On my last post about Ashbolt Orchards back in September, I was fairly sure about its location (just off Cooper Foster Park Road at Cherrywood Drive) but I had no real proof – just a hunch.
Fortunately, longtime blog contributor and researcher extraordinaire Rick Kurish has done some research on the orchards with fruitful results.
Rick noted, "An advertisement for peaches in the Chronicle-Telegram of August 24, 1948 lists Ashbolt Orchards at 310 Foster Park Road. The 310 address is located at the junction of Cherrywood Drive and Cooper Foster Park Road, so it appears that the Ashbolt Orchard was located where Cherrywood Drive is today.”
Here's the ad.
The phone number in the 1948 C-T ad (63-984) was still listed as W. E. Ashbolt (despite his March 1943 death) in the 1950 Lorain City Directory (
below).
By 1952, however, it appears that the orchard changed hands. The 1952 Lorain City Directory shows
Cook’s L N Orchard at the 310 Foster Park Road address with the same phone number.
And by 1954, it appears that the property was already transitioning to residences, based on this entry on the 1954 Lorain Country Farm & Rural Directory.
While Rick was confirming the orchard’s address, I found a few parcels designated with the Ashbolt name on a March 1938 Black River Township Map.
At least we now know that the Ashbolt Orchards were right where we thought they were.
****
Rick also dug up some information about another orchard nearby: Schmitkons.
"The Schmitkons family for many years, generations actually, had a large orchard that stretched from Middle Ridge Road as far as Cooper Foster Park Road,”
he noted. "The family were members of the same church in Amherst as our family, so as a kid I was somewhat familiar with the family. The old Schmitkons farmhouse still exists on Middle Ridge Road just south of Route 2 / Interstate 90. It is right next to a gas station just south of the Interstate.
"Planning for the Interstate in the late 1950s put the new route right through the orchard, effectively limiting access to the orchard. This was at least part of the reason that the section of the orchard south of Cooper Foster Park Road was opened for housing development.
"As I recall the development eliminated about 70 acres of orchard. The street names in the new development had names that reflected an orchard — names they retain to this day. This development was directly south of the Ashbolt Orchard. The housing development dates to the late 1950s. Just some trivia for you.
"Attached is a followup on the information that I sent on the Schmitkons orchard which was converted to housing. The article (below) is from the Chronicle-Telegram of June 14, 1957 and details the limits of the approximately 100 acres,” said Rick.
As noted in the C-T article, "The Lorain City planning commission yesterday gave tentative approval to two new Amherst township housing developments exceeding six million dollars that will transform more than 100 acres of fruit orchards into a “highly restricted” residential area.
"The two sites, involving better than 100 acres of the old George M. Schmitkons estate and considered a development within a development, are bordered on the north by Rt. 254; on the west approximately 1,000 feet from the abandoned Lorain, Ashland and Southern Railroad right of way; on the south, by Middle Ridge Rd. and on the East by the Louise Grote and Gerald Escheruth properties.
"Contingent upon dedication of a subdivision for park area, commission approval was given a 220-home area to be developed by Arthur and Paul Schmitkons on 76 acres of their land presently fruit orchards. The site will be called Orchard Park and streets named after the different kinds of apples such as Jonathan etc.
"The smaller housing area to be known as Dorwood Hills and situated on about 24 acres in the northwest section of Orchard Park adjacent to the southside of Rt. 254, was okayed pending approval from the Amherst Township trustees. In Orchard Park the homes are to be constructed on lots having 50-100 foot frontage and a depth of 150-200 feet. Paul Schmitkons, co-developer, said today that while no definite figure has been derived, the minimum cost of the homes called for in the area will probably be not less than $20,000. Just what the lots will sell for has not been decided, he said."
6 comments:
On the Black River Two map, what was the dotted line labeled "Cherry Valley Farms Inc"?
-Theresa
Also, on the same map, what was "Granite Imp't"?
-Theresa
The "Granite Imp't" is an abandoned railroad line that goes across the Borman's property. The "Granite improvement" is the crushed stone bed. The Borman's still use it as a farm road today.
My guess is that the dotted line for Cherry Valley Farms is an easement for an abandoned rail line or power company.
There are several legal websites that feature a 1945 lawsuit (Pierce vs Cherry Valley Farms) in which the issue is ownership of an easement originally granted to an electric railway company. The case involves land in Medina County on which the Cleveland-Southwestern had an easement, with a dispute over who owned it after the railway was abandoned. Cherry Valley Farms appears to have been incorporated at the same time (1931) that the railway was abandoned. So maybe it was formed to acquire or develop land, specifically farmlands that might have only been used for electric railways.
https://casetext.com/case/pierce-v-cherry-valley-farms-inc
The only other internet footprint of the company on the C-T archive website is the legal transfer of local properties, from the early 1950s right into the 1960s.
Neat. Thanks!! (also I just noticed "Twp" autocorrected to "Two")
-Theresa
Cherry Valley Farms was the old street care line. Instead of the land going back to the people when the street car went out of business it was sold. When I sold my Mother's property that dead ended between Cherrywood and North Ridge I had to get a new legal description because of the Cherry Valley farms. We sold a lot West of our house and they bought that line from Calvary Cemetery to Clearview drive in front of 7 houses. The County is suppose to straighten out that mess that shows up every time a property sells.
Post a Comment