"The large Welcome to Lorain sign was erected by the Ford Motor Company on the northwest corner of its property at Baumhardt Rd. and Rts. 2 and 6," reads the caption. "The large sign is to be the first of many which will indirectly point up the growth of Greater Lorain."
I like the fact that the sign includes, "Birthplace of Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King" at the bottom. Those were the days, when Lorain celebrated its most famous and accomplished citizen with a sign on a federal highway at the entrance to town.
Here's a photo (courtesy of the Lorain Historical Society) showing an aerial view of the sign. It's right where Baumhart curves to the east where it meets Route 6. As you can see, the sign is pretty big.
Also of interest on the same page of the Journal is the opening of the well-remembered Jupiter discount store. The photo caption notes, "Three executives of S. S. Kresge Co. were on hand today for the official opening of the company's newest Jupiter discount store at 630 Broadway." I had no idea that Kmart and Jupiter had the same parent company.
It still seems unbelievable to me that in 2023 there are only three Kmart stores left in the continental United States.
But there's still a functioning website. Needless to say (but I'll say it anyways), the 'store locator' search engine on the website probably doesn't get much use these days.
And to think that for many years, the Lorain store on Leavitt Road was my Mom's favorite store.
4 comments:
Seeing that sign is such a great memory for me. The Ford Plant in Lorain is what brought my family to Vermilion from Memphis when the plant there closed. Ford offered the Memphis workers jobs at the Lorain plant. It also brought the likes of the Pinkley's, of "The Pit", and the Lawler's, as in Jerry "The King" Lawler, the professional wrestler. His dad worked at Ford with my dad.
I wonder how Marnie would have been with Grace Kelly in the role instead of Tippi Hendren. I should watch it again. Last time, all I could think is "there's Alfred the Butler!"
When did the sign disappear?Did it rot up and fall down?Or was it a victim of the countries urban renewal policies where cities practically removed any type of cool advertising or signage all over the country leading to todays generic looking cookie cutter designs.And I didn't realize there were houses across from Ford on West Erie.Ford later bought them all up to expand their new car parking lot.
In reference to the Jupiter Store Side Note; Yes, Kmart was their parent company. When the SS Kresge Stores rebranded to KMart, with modern larger stores, they waned to move the "dime store type merch" into another entity, Jupiter.
Post a Comment