s lives on in our excellent Mercy Hospital on Kolbe Road.
And so it goes in the once mighty ex-industrial city of Lorain,Ohio....It's a sad state of affairs when a city,any city,does not have a hospital in the immediate downtown area...Lorain went from being a thriving metropolis that people came to see and want to live in to an also ran washed up derelict of a city that everybody wants to get out of.....I just wish that I could have seen Lorains heyday back from WWII to the late 1960s...I bet it was really something.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this and welcome back, Dan. I’ve missed my morning ritual! Sad to see SJs come down. I was born there in September, 1954. My three siblings were born there, as well. Weird feeling to see the pics and I am sure my Mom will feel a lost connection when she reads this piece this morning in Phoenix.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim! It’s nice to be back.
ReplyDeleteSo sad.. a big part of Lorain history is gone.
ReplyDeleteI was born in St Joe's. Grew up on the eastside. Went to school at Larkmoor, Longfellow, and LHS. Shopped at A&P, Convenient, Dairy Mart/Lawson's, Open Pantry, Dairy Dip, Dairy Queen, Eliseo's (Eastside), Granny D's, the old strip mall on Garfield Blvd and several more I am sure I forgot. Except for Drug Mart and the Drive-Thru, every business or building from my first 30 years on earth is gone. Even Cromwell Park where we used to play ball everyday is gone. I realize that every city in the US goes through these periods of transition, trying to find new identities, but it still hurts a little bit.
ReplyDeleteI agree. It creates a real disconnect with your hometown when the hospital where you were born, all of the schools that you attended, all of the stores that your family shopped at, all of the places where your family and friends worked, the places where you worshipped, and all of your teen hangouts are all gone.
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