Ninety years ago, it was a bad one too. January 26, 1936 was a Sunday so I couldn’t grab the Lorain Journal front page from that day, but here are the headlines from January 25 and 27th.
The Saturday, Jan. 25th edition (above) mentions that there had been a blizzard on Wednesday night and there was concern about a “renewal of the sub-zero wave over the weekend.” The article notes, “The entire middlewest and eastern seabord continued today in the grip of the cold wave which has paralyzed most of the nation for the last four days.
“Ohio’s toll of deaths attributed either directly or indirectly to the cold stood today at 30.
“Snow blocked highways and sub-zero cold threatened New York city, Buffalo and dozens of smaller communities with a critical shortage of milk, according to United Press dispatch.
"Elsewhere on the front page: the story of Philip Gifford, 83, of Lorain who had "five teeth pulled the other day, got up from the dentist’s chair, lit a cigar and walked home in the intense cold; the saga of an Oberlin man who found out that he was actually his wife’s fourth husband, not the second as he originally thought – and promptly sued her for divorce; and assorted stories of tragedy including the mid-air collision of two Army bombers.
Two days later, the death toll due to the sub-zero weather had increased.
The front page of the Monday, Jan. 27th edition (above) noted, "A toll of 225 lives has been taken by the sub-zero wave which has held the middle-west and eastern part of the United States in its grip since last Wednesday.
"Of the 225 deaths attributed to the cold, 44 occurred in Ohio, one of which was in Elyria, the survey showed.
"The devastating cold wave renewed its grip on the state today as temperatures plunged to paralyzing low levels after a brief respite over the weekend.
"The temperature as low as 16 degrees below zero were reported in some districts of the state, a low of four below was registered at the Lorain Coast Guard station from 2 a. m. to 8 a. m. today after the mercury had climbed as high as 16 above at noon Saturday.
"For the third successive day Niagara Falls was frozen solid with the flow of water stopped by ice jams in the river."
As usual, some of the smaller items on the front page overshadow the headlines: a 15-year-old Loran high school student "woke up in the frosty stillness last night at her home on Leavitt-rd, rubbed her eyes, and figured she must be "seeing things."
"Sitting erect and motionless on the floor, after the manner of the species, and apparently slumbering peacefully, was an owl. A regular hoot owl, the kind you read about in story books."
Also on the front page: two "EL" cars in Chicago jumped the rails and dangled over the street below; the eve of the funeral of King George V of Great Britain; packed beaches at Miami, Florida where the temperature was 76 degrees; and the story of a 91-year-old retired Elyria minister who was embarking on a new career as a missionary.
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