Artist Paul Henschke in the News 1961 - 1978

Local artist Paul Henschke, touching up 
Lorain's Civil War Soldier in Washington Park, 1960

One of the memories that my siblings and I share from the 1960s is the summer that we took art classes on Saturday morning with local artist Paul Henschke. 

I've written about this a few times. At the beginning of the course we met in a classroom at the old St. Mary's High School to work on our drawing. Then we shifted to outdoor sketching at different park locations, including Century Park, Lakeview Park and Washington Park. Mr. Henschke would circulate around the class, checking our progress and offering suggestions. I remember that it was difficult to understand him with his thick German accent.

I still suspect that sending us to the classes was Mom's idea, part of her plan to keep us from being glued to the TV set on Saturday morning, watching cartoons.

Anyway, Mr. Henschke enjoyed a fine career as an artist, and as an instructor for the Lorain Parks Department. He must have had a good agent, because he seemed to be in the Journal with some regularity, in photos showing him instructing students in Lorain or Elyria, or donating paintings. He also wrote the occasional Letter to the Editor, advocating better support of the arts on a local level and promoting park access for children.

Here is a selection of articles featuring Mr. Henschke beginning with the earliest I could find. All are from the Journal unless noted.

August 2, 1961

March 12, 1962

May 25, 1962

May 30, 1963
(Mr. Henschke later crafted a whole new head for the statue in 1965.)

June 21, 1963

Oct. 5, 1963 (Chronicle Telegram)

April 2, 1964

May 29, 1965 (Chronicle-Telegram)

July 31, 1965

March 31, 1966

April 30, 1966

July 22, 1966

August 4, 1966

April 12, 1967

June 26, 1968

October 1, 1968 (That's my younger brother in the middle)

Nov. 7, 1969

Sept. 22, 1970

This 1970 article is my favorite. It includes Mr. Henschke's philosophy of how to stay young, and is a nice look back at his life and career.

October 4, 1970

July 13, 1978

George Wickens and the Civil War Soldiers Monument

I first became interested in George Wickens when my research revealed that he was the original driving force behind Lorain's long-gone Civil War soldiers monument and fountain (shown above in a vintage postcard).

In May 1901, Lorain's Public Square was a weedy, unkempt mess – and George Wickens, the former mayor and now a member of City Council, was unhappy about it. As reported in mid-May in the Lorain Times-Herald, Wickens stated that the park was a disgrace to the city, and he felt that it should be fixed up before the Fourth of July. At Wickens' urging, a motion was passed by City Council to take money from the park fund to accomplish this goal.

Work began on the Public Square at once. The grass was mowed, and plans were prepared by Chief Engineer Loofbourrow for paths to be built, curving from each corner of the square and meeting at the bandstand in the center.

The soldiers monument and fountain
as it appeared in the J. L. Mott catalog

But Wickens thought something else was needed for the Public Square: a fountain. He began to try to get Jason B. Hoge, a former resident of Lorain (and later a director of the Lake Shore Electric Railway Company) to donate one. Hoge was about to order a fountain when the Lorain Post of the Grand Army of the Republic made it known that they wished to combine the fountain with something they also felt was needed: a soldiers monument.

Mr. Hoge offered to contribute one quarter of the amount of a fountain and soldiers monument costing not more than $1,000. The balance of the sum would have to be raised by the citizens of Lorain and turned over to the G.A.R. for the actual purchase.

It took a summer-long community effort to raise the money, but the fountain was finally ordered from J. L. Mott & Company.

With much fanfare and an onlooking crowd of 5,000, the combined soldiers monument and fountain was dedicated on the Public Square on Labor Day, September 2, 1901.

****

Undated photo of the statue
after the fountain had been removed

The fountain was removed in 1933 because it had become a safety hazard due to corrosion, and it was feared that it might topple in a storm.

The Civil War soldiers statue was then placed on a pedestal at ground level surrounded by flowers, where – for the next thirty years – it suffered abuse at the hands of vandals as well as the elements. The soldier had his rifle stolen, the brim of his cap broken off and he even lost his head when he was knocked off his pedestal in 1959.

Repaired and repainted for many years, the soldier was finally removed from the park along with the Honor Roll in 1967 when both were replaced by the new veterans monument.

In 1968 he was sent out to his final home: the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Sheffield Lake.

At that time, the Lorain Journal acknowledged George Wickens' contribution towards the acquisition of the civil war statue and fountain with a simple statement describing why he felt it was important.

"Because he wanted to do something to beautify the city."

****

I forgot to mention that since I began this blog, I have posted several times specifically about this statue – with this post being the first, followed by this one, and then this one.

It's taken a while, but I feel that I finally have the statue's timeline documented from its installation in the park to its removal.

Civil War or Spanish-American War?

Here's something I never expected to see... a nice close-up photo of the Civil War statue that used to be in the park (originally Washington Park, later Veterans Park) across from Lorain City Hall. (Click on it for a closer look.) It's from a May 20, 1951 newspaper clipping that is part of the Albert Doane Archives at the Lorain Public Library. (As usual, I was researching something else, with the help of a librarian, when I found this a few weeks ago.)

This clipping is interesting because this time the statue is referred to as a Spanish-American War veteran, instead of a Civil War veteran. Huh?

I don't think that's quite right. It's fairly easy to Google 'Spanish American War' uniforms and get a look at what the soldiers were wearing when they charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy Roosevelt. And they didn't seem to be dressed like this.

You might remember that I did a few blogs on the statue before (starting here), examining how its appearance changed through the years. About a year after the above clipping, the article (below) appeared in the Journal on May 5, 1952.

It appears that in the year between photos, the statue acquired the missing brim for his cap, and a paint job as well. He was still missing his gun, though, making him a sitting duck for the cute prank described above.

And here's a different view that I haven't posted before (courtesy of the Black River Historical Society) from around 1959.

Since my past blogs about this subject, I've talked to a few longtime Lorainites 'in the know' about what happened to the statue. Apparently, it was taken down (in the 1960's?) and unceremoniously dumped in storage at a city park for a while before it was donated to the 103rd OVI in Sheffield Lake, which ultimately disposed of it. Pretty uncivil treatment!

So was it a Civil War statue or Spanish-American War statue? Someday I hope to find out for sure. I guess the best way to find out is to research something else entirely and hope I get lucky!

Washington Park Then and Now

After blogging a few days ago about the old Civil War statue that used to grace the former Washington Park (now known as Veteran's Park), I decided to grab my camera and head over there this weekend to see what it looks like today.

I still remember riding my bike through here in the early 1970's. I don't remember the Civil War statue still being there (I'm sure it was long gone), but I remember that it was a nice, quaint park with Victorian-style light posts. Since the park was Lorain's original town square, it was a nice slice of history in a town robbed of much of it, thanks to urban renewal.

Flash forward to the early 1980's. 'Improvements' were made to the renamed park so as to accommodate various veterans' ceremonies. Unfortunately, the improvements resulted in paving over much of the park with the addition of a huge fountain and pavilion.

Today, the park has lost a lot of its ambiance. It appears that at least one of the trees in front of the Antlers Hotel are the same. 

I wish that the whole fountain area was torn up and replaced by green space again, with a brand new Civil War statue in the center. As we progress into the 2000's, I am afraid that much of this nation's history, specifically the Civil War, is going to be forgotten and probably rewritten. (My great-great-grandfather fought in the Civil War, so this is a subject about which I'm a little sensitive.)

But that's just my opinion. What do you think?

Civil War Statue in Washington Park Part 2

Here's a small article about Lorain's Civil War statue that appeared in the Lorain Journal dated May 5, 1952. It's a pretty amusing little prank – tame by today's standards!

I was excited just to see the photo of the statue in the newspaper. The statue looks like it was painted to make it more lifelike, and seems to match the appearance in the more recent postcard.

There isn't much information about the Civil War statue online or anywhere for that matter. The Images of America book on Lorain says that the statue was eventually taken down and given to the 103rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry out on Route 6 in Sheffield Lake.

Last summer I paid a visit to the 103rd OVI since I was writing an article about it for the Black Swamp Trader & Firelands Gazette. I asked them about the statue and whether it was on display somewhere on the grounds. Unfortunately, they told me that the statue had been in such poor shape that it was literally falling apart and was eventually scrapped.

Anyway, here's a link to a website on Ohio Civil War monuments that briefly mentions the statue near the bottom. And here's a link to an interesting discussion as to whether there is any significance as to what direction a Civil War statue faces.

Civil War Statue in Washington Park Part 1

Did you know that Lorain used to have a Civil War statue in the park across from Lorain City Hall?

There are a few vintage postcards that show it through the years. A reproduction of a postcard (top) dating from around 1908 appeared in the Images of America book, showing the statue atop an ornate fountain. A more recent postcard (from the 50's or 60's?) shows the same statue atop a simple pedestal (below).