Holiday Inn Motel cottages – Then & Now

It's been exciting watching the former Holiday Inn Motel property (in more recent years, the McKenzie Woods apartments) get transformed into The Village, A Road to Hope Community.

(Click here to visit The Road to Hope website and learn about the good work they do, providing an "abstinence-based, twelve-step environment within where the addicted person receives the support, guidance and faith necessary to become a productive member of our society, while living in accordance with a regimen of daily sobriety.)

The organization has done a first rate job of renovating the buildings into something wonderful. The work is now complete and a ribbon cutting was held on Friday, May 27th.

It wasn't very long ago that the empty cottages at the eastern end of the property looked like this.

And here they are today.

Former Motel on the Road to Being Transformed

The view last week

Vintage postcard view

It's exciting to see the construction work begin on transforming the old Holiday Inn Motel property into the new Road to Hope recovery home for women and children.

The plan was announced back in 2019 (here), and work was supposed to have begun last year. But various factors (undoubtedly including the pandemic) resulted in the work only starting in the last few weeks.

The Morning Journal featured a nice article about the Road to Hope project on July 31st by Richard Payerchin here.

As the article notes, only the outer walls of the buildings will be retained. Everything else – the electrical, plumbing, roofs, pavement, landscaping, etc. – will be brand new.

Anyway, at a time when old, vandalized structures are routinely and automatically demolished, it’s nice to see some actually being rehabilitated for the good of the community, in both function and appearance.

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(I did a multi-post history of the motel (which was not part of the national Holiday Inn chain) back here.)

No Demo for Ex-Holiday Inn Motel

A Spring 2013 view

It was great news that the collection of abandoned buildings most recently known as Mackenzie Woods Apartments (located on the south side of U. S. Route 6 a little west of Baumhart Road) was going to see new life as housing for Road to Hope House Inc. substance abuse recovery program participants. The complex will also be the new home of Road to Hope's administrative offices, which will be relocated from Elyria.

Here is the link to the story on the Chronicle-Telegram's website.

The buildings have been an eyesore for some time after the apartments closed. It was only in the last few months or so that "No Trespassing" signs were finally posted at the entrance to the property, along with a rope barrier.

Today, only the former main office building is visible from the highway.

A view from this week

What was surprising to me is that none of the local newspapers delved into the history of the property, which I wrote about back here in a four-part series. It began as the Holiday Inn Motel, constructed in the late 1940s by Frank Konik, with a same-named restaurant right next door to the west.

Here’s a vintage postcard of the motel in its heyday.

The motel was ideally situated to take advantage of the lodging needs of the hundreds of out-of-town construction workers building the Ford plant, as well as the auto workers who relocated to come work at the plant. By that time in the 1950s, Richard (Dick) Konik was running the motel. He provided a great interview to the Chronicle in 1957.

My original blog series on the Holiday Inn was one of my all-time favorites, as many members of the Konik family participated by leaving wonderful reminisces in the “Comments” section and helping to flesh out the story.

And strangely enough, I received a nice email a month or two ago by a granddaughter of Frank Kelsey, who owned and operated the Holiday Inn Restaurant next door to the motel for a time. He also ran McGarvey's for a few years in the 1940s.

Anyway, it's always nice to see an old motel that served as a highway oasis repurposed, rather than demolished. The buildings are being restored to their original function, that of providing comfort, and that’s a refreshing concept for Lorain County.

Holiday Inn Motel – Part 4

The Holiday Inn Motel as seen on a vintage postcard recently on Ebay

Eventually, having the identical name as the national motel chain became a problem for the Holiday Inn Motel on U.S. 6 between Lorain and Vermilion.

The Holiday Inn Motel did continue to show up in the Lorain phone book through the November 1969 edition. But by the early 1970s, the motel had become the Holiday Apartments. The restaurant also received a new name: the Holiday Steak House.

Why? Well, Brian Finley recalled that Frank Konik – his step-father's father – had become "entangled with the other Holiday Inn."

"He settled with the corporate boys & changed the name to simply "Holiday" and left the Inn part out. The restaurant was the Holiday Steak House, which my step-father operated until late 1974," stated Finley.

While the Holiday Apartments name lasted well into the 1990s, the Holiday Steak House received a new name around 1978: Friar Tuck's. It became Our Place around 1980.

By the early 2000s, the Holiday Apartments name disappeared from directory listings. At some point after that, the property became the McKenzie Woods apartment complex.

Today the McKenzie Woods sign is down (literally on the ground) and the place seems deserted (below).

The same view as the vintage postcard

But for many years, it was an oasis for weary travelers along Routes 6 & 2, as well as many of the hardworking contractors who built the Lorain Ford Plant.

Special thanks to Brian Finley for his help with this post.

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I made many a visit out to the former motel property since the first week of April trying to get some good photos for this post. That's one reason the post was delayed for so long – I kept driving out there at different times of the day trying to get the best lighting.

Another reason I delayed this post is that I didn't have a good scan of the vintage motel postcard until three days ago, when one was emailed to me out of the blue by ex-Lorainite history buff (and postcard collector) Paula Shorf. (Thanks again, Paula!)

Anyway, here are some more photos of the former Holiday Inn Motel and Restaurant, shot from early April through last weekend. It sure looked like a cozy place to stay in its heyday when it was a motel, or to live at when it was apartments.

And finally – one thing I neglected to mention in all this is the pioneer cemetery right next door to the east of the former motel property (below).

It deserves its own post (later), so I won't lump it in with the motel history. But I appreciate the emailed links about the cemetery sent to me by local archivist and historian Dennis Lamont and Bill N.

Holiday Inn Motel – Part 3

The history of the restaurant that was part of the Holiday Inn Motel property is as hard to research as that of the motel. (That's the restaurant in the photo at right visible behind the motel sign)

In the 1957 article in part 2 of this series yesterday, Richard Konik owned both the Holiday Inn Motel as well as the restaurant, which then was called the Holiday Inn Lounge.

But according to an article (below) in the June 12, 1954 Chronicle-Telegram, another gentleman originally owned and ran the business.

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Former Meat Dealer Owns Restaurant Near Vermilion On Lake Rd.

Eight years ago Frank Kelsey interrupted his more than 30 years as a wholesale meat supplier for restaurants and stores to spend two years as owner of McGarvey's Restaurant in Vermilion. Now he has returned to the restaurant business with the opening of Holiday Inn on Lake Rd. near Vermilion.

From 1944 to 1946, while the United States was at war and meat was scarce, he and Mrs. Kelsey operated the McGarvey restaurant. Then when meat became more plentiful Kelsey returned to the business which included operation of the Tend-R-Lean Steak Co in Cleveland.

The Tend-R-Lean process was originated by Kelsey and owned exclusively by him from 1940 to 1953 when he had to leave the meat business because of his health.

The Kelseys were practically ready to close a deal for a restaurant being built in connection with Holiday Inn Motel on Routes 2 and 6, just west of Baumhardt Rd. The location seemed ideal to them and the lease was signed.

June 12, 1954 newspaper ad

The restaurant has been open for business for two weeks, although the grand opening is set for this week-end. It has a seating capacity of 75 and will be open every day. There is a staff of 14 at present but this will be doubled during the height of the season, Kelsey says.

Home baked pies are served. The pastry cook is Gussie Romandy, who for the past three seasons has been the cook at The Trade Winds Restaurant in Miami, Fla.

Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey live in Rocky River at present. Their son, William, is to graduate from Ohio University tomorrow and their daughter, Virginia Ann, who will follow her brother at Ohio U. was graduated from Rocky River High School Thursday.

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Another article in the Chronicle-Telegram that appeared a few weeks later explained why a second grand opening for the restaurant was needed. The article below appeared in the paper on July 3, 1954.

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Holiday Inn On Lake Rd. Announces Formal Opening This Weekend

A restaurant opening that turned out to be a hasty closing because of a kitchen fire, is scheduled for a second try.

July 3, 1954 newspaper ad

This week-end will be the formal opening of the new Holiday Inn on Lake Rd, east of Vermilion, its second in three weeks, according to Frank Kelsey, owner, who is hoping for better luck this time.

Actually the fire, which occurred three weeks ago, was not serious, resulting mostly in smoke damage, but it did force closing of the place for about four hours and many who came to attend the opening were turned away, Kelsey said.

The fire occurred when fat in the deep fryer broke into a blaze. The Vermilion fire department was called, but the fire was extinguished before they arrived.

Since that time the restaurant has been doing business, and incidentally giving out souvenirs which it had on hand for the first opening.

Now most of the souvenirs are gone, but the food is good as ever and, in the opinion of many early patrons, the best obtainable anywhere.

In Meat Business 30 Years
Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey are not new in the food and restaurant business. Kelsey for more than 30 years was engaged in the wholesale meat business, supplying restaurants and stores, and also operating a well-known Lake Rd. restaurant for two years, in which business his wife was an active associate.

The Holiday Inn is a beautiful new restaurant located just west of Baumhart Rd. and provided with every facility for preparing and serving food on a continuous basis.

Every restaurant has its specialties, however, and these for the new Holiday Inn are fish, chicken, and ham dinners and such tasty desserts as Lillian's cheese cake, which has a local reputation in the Vermilion area, and Bessie Romandy's apple and cocoanut cream pies and homemade rolls.

The restaurant has a seating capacity of 75 and is surrounded by a spacious parking area. A staff of 14 persons assures quick service during the serving hours from 8 a.m. to midnight seven days a week.

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Curiously, by autumn the Holiday Inn restaurant had a new owner. An ad in the November 13, 1954 indicated that the owner was now Joe LaRocco.

But by the following October, the Holiday Inn restaurant was again for sale or lease.

The former Holiday Inn Restaurant today

Next: the rest of the story of the Holiday Inn Motel and Restaurant

Holiday Inn Motel – Part 2

That's the Holiday Inn Motel at the bottom of the photo, with Baumhart Road and the Ford Plant at the top
(Photo Courtesy of the Black River Historical Society)

The Holiday Inn Motel enjoyed a boom time of sorts when the Lorain Ford plant was built nearby in the late 1950s.

The motel and its owner are featured prominently in the article written by Dan J. Warner below, which appeared in The Chronicle-Telegram on February 11, 1957.

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First 'Boom' Signs Appearing Now
New Ford Plant's Neighbors Anticipate Business Surge

By DAN J. WARNER

BROWNHELM – Tap, tap, tap. Itchy fingers are tapping grocery store counters, bars and motel office desks along Lake Rd. near the site of the new Ford Motor Co. assembly plant, waiting to beat the drums of business which are predicted to yield a loud and ever vibrating, boom, boom, boom.

Not one bar, tavern, grocery, service station or motel owner along an approximately five-mile sector of the road predicts anything but the loudest, biggest and most profitable echo of a boom that ever bounced from business place to business place.

How can they lose, they say, with some 1,500 construction workers moving in to build the large plant this spring and a maximum of 4,500 permanent workers moving in to run the plant when it is complete?

In one place, the fingers have already stopped tapping the counter and are busy hustling food and liquor to the some 100 construction workers who have already started working at the plant site.

Richard F. Konik, owner of the Holiday Inn Lounge and the Holiday Inn Motel, paused momentarily from serving thirsty customers at a crowded bar to tell a reporter that "business is booming."

And he wasn't kidding either. It was mid-afternoon, the "slow" time during the day, and empty glasses were piling up in front of him as quickly as he could fill others.

With a broad smile Konik said business at the Lounge had increased "two or three times" in the last several weeks and that he is going to have to build more units onto his motel to accommodate the increased demand for living space by the construction workers.

He said he has already made plans to add six efficiency units to his motel, which already houses some 78 workers. One section of the Motel has been rented to the O'Connor Construction Co. for office purposes. Its parking lot is constantly filled with cars bearing Indiana license plates, home state of the company.

In the restaurant and bar, Konik says he has been forced to add five additional employees to handle the increased business, which is heaviest during meal times.

Asked whether he thought business would continue to improve, Konik shrugged his shoulders, smiled and said, "I hope so."

Other established owners along Lake Rd., however, had a more definite optimistic view into the future.

Joseph Povich, owner of the Conestoga Tavern, paused from reading a paper in his empty tavern, to say he is expecting "big things."

The boom in business he is sure is coming, according to Povich, after a summer when local establishments had practically no business due to repair work on Lake Rd and unseasonal weather.

Povich explained that most of the places along Lake Rd. depend on vacationers for most of their business and that last summer there was very little travel along the road due to construction.

The tavern, he said, will not be his only business venture to benefit from the new plant. He said he had purchased some real estate some time ago to be resold when things started booming. "And now it's coming," he said.

Trailer Camp is Full
Another busy businessman is Carl Johnson, owner of Johnson's Restaurant and Trailer Camp, who said that he has had 40 to 50 request for trailer space he can not fill.

Johnson also said that the restaurant has experienced some increased business as a result of construction work at the plant site. He plans to sell his places, now, while the price is high.

"It's getting to be too much work," he said simply.

Curly DeBracy, owner of DeBracy's Bar, an establishment which has only been open a month said he is expecting "a lot of business from the plant."

Curly admitted that he had the bar and short-order restaurant built onto his driving range as a result of the new plant.

Motel Business Up
"About a 10 per cent increase" in business was reported by Frank DeRose, owner of the Village Motel, who also predicted boom times.

"It's just starting now. It'll be great this spring," he said.

The other business owners, such as Mrs. Richard Kish, of Sunnyside Grocery and Motel, and Mrs. Ruth Winland, manager of Bohac's Mobile Home Court, all predict that business is going to boom and stay booming.

If the predictions come true, it looks as though this area of Lake Rd is no longer going to be "just for tourists."

Next: the Holiday Inn Restaurant

Holiday Inn Motel – Part 1

Continuing on my trip along the old Route 6 & 2 in search of long-gone businesses...

The Holiday Inn Motel (featured prominently in the 1950s Lorain promotional film) was just west of Baumhart Road on the south side of the street. Despite its name, it was a mom and pop motel with nothing to do with the well-known national chain.

What's the story behind the motel?

Fortunately, Brian Finley – a descendant of the man who started the motel – was kind enough to share some of his knowledge in a posted comment on this blog.

"My step-father's father was the guy behind the Holiday Inn," he wrote. "His name was Frank Koniewskowsky,which he shortened to "Konik" when he emigrated from Poland in the early part of the 20th century. He lived on the west side of Cleveland, where he owned a block of buildings. An entrepreneur, Frank bought the property at Liberty Avenue/Lake Road in the early 1950's, because he knew that it was smack-dab on the route to the vacation destinations to the west: Cedar Point, Port Clinton, Kelly's Island, Put-in-Bay, etc. This was before the Interstate freeway would bypass the area."

"Frank installed his sons Richard (my step-father) and Robert as owners/operators of the motel and adjacent restaurant. He named it after the epic Bing Crosby/Danny Kaye movie."

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It hasn't been easy for me to research the motel in its early days.

Since it was located between Lorain and Vermilion on what used to be referred to as Routes 6 & 2, it was in a no-man's land: outside of both Lorain's and Vermilion's city limits and thus not listed in the earliest city directories.

According to the Lorain County Auditors website, the motel was constructed in 1948. It first showed up in the Lorain phone book (in the Vermilion section) in the December 1950 edition.

The early ads gave its address as Stop 120, hearkening back to its location on the old Lake Shore Electric interurban route.

1952 Lorain Phone Book listing

Although the motel was not listed in the 1950s Lorain city directories, I did find it in the library's copy of the 1954 Lorain County Farm & Rural Directory. Here's its listing along with a partial of some of the others along that stretch of Route 6 (below). 

Apparently back then there were no numerical addresses assigned to the properties. So, whoever compiled the rural directory just counted east from Vermilion and numbered the properties as they appeared, noting if they were on the north or south side of the street.

It's interesting seeing the motel listed in there with some of the historic farms along that stretch, including those of the Claus and Baumhart families (both farms were sold when the Ford plant was built in the 1950s).

Next: Boom times for the motel