Lakeview Park Beach Erosion – July 1972

The beach at Lakeview Park in the 1950s, 60s and early 70s was very different from what it is today. As you can see from the two vintage postcards above, there wasn't much beach there.

And there was even less in the photo accompanying the article below, which ran in the Journal fifty years ago this month on July 1, 1972.

As noted in the article, a particularly bad storm "has left Lorain's Lakeview Park without a beach and seriously undermined the 1,100 foot promenade that extends along the shoreline.

"Concrete slabs are about ready to fall into the lake."

According to the story, the lake level rose 40 inches during the storm "and just washed over the rock piers."

The rest of the article explains the effort to secure government funding to renovate the beach and construct piers.

A few weeks later, the article below appeared in the paper on July 13, 1972, illustrating the damage at Lakeview again, as well as the erosion down at Riverside Park on the east side of the river.

If I remember correctly, it would about ten years before Lakeview Park would be completely renovated with a huge, new beach. I remember coming home from college and being amazed at how big it was. Today, it's a little smaller but still pretty big compared to the old days.

Nathan Perry Trading Post Monument Dedication – June 1925

The monument in its current location

Just a short stroll from the bench by the Bascule Bridge is the monument erected in 1925 by the Nathan Perry Post of the Daughters of the American Revolution. It commemorates the founding of a trading post with the Indians by Nathan Perry, Jr. in 1807.

It used to have a more prominent position in the riverside park facing the river (as seen on the postcard below). 

As its original location is now paved over as part of the parking lot, the monument is now located at the end of Alabama Avenue near the entrance to the Coast Guard station (see circled area below). 

I did a previous post about the monument back in August 2012.

So why am I writing about it again? Because I recently found the newspaper articles printed at the time of the monument's dedication. Despite the date on the stone, it seems that the monument was not dedicated on May 30, 1925. For some reason, the dedication ended up getting pushed into June.

Here's a mention of the upcoming dedication that ran in the Thursday, June 11, 1925 Lorain Times-Herald. (No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you – the type is a little crooked.)

And here's the article that ran on the front page of the June 16, 1925 Lorain Times-Herald – 91 years ago today – about the dedication, which took place the day before. I've transcribed the complete article below it.

D.A.R. MARKS TRADING POST AND PRESENTS CITY MEMORIAL TABLET

Bronze Memorial Set in Stone at Riverside Park With Impressive Ceremonies Monday Afternoon

An impressive service marked the presentation of the Nathan Perry memorial tablet to the city yesterday afternoon by the Nathan Perry Post, Daughters of the American Revolution.

The table of bronze is set in a huge boulder in Riverside Park to commemorate the setting up of a trading post by Nathan Perry Jr. in 1807. The exact spot where the trading post was located is now covered by the waters of Lake Erie. Perry was the first white settler in Lorain.

The services were opened with the singing of "America" by the gathering, accompanied by Walter Waitt, trumpeter. Then followed the salute to the flag.

A prayer of thanks by Mrs. H. H. Brightman was followed by the reading "Why These Markers," by Mrs. Theodore Oehlke, and the presentation of the memorial to the city by Mrs. D. E. Stephan.

William A. Miller, service director, in accepting the tablet for the city commended the D. A. R. for their wonderful patriotic spirit, and their work in establishing such a memorial to that important phase in the history of Lorain.

A trio comprised of Ruth Armstrong, Margaret Foisy and Lawrence LaFleur of Longfellow junior high school sang "The Maple Tree." This part of the service was in commemoration of the two trees planted near the memorial by members of the school.

Mrs. D. J. Boone gave a number of poems which were followed by the prayer of dedication by Rev. J. A. Scott, pastor of the Delaware M. E. church.

Digging around the old box of photos Part 2

Here's another slide from the same photo shoot back in August 1979. This time the view is looking north towards the mouth of the Black River from Riverside Park.

   I think these ducks were thinking "Man, we've got to get out of this crummy park before it sinks into the river!"

Digging around the old box of photos Part 1

Everybody has a shoebox full of photos that should have been sorted and put into albums. We tell ourselves that we'll do it during the winter, but we never do. (Besides, we have all those digital photos from this millennium that are piling up on our hard drives that need sorting and printing.)

   Anyway, it's much more fun to dip into the box, pull out a random stack and rifle through them, because every once in a while, you discover that you've unintentionally captured a bit of history. In this case, I found some slides from waaaaaaaaay back in August 1979, a year after I bought my first SLR camera, a Pentax K-1000.

   At that time, I had been looking for something interesting to photograph and ended up down at Riverside Park on Lorain's east side. Back then, it was very different than it is today. Erosion had eaten away much of the park, as well as the road going through it.

   The view is looking towards the shipyards. Who would have believed back then that someday American Shipbuilding would be gone?

   Compare the vintage view with the modern view (below), shot a week ago.

Summer Art Class 1968 Part 3

Here are the last of the sketches from the summer art class.

   For the first sketch, the view is of the bascule bridge and the back of the Broadway Building from Riverside Park. (Remember the Broadway Building's old neon sign, with the animated bowler?) 

   The other sketch is of the old Harbor House building at Century Park at East Erie and Massachusetts. I must have had difficulty drawing trees, because I can see Mr. Henschke's pencil lines all over them.