Back in November 1971, Lorain was in the process of planning the demolition of 55 buildings. The article above provides a detailed inventory of the parcels that needed to be acquired, and the buildings that needed to come down. It’s fascinating to read the list and be reminded of what was eventually lost. I had been in many of the buildings and remember them well.
As the article points out, many buildings really weren’t in that bad a shape, and it was a shame that they had to be demolished. But as the article notes in the opening paragraph, “The idea behind urban renewal in Downtown Lorain is to get together large chunks of cheap land which will tempt private developers to come in and rejuvenate the area.”
Lorain was actually pretty lucky (unlike Huron) that only a relatively small portion of its historic downtown was destroyed. While a few landmarks were lost, there is still of lot of character in what buildings remain. And with the streetscape improvements made in the last few years, the Downtown has never looked better.
