Although my daily commute to work is now along country roads, for many years I drove to Cleveland – both Downtown and the near West Side. During that time I sometimes decided to enjoy the ride and follow U. S. Route 6, the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, all the way in. It took forever, but there were many interesting roadside sights to see – a lot of which have now vanished without a trace.
I've written about some of them, including the Harbor View Motel in Rocky River (here and here), as well as The Harts family sign. Both are long gone.
And then there was the Kekic Gas Station's iconic Spirit of St. Louis replica plane. I've written about it a few times, since I used to pass the small service station daily. This post featured a "Then & Now" photo study of its location, and this one has some vintage news articles.
As I noted, I drove by it for many years, and then suddenly the gas station – and the small plane on its pole – were gone. Fortunately the Avon Lake landmark was born again (thanks to Nick Zangas of Avon Lake) which I wrote about here.
Anyway, I recently found another piece of the puzzle, an article from the August 24, 1964 Journal about the Spirit of St. Louis plane. It tells how the plane had been at that location at the Kekic Service Station since 1927, and was one of 150 replicas distributed by the Coca-Cola Company.
The main focus of the article, however, is that the plane had been blown down in a bad windstorm and had been missing from its perch for about a year. At the time of the article it had recently been repaired and re-installed.
It's sad that so many roadside reminders of yesteryears are disappearing – but it's a wonderful thing indeed when steps are taken to hold on to local heritage, such as the installation of the replica Spirit of St. Louis at Miller Road Park.
2 comments:
I remember the original plane from many years ago. My grandmother lived in Avon Lake, so we would pass it on the way. Also would see those (to me) mysterious "Stop XX" signs and wonder about them.
I knew the local sales rep for Gulf Oil Co in 1963. He was instrumental in having the pane rebuilt and replaced at that time.I think Gulf paid for the work.It was a long time ago.
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