Last Rites for St. Joseph Hospital

Over the last couple of months, a monumental demolition has been taking place in Lorain, largely unnoticed: the knocking down of the old St. Joseph Hospital. As noted in a comment left on a previous post, the parking garage will remain.

The demolition kicked into high gear earlier this month when only one portion of the building remained. Here was the view on Feb. 6, 2021.

The view from Broadway looking west

Heading west on W. 21st Street

Ten days later on Feb. 16, 2021 only this chunk remained.

By Feb. 20, 2021 only a small portion of the structure – dangerously close to W. 21st Street – was all that was left.

Here are a few views from the next day, Feb. 21st.

Well, today was apparently the Grand Finale. W. 21st Street was closed between Reid Avenue and Broadway so that the final beams and remaining wall could come down.

The view from Livingston Avenue looking south

Here’s hoping that something gets built there that can utilize the still-attractive parking garage.

 

But in the meantime – so long, St. Joe’s. Many of the people who read this blog were born there, had operations there, and lost loved ones there. Thank goodness the spirit of St. Joe’s lives on in our excellent Mercy Hospital on Kolbe Road.

St. Joseph Hospital Parking Garage – Nov. 1970

Fifty years ago this month, St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain was busy constructing its new 595-car parking garage. According to the item above, which appeared in the Journal on November 21, 1970, “The work is beyond the halfway point and the first two levels are expected to be finished by the original target date in mid-December."

It’s interesting that that the caption notes, “The sagging appearance of the garage is caused by the upward slopes of the ramps.”

(I posted an architectural rendering of the parking garage and other proposed additions to the hospital back here.)

Fast forward to 2020, and – you guessed it – the garage and the rest of the empty St. Joseph complex are slated to come down. There’s a fence around the whole property, and demolition has begun.

Parking Garage for St. Joe’s – 1970

Back in September 1970, St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain was promoting the construction of its new 590-car parking garage, as well as an 122-bed addition to follow shortly thereafter. Above is the drawing that appeared in the Lorain Journal on September 1, 1970.

Looking at the illustration, I had a little trouble getting my bearing, causing me to wonder if it was constructed as originally planned. But a quick look at a corresponding Google Maps aerial from the last couple of years (below), however, convinced me that it was just the Reid Avenue viewpoint of the architectural drawing that confused me.

In this Google Maps photo, the oldest part of the hospital,
as well as the Reidy Scanlan furniture store, are shown as vacant lots

Today the St. Joseph Community Center complex is slated for demolition. (You can try reading about it here on the Morning Journal website, which generously allows the non-subscriber to read about one archived article a month.)

For a peek inside the now empty buildings, pay a visit to this intriguing blog, which has some terrific photographs. But be forewarned - the photos are fairly heartbreaking to anyone who spent time over the years in St. Joe’s, whether they were employed there, treated there, visited friends and loved ones there or perhaps – were born there (like me).

St. Joseph’s Hospital to Enlarge – Feb. 19, 1907

Although the oldest wings of the former St. Joseph Hospital building were torn down three years ago, it will remain a big part of many Lorainites’ collective memories.

One hundred and eleven years ago today, the hospital unveiled the architectural rendering of the new structure on the front page of the Lorain Daily News of Feb. 19, 1907.

Here’s the story as it appeared in the paper that day. (Part of the article was unreadable due to the age of the paper and quality of the microfilm, and I have indicated that in my transcription.)

****

New Wing, Nucleus of Future Enlarged St. Joseph’s Hospital

The accompanying photograph shows the new addition to St. Joseph’s hospital the designs of which have just been completed by Architect H. E. Ford. The building is the first of a group of four wings. It will be built on the north side of the present structure and will have a frontage of 100 feet on Penfield avenue and 40 feet on Kent street. It will be of brick, three stories high and will be absolutely fireproof and will cost $20,000. The building will be connected to the present building by passage ways nine feet in width.

The basement will be used for a clinic and free dispensary. The second floor will contain four large rooms with toilet and other rooms, including diet dining room. The upper floor will have thirteen small ward rooms with one or two beds each. There will be toilet rooms, linen rooms and diet dining rooms. Plans will be prepared so that the contractors can bid within two weeks and work will commence as soon as the contract [unreadable].

As soon as possible another wing will be built on the south side of the present building which will connect the two front wings by an administration building. From the north and south buildings there will extend westerly two other wings so that the present frame structure will be completely surrounded.

The whole building, when completed, will have a frontage of 235 feet on Penfield avenue and will cost over $150,000.

****

I never realized that St. Joseph Hospital had been built in stages as described in the article.

You can see the transition as it unfolds in the vintage postcards below. (I’ve included postmark years when they were available.)

1910

1916

1932

1936

1944

Reidy Scanlan/St. Joe's Demo Update

By George, this is the third post this week related to demolition!

Late last November, when the former Reidy-Scanlan building was about to be torn down, I scanned old newspaper microfilms at the Lorain Public Library in an unsuccessful attempt to find out some of the early history of the building.

So, last week – while looking for something else, of course, I finally found what I was looking for: a nice architectural rendering of the building (below). It ran in the Lorain Daily News on August 5, 1913.

The caption reads, “Work is progressing rapidly on the new block building being built at the corner of 21st street and Broadway, for the Reichlin, Reidy, Scanlan Furniture and Undertaking company. The building will be of brick construction and its dimensions will be 58x110 feet. The south side of the building facing Broadway will be used for undertaking parlors and chapel. The bloc will be completed about December 1st and will cost approximately $37,000. The building will be strictly modern and when completed will be one of the finest in the city.

I’m still scratching my head as to why this building couldn’t have been rehabilitated. 

Anyway, here’s what the now-empty corner looked like last weekend.

Across 21st Street, the work cleaning up the demolition of the oldest part of the former St. Joe’s is progressing nicely. A handsome new outside wall camouflages the unsightly seams that were exposed as a result of the demolition.

Quite a difference from the view back in August 2013.

Goodbye, St. Joe's

Well, the fences are up and the equipment has been put on site and is ready to go. That means that the demolition of St. Joseph’s Hospital – as well as the former Reidy-Scanlan building – is finally going to take place. It may even have already started by the time you’re reading this post.

I first wrote about the proposed demolition on the blog back in August 2013 here. It originally was supposed to be done by the spring of 2014.

There’s been some interesting comments made on the Lorain, Ohio By Photos Facebook page. For every comment in which someone remarks how sad it is, there’s another where someone takes the City’s position and bristles at the idea that the building should be spared, citing how expensive it would be to rehabilitate it.

All I can say is that it’s impossible for anyone over the age of fifty with Lorain as their hometown not to feel a little bit sad about it. Not merely because most of us in that age bracket were born there, but because for decades it was the place we went to get healed and feel better. A lot of us came into the world there, and some of our family members left the world there too.

It’s a special place.

Anyway, I headed over there on Sunday to get some last looks at an old building that was very important to Lorain for many years.

Demolition Ball to Take Aim at St. Joe's

Well, for all you out of towners (or in case you missed it), it's finally official. Soon the view above will be a thing of the past, and another familiar site in Lorain will meet with the wrecking ball.

The oldest portion of the St. Joseph Community Center – formerly St. Joseph's Hospital – will be torn down along with several other sections of the complex. Up until now, local news reports had been a little vague as to what part of the complex would be torn down.

An article by Evan Goodenow published in the Chronicle-Telegram on Tuesday reported on the plan "to demolish 140,000-square feet of the approximately 300,000-square foot center to reduce cooling and heating costs and attract new tenants."

The C-T article noted that demolition will occur in October or November and be completed by the spring of 2014.

It's interesting to see how much of Lorain has been demolished, is planned to be demolished, or may potentially be demolished.

I think the kids goofed when they picked the Lorain Titans as the new name of the high school sports teams.

The Lorain Wrecking Crew would have been much more appropriate.

Now You See Them...

I was driving around this past Saturday morning with my camera since it was sunny (for a little while at least.) I ended up over by my Alma Mater, the former Admiral King High School. Its date with the demolition crew is any day now, so these are probably the last photos I'll ever take of the place before it's just a steaming pile of rubble. (Click on each for a larger, "You Are There" view.)

Very sad seeing it all stripped and plundered.

Also on Saturday, I read in the Morning Journal (here) that, "Lorain City Council will consider hiring a consultant who would plan asbestos removal and tear down of the oldest section of the St. Joseph hospital, 205 W. 20th St., which has frontage along Broadway."

So I headed over to St. Joe's for a shot. I'm guessing that the article was talking about this part (below).

In that same Saturday paper, at the bottom of an article about the new high school, was a small blurb. It read, "As part of the district’s overall demolition plan, Masson School, 800 W. 40th St., is the district’s next target. Bidding on the demolition and asbestos abatement is expected by March or April."

Ah, in a few years there will be very little left of the Lorain that so many of us remember.

St. Joe's Then and Now

Dennis Lamont also sent me this vintage postcard circa 1936 of Lorain's St. Joseph's Hospital (since it was mentioned in the Morning Journal here that – alas – this part of the building is scheduled to be demolished).

Well anyone who reads this blog knows what happens when I get my hands on a vintage postcard of an extant structure: I have to go out and shoot it! And that's what I did on Sunday.

It certainly looks different; all of the ornamental architectural touches were removed, leaving... a big box. Still, it will be sad to see it go.