What was going on in Lorain 96 Years Ago Today?

Ninety-six years ago today, there was a lot going on in Lorain and the world, as seen on the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald of August 15, 1927.

Front and center is an architectural rendering of Lorain's newest theater. As noted in the caption, "Design of the new $500,000 theater and business block for which excavation is now in process on the east side of Broadway at Sixth-st. The building, being built by the Midwest Properties company to be leased to the Varieties Amusement company, both of Cleveland, is expected to be ready for a January 1 opening.

"Most modern in construction and design, the main auditorium will hold 2500 persons. A lobby running back from the entrance on Broadway to a large foyer will necessitate an L-shaped plan of building."

Although the article doesn't mention the name, the new movie house was the Palace Theatre. Here's a recent Google Maps view for a comparison with the rendering.

(This blog post featured a souvenir program from the Grand Opening of the Palace on April 19, 1928.)

Judge Gary

Of course, the huge headline on the Times-Herald page overshadows everything else, and it was big news: the death of Elbert Henry Gary, the founder of U. S. Steel. He was known as "Judge Gary" because he had served two terms as a county judge in DuPage County, Illinois. (Click here to read more about him on a Wiki page.)

Two articles seem to indicate that Lorain was becoming a hotbed for crimes stretching beyond its city limits. In one, "nationwide operations of a blackmail gang with headquarters in Lorain" were uncovered and two suspects arrested accused of extorting money from the proprietor of the Thomas hotel. In the other article, it is noted that "Two gangs of gunmen and 'stick-up men' whom police say, "ate and slept" in Lorain and laid their plans here, had been captured by Cleveland police Monday after a series of holdups in that city."

On a happier note, two sisters that had been separated for decades were reunited. "Long years of almost hopeless search were rewarded at Kelly's Island Saturday when Mrs. John Schieferstein, 843 W. 11th-st, clasped in her arms her sister who was parted from her more than 30 years ago," said the article.

"Living only a few miles apart all these years little did Mrs. Schieferstein think that Mrs. George Kneaur of Kelly's Island was her sister."

How did they get separated? "The two sisters were brought to Ohio in 1898 from a New York orphanage for adoption," noted the article. One sister was adopted by a Lorain couple, and the other by a couple on Kelly's Island. 

Father Reichlin, the priest from Mrs. Schieferstein's church in Lorain is the one who made it happen during a trip to Kelly's to see if he could find the sister. Strangely enough, George Kneaur had made his first communion with him in Kelly's Island years earlier, and the good Father managed to put it all together for a happy ending.

In other news: a jail break down in Circleville, Ohio (home of the popular annual Pumpkin Festival); the burning of a B & O boxcar in the railroad yards in Lorain, possibly as a protest committed by Sacco-Vanzetti sympathizers.

(Click here to read about the still-controversial case of Sacco and Vanzetti, two Italian-American immigrants/anarchists who were convicted of robbery and murder, and subsequently executed on August 23, 1927.)

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You might be wondering why I had this particular front page. I happened to find it while looking through old newspapers on microfilm dating from around the time of my late mother's birth back in early September 1927.