Here's an interesting article that ran in the Lorain Journal back on February 24, 1953. It compares the 1891 Lorain City Directory with its 1952 counterpart.
"The 1891 directory, a copy of which is retained in The Journal's files, was the first ever published for Lorain and was issued by the firm of Mains and Disbar," the article noted.
"The 1891 directory is a paper backed pamphlet type of publication – that for 1952 a hefty book.
"Way back there before the Spanish American War, Lorain had only 43 businesses, professional men and firms. Today it has 48 full "yellow" pages of ads for merchants. And it has 59 pages of businesses, three pages of businesses for every single business firm or professional man in Lorain in 1891!
"In 1891 there was only one attorney in Lorain, W. B. Thompson, who had Room One in the National Bank Building. Today's directory lists more than half a hundred.
"The Lorainite in 1891 didn't have much choice either, when it came to getting a haircut. There was just one barbershop in town, that owned by H. J. Groene at 227 Broadway!
"In 1891 there were two hotels, the Mentel House and Schoff House, to cater to travelers. Today there are nine listed in the directory, eight of which are in Lorain proper.
"There were two dentists, one baker, two boot and shoe stores, two coal dealers, one clothing store, two hardwares, one jeweler, one laundry, two meat markets and one tailor in 1891."
The rest of the article examines other categories, including banks, insurance men, millinery stores and churches. Not surprisingly, there were no auto sales or repair shops in Lorain in 1891 – just a livery stable.
5 comments:
The lawyer mentioned, W(illiam) B(ernodette) Thompson was born in Columbia Twp in 1863 and admitted to the bar in 1888. He left Elyria for Lorain and became one of its greatest proponents. He served 4 years as the Lorain's mayor, starting in 1890. He was the first president of the Lorain Chamber of Commerce, helped create the Lorain Central Bank and was its president for 36 years.
Assistant prosecutor, head of the Lorain County Republicans, he was appointed one of the county's county pleas judges in 1915 and sat for almost 20 years. HE was the first C.P. judge from the city of Lorain, starting a trend that holds to this day!
He died in 1945 and is buried in Ridge Hill in Amherst.
I wrote the book on Lorain County Judges, donchaknow?
www.dhiltonbooks.net
I was wondering how you knew all that! My first wife worked for various combinations of Provenza, Friedman, Cirigliano and Zeba. I believe some of them became judges.
Cirigliano, who was a Common Pleas Judge, isn't in the book 'cause he wasn't dead when it was published. In fact, I think he's still alive - must be 100+, by now.
Zieba's the very last one in the book. Domestic and Juvenile Judge, elected in 1988. Only one term, because of his age, but he sat in assignment in Cuyahoga County courts for several years, thereafter. He died in 2012 and was buried at Ridge Hill, too.
My book's just about county-level judges, not city judges or magistrates. Too doggone many of them!
My bios are posted with the judge's portraits in the Lorain County Justice Center in Elyria. The ones that are deceased, that is...
If you're interested in the book, it's at a lot of the county libraries.
And the new trend in Hollywood is "nepotism babies".But it's nothing new as Mr. Hiltons history lesson just proved to us.Nepotism has been going on since the beginning of time.You just gotta get in the click.
The legal profession no different than any other, especially in a place as small as Lorain County.
Everybody knows everybody else who's involved. That's for sure. That includes the criminals.
It was probably worse back in the mid-1850s to the early 1900s. Back then, you didn't have a chance of breaking in unless you knew someone who was already well-established.
Now, at least a person can work a little outside the system. Back then, no way.
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