But as the front page of the Sept. 3, 1953 Lorain Journal notes, there was serious concern about a possible water shortage. "Dry faucets by Sunday threatened Lorain today as water consumption here set another all-time record Tuesday," stated the lead article.
"Appealing to residents to curb use, Service Director Wallace Chapla pointed out that when the reservoir goes dry, the waterworks will be able to deliver approximately two million gallons less per day than the city has been drinking and sprinkling for better than a week.
"So far this week the reservoir has lost two feet a day.
"If that loss continues, Thursday will see the reserve at four feet, Friday will be two feet and Saturday will see the four-million-gallon reservoir merely damp. Sunday it will be dry."
The lack of rain and high temperatures were taking a toll on the area farms. "Crops as well as people are suffering from desert-like weather conditions which brought plus-90 degree temperatures to Lorain and the county for the 15th straight day.
"Tomatoes are being cooked on the vines, peaches are ripening much too fast, peppers are wilting and drying up and sweet corn is being blistered, Charles Coles, Lorain County agricultural agent, reported today.
"Ripening of apples is being far advanced by the extreme temperatures and will be a burden for the pickers, Coles stated. The young melon crop may never reach the market if the heat continues and the same is true of cauliflower."
Fortunately, the good citizens of Lorain cooperated by curtailing water use, and by Thursday, Sept. 3, the city reservoir had gained a foot – or 250,000 gallons. By Friday, the reserve level was at 9.4 feet, a gain of 2. 2 feet over the previous day. More good news followed, with scattered showers in the forecast and cooler temperatures predicted for the weekend.
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Elsewhere on that Sept. 2, 1953 front page: a mention of the upcoming Ohio Sesquicentennial; the return of Lester "Baby Face" Brown to the Lorain city jail after his extradition from Texas (a story you'll find in Don Hilton's Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, Ohio, 1824 - 1956); a man yanks his own tooth with a pair of pliers in Oklahoma; and an update on the GI POW swap with Korea.
