Vermilion Loses Its Roadside Park – May 1963

While driving through Vermilion heading west, did you ever notice a small park-like property on the south side of U.S. Route 6, just before the Pit and the railroad overpass? It's right on the corner of Route 6 and Highbridge Road. (See photo at left.)

The reason it looks likes a park is because it was a park – a roadside park/picnic area maintained by the State of Ohio. The earliest mention of it that I could find online was from July 1949, when an Amherst group held a picnic there. 

By 1954, there were three such roadside parks in Lorain County: the one in Vermilion, one on Route 10 about a half mile east of Oberlin, and one in Sheffield Lake on Route 6 at Abbe Road.

But all good things must come to an end, and the State eventually decided to vacate these types of roadside parks that were within city limits. And so the park in Vermilion was closed, as noted in the article below, which appeared in the Journal back on May 29, 1963 – just in time for the summer picnic season.

What's interesting is that the State never owned the land, as explained in the article. It merely leased it from the owner, who continued to pay taxes on it during its time as a public facility.

There were a lot of improvements that had to be removed when the State vacated the premises: toilet facilities, a drinking fountain, pic-a-nic tables, bulletins boards and a flag pole.

I'm kind of bummed that the park is no longer there; I could have walked there in a matter of minutes from my palatial rustic retreat on Woodland Drive.

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For a photo of the roadside park in its heyday, click on this link to Rich Tarrant's 'Vermilion Views' website.