Thursday, June 17, 2021

Huron’s Showboat Grand Opening – June 17, 1971

 
Fifty years ago, one of the more unusual restaurants on the shores of Lake Erie opened: “Showboat,” located at the foot of the Huron pier. The ad for it above appeared in the Lorain Journal on June 17, 1971.

As noted in an article in the Journal that ran the day before, “The building takes on the shape of an old river boat and to add to the effect, the inside is all of nautical design. There is a great view of Lake Erie and the Huron Harbor from the upstairs dining area. Boat decks are available for those who want to come by water.

“The owners, Jake Claus and Walter Messenburg, plan a grand opening for tomorrow evening with dinners being served from 5 until 11 p. m.”

Here are two nice color postcards of the restaurant (both currently on eBay).

Here is a Showboat “wooden nickel” also currently on eBay.

(I first wrote about Showboat back on this 2016 post.)

Although Showboat eventually closed, it’s still incredible that Mr. Claus and Mr. Messenburg were able to make their restaurant dream a reality, and a successful one at that.
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5 comments:

  1. JayJune 17, 2021 at 3:13 PM

    I think the foundation is still there. However looking at historical images I didn’t realize it’s been gone for so long. It was already gone in the 1997 earth image.

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  2. Dan BradyJune 17, 2021 at 9:24 PM

    Hi Jay,

    This link shows some of the improvements to the old Showboat property that have been made:
    https://ksassociates.com/our-projects/the-old-showboat-property-improvements/

    This link shows a few proposals that the City of Huron is considering for the land (since the city owns it):
    https://www.cityofhuron.org/economic-development/available-sites

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  3. JayJune 17, 2021 at 9:27 PM

    Thanks. I had no idea they did all that work. We used to go there after going to the beach across the parking lot.

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  4. AnonymousJune 18, 2021 at 10:06 AM

    Interesting article about the Showboat property.
    Bill N....https://sanduskyregister.com/news/282728/hurons-showboat-land-in-dispute/

    ReplyDelete
  5. Dan BradyJune 20, 2021 at 7:13 AM

    Thanks for the link, Bill. I guess that (dispute over ownership of one of the parcels) explains why there’s been no new development there, so far.

    ReplyDelete