When I was a kid and we were driving on State Route 2 west of Vermilion, I seem to recall that for years, there was a billboard for Willow Creek Golf Course. It was quite large, with an illustration of a golfer on it. The reason I remembered it was because 'Willow Creek' was the name of the creek near our house on Skyline Drive.
I wondered where that golf course was located, since we never drove by it in our travels around the area.
Years later, I learned that the creek near our house wasn't named Willow Creek – it was Martin's Run. Willow Creek was the name of the subdivision encompassing W. 33rd, W. 34th, Maurer Drive and Pole Avenue. Thus the park was Willow Park and we assumed that 'Willow' was the name of the creek or stream that ran through it. (The 'Willow' name was also given to the nearby shopping strip with – you guessed it – Willow Hardware.)
But I still didn't know where that golf course was. Decades after I first saw it, the sign was still out there on Route 2, but as the years went by, it was peeling badly – rendering it almost unreadable.
Anyway, when I saw the below ad for Willow Creek Golf Course from the Journal of September 28, 1963, I knew I had to feature it here.
8 comments:
I remember playing in the "wooleybear" golf tournament there several years ago. It was a fun time and the steak fry after was hosted by Dick Goddard. I think I also played in the festival of the perch golf outing there as well. Todd
Here's some info on the Nehenta Bay:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Nehenta_Bay
And... There was a "Willow Creek" that ran right past my house in Pennsyltucky. I spent many a happy childhood hour playing in it (even though such activity was strictly forbidden by my maternal unit). There were willow trees growing along the length of it, so it was well named.
Except there, it was called Willow Crick.
Speaking of names for creeks, around here (Avon Lake, that is), one such stream is called "Heider Creek" in some places and the less-flossy "Heider Ditch" in others. I wonder if it actually was a ditch made for irrigation purposes.
Don and Dan, I associate the term "run" with Pennsylvania, specifically the Pittsburgh area, which seems to have a lot of such streams.
I know the one hole at Willow Creek runs run along route 2 and you can see it from the highway if you're going East bound. I've golfed there a couple of times. Interesting info about the Willow name Dan.
Buster:
Round here, in the clay-soil flatlands, ditches were often dug to both drain land and delineate property lines. You see them even on old-old maps. I'm not sure what's used to define the difference between a ditch or a run, maybe when Ma Nature has more to do with the path than humans.
"Run," I grew up with. There's even a Bradys Run Park down around the Picksburgh area. In fact, where I was a kid, there was a Willow Run and a Willow Crick. Two different things. I'm sure you could start as many arguments as you wanted asking for differences between the two. Pennsyltuckians love to "discuss" most anything at all!
Thanks for the info, Don!
I worked with Brad Heider, a decendant of the Heider who dug the ditch/creek and he told me it was definitely for irrigation. And Brad much preferred the 'creek' designation. He was going to provide me with the history behind his ancestor but unfortunately the research material was misplaced and he never did.
Brad was a great guy who passed away too young.
https://www.rsgfuneralhome.com/obituary/Bradley-Heider
Thanks, Dan, very helpful. It is sad that Brad Heider died so young.
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