Back to School With O'Neil-Sheffield Shopping Center – 1954

Who doesn't remember the grassy courtyard
in the center of the shopping Center?

Back when everybody subscribed to a newspaper, many stores ran special back-to-school promotions that often took up several pages of the Lorain Journal.

The well-remembered O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center did exactly that in August 1954. The shopping center had only been open since May 1, 1954, so it was a good time to drum up some fresh publicity.

Here are a few pages of a special section that ran in the Journal on August 25, 1954. In those pages we get a great stock of school kids circa 1954; a nice rendering of the building that was home to the O'Neil store; and a nice photo of the distinctive sign by Rt. 254 in front of the center. That sign was such a familiar sight for so long.

The O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center has been a popular topic on this blog since its beginning.

As I've mentioned many times, long after O'Neil's became a May Company store in 1967, I still think of that shopping center in my mind as O'Neil's.

It was such a great location for the Lorain International Festival, drawing visitors from all directions.

I sometimes wonder if this style of shopping center will ever make a comeback. The covered walkway made so much sense; I have a hard time seeing how places like Legacy Village (where you get wet going from store to store when it rains) is an improvement.