Avon Lake/Sheffield Lake G.A.R. Highway Rededication Ceremonies

The new G.A.R. Highway sign at the Avon Lake western border
(previously masked in my earlier post)

The weather cooperated nicely on Saturday morning for the ceremonies celebrating the rededication of U. S. Route 6 through our area as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway. The newly installed G.A.R. Highway signs were unveiled in official ceremonies in which Peter Hritsko of the James A. Garfield Camp No. 142, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War shared unveiling duties with the Mayors of Avon Lake and Sheffield Lake.

It’s important to remember that the designation of U.S. Route 6 as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway was first proposed in 1934. It took all fourteen U.S. 6 states a while to pass official legislation, with the formal, national coast-to-coast dedication taking place in May 1953.

Anyway, first up Saturday morning was the Avon Lake ceremony. Strangely, there were no representatives from the media there (unless you count one bumbling blogger who kept getting in the way).

Here are some of my shots from that ceremony, which featured some members of the organization dressed in Civil War costumes.

Peter Hritsko and Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka

 

About an hour later, the ceremony for Sheffield Lake’s rededication of its portion of the highway took place. Sheffield Lake now has three G.A.R. Highway signs: one at the eastern end of town, one at the western border and the one near the Boat Launch.

The ceremony was held at the new sign near the eastern border of Sheffield Lake, located just a few hundred feet from the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry compound.

Here are some of my shots.

Peter Hritsko with Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring 

  

The Morning Journal has a nice article by Carol Harper about the new G.A.R. Highway signs that you can read here. It includes some video, and also identifies some of the people dressed in period costume shown in my photos.

There was also a ceremony for Bay Village on Saturday which I was unable to attend.

So now there is a brand new G.A.R. Highway sign just two hundred feet from my house (below).

And there is the newly installed sign at the eastern end of town, located approximately in the same spot where Sheffield Lake’s original G. A. R. Highway sign stood (and I first noticed back in the 1970s).

What more could a history lover and old road junkie ask for?

G.A.R. Highway Sign – 1945 Design Drawing

To wrap up my series that I began last week on those ubiquitous Grand Army of the Republic Highway signs now found all around Lorain, Sheffield Lake and Vermilion, I thought I would post this. It’s a reproduction of what seems to be the original hand-lettered plans for the manufacturing of the highway signs.

I found it hanging on the wall of the Ohio Veterans Homes Museum, which is located on U.S. 250 in Sandusky. It’s a great way to spend an hour on a Sunday afternoon if you enjoy looking at memorabilia from all the wars starting with the Civil War right up to now. Best of all, it’s free (although donations are accepted).

The G.A.R. Highway sign drawing is dated January 10, 1945, with several prominent names listed at the bottom. At the lower left is the word “Approved,” and under it are H.E. Moran, Commander-in-Chief, S.U.V. (Sons of Union Veterans) and Captain J.C. Mansfield, Chairman, G.A.R. Highway.

On the lower right side of the sign is the name of John G. Spielman, Chief Engineer, G.A.R. Highway, 207 Roswell Ave., Long Beach.

The signs produced for Lorain (below) follows this layout very closely, right down to the “U.S. 6” found below the word “Highway.”

Sheffield Lake’s Original G.A.R. Highway Sign

Sheffield Lake’s current G.A.R. Highway sign,
located near the entrance to the boat launch

Seeing Lorain’s brand new replica Grand Army of the Republic highway signs reminded me that as recently as the early 1990s, Sheffield Lake still had one of the originals.

A 1980s article in the Chronicle-Telegram by Frank Aleksandrowicz provided a capsule history of the signs and even mentioned the one in Sheffield Lake that had somehow survived. The article, entitled "Grand Army Highway Has Its Own Story to Tell" stated, “In 1942 the G.A.R. National Convention adopted a design for the uniform highway sign and the sons continued to carry out their fathers' plan.

“They urged State Highway authorities to place and maintain the approved signs on both sides of the highway at not more than five-mile intervals. A white background with blue lettering and G.A.R. insignia and a red numeral were proposed.

“Original signs were made with baked enamel on metal and later replaced with aluminum markers as theft and vandalism occurred. The markers now are few.

“Ohio has one visible sign in the original pattern in Sheffield Lake, with the G.A.R. insignia missing.”

I first remember seeing that G.A.R. sign on E. Lake Road back in the mid-1970s. It became sort of a landmark to me whenever I drove through Sheffield Lake.

And then suddenly, it was gone.

I made a few calls to Sheffield Lake City Hall to find out what happened to it. I was told that the sign had been loaned to Vermilion so that the city could make some copies.

About a year or so later, I noticed that Vermilion did indeed have brand new G.A.R. highway signs installed near its park on Route 6. But Sheffield Lake's sign was not back up in its familiar spot.

So I called Sheffield Lake City Hall again and asked about the original G.A.R. sign. “I don’t know anything about that,” the person on the phone admitted to me.

Later that year, several of those newly-minted G.A.R. Highway signs sprouted along Route 6 in Sheffield Lake. One sign was posted by the park (now the boat launch) where Lake Breeze meets Lake Road, and the other was installed by Erie Shores Park at Abbe Road and Lake Road.

I eventually found out through someone at City Hall that the original sign had been vandalized (it was missing its insignia), and that’s why it wasn’t put back up.

It has been many years since all this happened in the early 1990s. The replica sign at Abbe Road has since been removed. The sign by Lake Breeze eventually became faded, so a replacement sign was installed.

But that original G.A.R. Highway sign that somehow managed to survive for decades along U.S. Route 6 in Sheffield Lake is long-gone.

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Despite the loss of that vintage sign, Sheffield Lake’s legacy as a Grand Army of the Republic Highway city endures, and complements Lorain’s recent participation.

In addition to the sign near the boat launch seen at the top of this post, another G.A. R. sign is appropriately posted in Sheffield Lake on the private grounds of the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry at the east end of town, not far from where that original sign was posted.

Lorain’s G.A.R. Signs

Lorain’s beautiful new G.A.R. Highway
sign on E. Erie near Century Park

I was pretty happy when I read in the Morning Journal that a Grand Army of the Republic Highway sign has been installed on E. Erie near Century Park by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War James A. Garfield Camp No. 142 and the Ohio Naval Brigade.

There's also a second sign in Lorain out on West Erie Avenue, just east of the former Ford plant on the south side of the road.

In case you missed the story, here is the link to the article by Ron Vidika that ran in the Journal back on June 17 before the sign was dedicated. It explains the history behind the signs and features some quotes by Peter Hritsko, Lorain, Camp Commander of the James A. Garfield Camp No. 142. (I know Peter from both Masson Junior High and Admiral King High School, where we both graduated in 1977.)

Peter was appointed Grand Army of the Republic highway officer in 2009, and obviously is doing a great job.

I don’t recall Lorain ever having a G.A.R. sign before, so the new signs are pretty exciting. It’s also quite appropriate for the hometown of General Quincy A. Gillmore.

Lorain’s other G.A.R. Highway sign,
on W. Erie Avenue just east of Baumhart Road

1911 G.A.R. Parade Postcard – Where Was It Taken?

I posted this 1911 postcard of the G.A.R. parade yesterday, but neglected to mention that I had researched where this photo was taken.

As the newspaper article stated, the parade formed at the Loop and marched south on Broadway to Ninth Street, then over to Washington Avenue, north to West Erie and disbanding at Washington Park – so this view was along Broadway. But where?

The clue to the answer is the sign for Anton Pathe - Merchant Tailor seen at the top of the photo. His business was located at 675 Broadway in several City Directories from that time period (1912 and 1915).

So the photo was taken between 6th and 7th Street, with the marchers heading south on Broadway. Here's the today view, courtesy of the bing search engine website. The orange pushpin is where Anton Pathe's tailor shop was located.

Lorain's Big G.A.R. Parade - June 21, 1911

The highlight of the Encampment Week was the big parade on June 21, 1911 - one hundred years ago today. (A vintage postcard of the parade from Ebay is shown above.) 


And here's the front page of The Lorain Times-Herald on the following day describing the big event. (Give it a click so you can read it.) Apparently almost 80,000 people watched the parade – making it postcard-worthy I guess.

And here's the continuation of the parade article.

Lorain's 1911 G.A.R. Encampment Preparations

A series of small articles popped up in The Lorain Times-Herald leading up to the big Encampment Week June 19-24, 1911. (Click on each of them for a version that you can read; sorry about the quality on some of them, the quality on microfilm varies significantly.)

The first one that I found on microfilm was on May 26, 1911.

A few weeks later on June 6, an ad popped up promoting the availability of storefront decorations for the big event.

A day later, this article appeared in the paper and it appeared that Lorain was already in high gear preparing for the big event.

It's funny seeing the circus-like atmosphere associated with the event. I wonder what the "Diving Venus" show was like?

100th Anniversary of When Lorain Hosted the Ohio G.A.R.

Did you know that today was a very big day for Lorain 100 years ago today, June 19, 1911?

Lorain was the host city for the Ohio Grand Army of the Republic encampment. During the event, six state conventions were held by patriotic organizations associated with the G.A.R.

The encampment attracted more than 15,000 visitors to Lorain.

Why was the event so special? In 1911, it had been 50 years since the the Civil War started, and the majority of the veterans were around 70 years of age.  That's why the city was determined to make sure the encampment was a success. As The Lorain Times-Herald pointed out, "Lorain will never entertain the old soldiers again and there will be few more encampments in the state or the country."

I'll have more on the G.A.R. encampment all this week in honor of this great event.