From 1960: "Tear it down and make it a park."

If you ever wondered why Lorain decided to stay in the ancient City Hall on West Erie Avenue into the 1970s, rather than occupy the more spacious former Carnegie Library, I think I found the answer.

It was 1960, and the old library building had been vacated for three years. Lorain was still trying to find a use for it, and was hoping that the Board of Education could use it.

Unfortunately, according to an article in the November 18, 1960 Lorain Journal, "High remodeling costs were cited by board members in turning down the possibility of purchasing the former library building. City officials in the past have stated that remodeling costs would be from $200,000 to $400,000."

In that very same edition of the newspaper, the article below appeared in which Lorain's Mayor John C. Jaworski very clearly opposed using the old library as Lorain's City Hall. I think it was probably the final word on the issue.

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Not Suitable For City Hall Site
Mayor Repeats Stance On Old Library

Mayor John C. Jaworksi has again emphasized his position on the old library building now that the Lorain Board of Education has said definitely it doesn't want the building. He said again, "Tear it down and make it a park."

Jaworski feels that remodeling the old structure for a city hall would cost too much. He also doesn't think a city hall should be near railroad tracks and off a main street.

The mayor envisions a ranch style building on the site of the present city hall.

City Solicitor Adrian F. Betleski has ruled that the heirs to the owner of the Streator property would have to be consulted before the old library could be used for anything other than a park or a city hall, as provided in the will.

The land was named Streator Park after its owner, Worthy Streator.

Councilman Ed Novack, D-at-large, has been one of the strongest supporters for tearing the structure down.

The city is now storing emergency hospital equipment in the building, which has been purchased for Civil Defense use. Cost of keeping a janitor and heating the building is about $4,000 yearly.

City Council has been "hemming and hawing" over the structure for many months now, waiting for someone to say, "Yes, we want the building." No one has said it yet.

From 1957: What to do with the old Lorain Public Library?

Late last month, Lorain's original library – the Carnegie Library located at Lorain's Streator Park – made the news. According to the article in the Morning Journal (here), "The city is in court trying to remove deed restrictions on the property in hopes of creating a plan to reuse the building."

Ah, some things never change.

Here's a couple of vintage articles showing that even back in the late 1950s, the city was trying to figure out what to do with the old building.

The first article (below) is from the November 22, 1957 edition of the Lorain Journal. At that point in time, the new Lorain Public Library at Sixth and Reid was about to open in a few days.

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Council Must Decide What To Do With Old Library

Like an old mansion whose usefulness has given way to modern architecture the old library building at Streator Place has relinquished its place as Lorain's literary center to a new building at Sixth St. and Reid Ave.

The old building was dedicated May 20, 1904. There were 3,240 books. The money for the old building came largely from $30,000 donated to a fund by steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie, who gave money to build libraries all over the United States.

What happens now to the abandoned building is up to city council. When Streator Place was given to the city in 1895 by the will of Worthy S. Streator it was provided that the land should be used either for the construction of a city hall or as a park. Permission was granted from the heirs to build the library.

A committee has been assigned to study a proposal to make the building into a city hall. A request to provide $3,000 to finance a survey to study this possibility is being considered by council now.

If council decides that it would not be practical to move city hall to Streator Place, but would like to do something else with the building, permission of the heirs must be granted again.

There were attempts to establish a library in Lorain before the Streator Place building was built.

One of the earliest was in 1883 when library headquarters were set up in a downtown dentist's office. About 100 shares of stock were sold at a dollar apiece and shareholders were allowed to borrow as many books as they had shares.

In 1886 the circulation did not average a book a week so the books were turned over to the school board.

Through the years other attempts were made by church organizations and women's clubs but those libraries were also shortlived and ended by the books being donated to the school board.

The first library board was formed in April, 1900, when women from three library clubs and other interested persons in town elected officers. Mrs E. M. Pierce was elected chairman and Mrs. J. H. Hills was elected secretary-treasurer. Elected to the board as trustees were Mrs. W. R. Comings, Mrs. F. D. Ward, Mrs. F. M. McIlvaine, Mrs. A. E. Thompson, Mrs. F. P. Bins, Mrs. F. W. McIlvaine and George Wickens.

The newly-formed board soon established a Lorain Public Library Association of 50 members. The association persuaded the board of education to provide a tax levy. In 1903, $1,200 was allocated to the library association. And the same year the $30,000 was donated by Carnegie.

The first librarian was E.C. Loofbourrow. He served from 1905-1907. Since 1907 there have been six librarians.

Miss Margaret Deming, 1907-1910; Miss Francis Root, 1910-1924; Miss Elizabeth K. Steele, 1924-1928; Miss Evelyn Yeaton, 1928-1837; and Miss Marion M. King, 1937-to date.

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A few years before the above article, Lorain had already explored the idea of converting the former library into a city hall. Here's an article (below) from the November 3, 1955 Lorain Journal.

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May Be Future City Hall
City Officials Inspect Library

The city is moving ahead on its plan to use the old library building as a new location for city hall.

THREE CITY officials and two members of the library board made an inspection tour of the building yesterday afternoon with an eye toward adapting the building into a city hall.

Lyle Ziegler, president of the library board, and Atty. Dan K. Cook, vice president, both agreed the board will take definite action on a decision to give up the building at its next meeting Nov. 8. It is to be vacated early in 1957.

THE LIBRARY board is constructing a new building at Sixth and Reid. The old building, according to the terms of a will left by Worthy A. Streator, who donated the building to the library, will revert to the city for use as a city hall when and if it is vacated by the library.

City officials have been waiting for a decision from the library board before making plans to use the building.

OFFICIALS AGREED the building would require numerous changes to correct present faults and to remodel for city hall use. The building has twice as much floor space as the present city hall.

Large rooms in the building would have to be partitioned into smaller rooms for offices, officials agreed. Many of the large rooms would be suitable for use as council chambers.

If the building is vacated and not used as a city hall, or by the city, it will revert to Streator's heirs.

THE CITY HAS been holding up plans to remodel city hall since it was learned about the stipulation in Streator's will. Council approved a bond issue for $52,000 in 1952 for remodeling the hall, but the money was never borrowed.

Mayor Jaworski said the city's engineer's office will go ahead with studies of the library building after the board takes definite action at its next meeting.

Streator Park – From the Air!

My final look at Streator Park and the former Carnegie Library is a bird's eye view – well, actually a couple of views.

This great 1924 aerial photo is courtesy of Dennis Lamont, local historian and archivist who, fortunately for me, enjoys sharing! Gee, this picture would have come in handy when I was trying to find out where that circular fountain was! It's easy to find in this photo. (Click on it for a closer look.)

And blog pal Bob Kovach sent me this comparison of a 1962 aerial view from historicaerials.com and a recent one from the bing.com search engine. (Give a click also!) I guess judging by this photo, the fountain was gone by 1962, so I was a little bit late looking for it!

Lastly, here's the full bing aerial.

Thanks, guys, for the images!

Streator Park Photo vs Hand-tinted Postcard

My recent series of blogs on the Carnegie Library and Streator Park generated several emails from my rich network of people and fellow bloggers who are knowledgeable about Lorain's history.

Well-known local historian and archivist Dennis Lamont sent me a great vintage photo of Streator Park, with the Carnegie Library in the background. While admiring it, I realized I had seen it before – as one of the hand-tinted postcards that I had already posted!

I sometimes forget that colorful, vintage 'white border' postcards often have bright blue cloud-filled skies dropped into the composition during the lithographic process. (Click here and here for some nice websites about the history of these 'white border' cards.)

Here's a nice comparison of the original photo and the resulting lithographed postcard. In this case, the outlining of the trees on the colorful postcard is almost amusing (click on it so you can see what I'm talking about!)

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lamont

Vintage Postcard

I wonder how many postcards had those very same clouds?

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 3

Here's the final installment of my quest to get the then-and-now shots of Streator Park, despite the fact that the sidewalk configuration had changed over the years.

I checked on Ebay again and purchased another vintage postcard of Streator Park. (I began to think that the printers of these postcards were pretty desperate for local subject matter!)

This new postcard provided a different view of the park, with the fountain visible on the left side. Using the sidewalk and the building chimneys as coordinates, I finally had a pretty good idea of where the fountain was located.

Here are the resulting then-and-now shots. They were shot over a period of a couple days (which explains why the sky looks so different in some of the photos).

Here is the fountain shot that was so hard to figure out.

And lastly, here is the lagoon shot. The playground equipment made it impossible to replicate the angle exactly.

It is disappointing to see how much the park has changed. During the early 1900s, citizens could stroll through the park on their way to the library, rest on the park benches and appreciate the park’s beauty. Unfortunately, the park is now dominated by garish playground equipment.

This is one park that I wish could be restored to its original state.

Anyway, the Carnegie Library served the city well until the new library replaced it in 1957. We'll see if the building is put to some new use as a result of Lorain City Council's efforts. (The lawsuit has moved ahead, as explained here.)

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 2

In the past, I've found Ebay to be a great research aid, as people always seem to be selling Lorain postcards, maps and even photos. I was hoping that some more postcards of the Carnegie Library and Streator Park would help me find where the fountain in the postcard (at left) had been. I was right – although it would only complicate matters, as you will see.

While looking on Ebay, I found two other vintage postcards of Streator Park. Both, strangely enough, showed a lagoon. (In the middle of Lorain?) Since the postcards were inexpensive, I bought both of them, hoping that they would help me understand the park’s layout. When the postcards arrived in the mail, I was surprised to see that they were the same photograph, but cropped, colored and labeled differently.

However, with a magnifying glass I was able to see the fountain to the right of the lagoon on each postcard. (See close-up at left.)

I went back to Streator Park, determined to get my photographs. The lagoon seemed to correspond with a large, mulched play area. Unfortunately I still couldn’t determine exactly where the fountain had been located.

More library research failed to produce any maps or photos of Streator Park to help me.


It was time to head back to Ebay - again. Good thing I had dough to blow!

Next: the then-and-now pix

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 1

Sometimes it’s a challenge to get a then-and-now photograph of a vintage postcard because of changes in the subject’s surroundings. That was certainly true with this 2007 project, as I discovered that getting my photographs would be no “walk in the park”!

It started with a postcard (at left) that I purchased on Ebay featuring a fountain in Streator Park in Lorain, Ohio. I’d never heard of Streator Park back then, but I recognized the building in the background as the Carnegie Library (the original Lorain Public Library).

I did a little research and learned that in 1902, the Lorain Public Library Association applied to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for a grant to erect a public library building. To receive the grant, the city had to meet two conditions: agree to support the library financially and provide a suitable site for the building. The site that was chosen and ultimately approved was Streator Park and on May 20, 1904, the Carnegie Public Library was dedicated.

Since I already owned a vintage postcard of the Carnegie Library, I planned to do then-and-now shots of both the building and the fountain. A mild December day provided the perfect opportunity to have some photographic fun.

Recreating the postcard of the front of the Library was easy. 

It was interesting to see how the landscape had changed after more than a century. 

Unfortunately, the park fountain was long gone, and to make matters more difficult, a playground, basketball court and picnic shelter now occupied much of the park. None of the trees on the postcard seemed to have survived either. After walking around the grounds for an hour, I realized that it would be impossible to determine the fountain’s location without some more information.

It was time to head back to Ebay!


Next: The Lagoon

New use for the old Carnegie Library?

The former Lorain Public Library in Streator Park (shown at left in a vintage postcard) may have a new lease on life – literally.

Last month, the city of Lorain began exploring the possibility of selling off or leasing some city park land and buildings to non-city entities. And that includes the building at left, located at Streator Place and Long Avenue.

How the city hopes to do it legally was explained here.

I've mentioned this building in this blog before. I sketched it back in 1974 for my high school art class (which I told you about here.)

What I didn't tell you about – yet – was my detective work a few years ago in which I tried to determine where the long-gone fountain and the lagoon in Streator Park were located, so I could grab some then-and-now shots. And I'll do that next time.