V.O.L. Gets a New Fire Siren – October 1955

One of the things that I like about living in the east end of Vermilion is the daily six o'clock test of the siren at the Vermilion Fire Dept. Station No. 2 in the Vermilion-on-the-Lake neighborhood. Once you get past the mistaken idea that it is some sort of sinister "get out of town" warning to minorities, you accept it as a charming aspect of living in a small town. And it's kind of handy sometimes when you lose track of the time in the early evening and you're not staring at your phone, TV or computer.

And above you see the front page of the October 3, 1955 Lorain Journal with a photo of what I believe is the current siren being installed. It sure looks like it.

Elsewhere on that not-so-newsworthy front page: the Lorain County Kennel Club's annual all-breed puppy and obedience sanctioned match; a coal burning tug causes soot to fall on Lorain east side homes; the Lorain Port List; and some advice from a 'nationally prominent home economist" about successful meat cookery, including the suggestion that "Meat should never be seared!"

Vermilion-on-the-Lake Real Estate Ad – June 1962

Yesterday's post featured a June 1962 real estate ad for Valley View Estates in Vermilion, located on the west side of the Vermilion River off West River Road. Its marketing tapped into the desires and aspirations of the middle class, offering a swim club membership for residents and a new school for the kiddies to attend.

Today's post highlights a real estate ad for a neighborhood on the east side of town: Vermilion-on-the-Lake. It had only recently become part of Vermilion, merging with the city in May 1962.

The ad below appeared in the Journal back on June 1, 1962.

With Vermilion-on-the-Lake being, well, on the lake, the developer didn't need to offer a swim club membership; it had its own "private beach facilities." Other amenities included being near new schools, and shopping – and "Just a Stone's Throw From The Ford Plant."

I wrote about Vermilion-the-Lake's origins as a vacation resort (back here, in a multi-part blog series). Today, VOL is an eclectic neighborhood with something for everyone. I know a few people who live or have lived there, and they love it.

I almost bought down there when I moved to Vermilion a few years ago. VOL has a nice, homey feeling not unlike what I experienced living in Sheffield Lake, which has a cottage past of its own.

Official Opening of Vermilion-on-the-Lake – May 1924

As Memorial Day approaches, I’m reminded how the holiday (especially back when it was known as Decoration Day) used to mark the traditional opening dates of the local summer resorts.

It was a regular ritual for city dwellers to spend a day picnicking, an evening dancing or even a longer vacation at one of the many lakefront resorts.

I wrote about one of the resort communities – Vermilion-on-the-Lake – in this multi-part series.

And here's a page from the Lorain Times-Herald of May 28, 1924, featuring the earliest ad for dancing at Vermilion-on-the-Lake that I’ve ever seen. Note the ad reads, “Official Opening."

Due to the size of the ad and inclusion of a photo of the clubhouse, I believe it's a pretty good indicator that 1924 was the inaugural season for entertainment there. (This is at odds with some of the commonly accepted historic timelines.) I’ve scoured the previous years of the Times-Herald for any mention of VOL in the summer resorts, and this is the first that I’ve been able to find. 

Anyway, the newspaper page also includes ads for Beaver Park, as well as Riverview Park in Elyria.

Lake Elementary School opens in VOL - November 1957

Yesterday’s post featured the First Congregational Church in Vermilion making the move to its new home back in November 1957. Let’s linger in out in Vermilion during that same month and year for one more day here on the blog, shall we?

Today’s post shows that big change was taking place on the other side of the river as well, out in Vermilion-on-the-Lake (which was not yet officially part of Vermilion). Below is an article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 11, 1957, noting the opening of a brand new school: Lake Elementary School, located at 320 Aldrich Road.

It must have been pretty big news to be able to consolidate the kids at one building, since as the article noted, the opening of the new grade school “marked the end of classes in the town hall,” which was located on the other side of the river (near the church mentioned in yesterday’s post).

I don’t know exactly when the school closed, but since the early 1990s the former school had been the home of the Vermilion Family YMCA. However, the organization moved to a new location at 1230 Beechview Drive this year, leaving the building on Aldrich apparently empty.

The view two Sundays ago

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Call me old-fashioned, but I really think that the designers of these types of grade schools built in the 1950s had some good ideas. Windows allowed law enforcement the opportunity to quickly and easily see what was going on in each room if necessary. Having all the kids on one floor made for a quick exit; sometimes many of these classrooms even had their own door. And heating and cooling one floor would probably be cheaper than doing the same for several floors. 

The biggest drawback seems to have been the leaky flat roof.

Most of today’s schools seem to be over-designed (ugly), multi-floored monstrosities that would seem to be more difficult to police, and would require more time to get the students out in case of an emergency. These new buildings don’t even look like schools, and would seem to have built with eventual repurposing in mind.

Early Days of Vermilion-on-the-Lake – Part 2

Once Vermilion-on-the-Lake was off and running with the initial wave of cottages, it remained for its developers to sell it. The Vermilion-On-The-Lake Company, which was based in Cleveland, ran ads in a variety of Ohio newspapers to both promote the resort community and find representatives to do the selling.

Here’s one that ran in the Mansfield News-Journal on June 7, 1925, promoting Vermilion-on-the-Lake as “The Atlantic City of Lake Erie.” Clewell Sykes is identified as the President of the company.

Here’s another one that ran in the Fremont News-Messenger on Thursday, April 8, 1926.

Here’s one seeking a salesman in the Akron area that ran in the Akron Beacon Journal on June 22, 1926. In addition to the clubhouse and beach, amenities now include paved streets, sidewalks, a gun club and tea room.

By the time of this ad, which ran in the Mansfield News-Journal on July 3, 1927, there were now 118 cottages.

And this ad from the News-Journal of August 12, 1927 provides a great progress report of Vermilion-on-the-Lake at that time, with 1087 lots purchased by 800 people from all over Ohio and neighboring states.

This huge ad in the Akron Beacon Journal of April 4, 1928 was seeking a “High Grade Man” and “Local Hustler” to represent the company. Note that there were now 126 cottages built and occupied.

After the 1920s, it appears that the massive sales push for Vermilion-on-the-Lake was largely over. But by then, it was firmly established as a popular summer resort, thanks to the well-advertised dances and social events held at the clubhouse.

Here are some ads for bands appearing at the clubhouse through the years. Note that many ads still mention cottages and lots for sale.

Ad from the Lorain Times-Herald May 1928

Ad from the News Messenger of Friday, April 17, 1931

Ad from the Sandusky Register, Wednesday, Jan 27, 1932

Ad from the Sandusky Register of April 11, 1936

Ad from the Sandusky Register of June 10, 1939

Ad from the Sandusky Register of March 22, 1940

Ad from the Pittsburgh Press of July 21, 1940

Ad from the Chronicle Telegram of March 22, 1946

Ad from the Sandusky Register of June 30, 1955

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Vermilion-on-the-Lake voted to merge with Vermilion in May of 1962.

Despite the merger, Vermilion-on-the-Lake remains a unique lakefront community rich in history and atmosphere, anchored by its still-gorgeous clubhouse.

Early Days of Vermilion-on-the-Lake – Part 1

Ad from the Pittsburgh Press of July 21, 1940

I live out on the eastern edge of Vermilion, right across U. S. Route 6 from Vermilion-on-the-Lake. Originally, I had hoped to buy a "humble cottage" (as referred to in The Quiet Man) down there, but it wasn't meant to be. But I still like to drive around the area, especially around the Clubhouse, and check it all out. It's cozy, and reminds me of Sheffield Lake, another place that started out as a summer resort of sorts.

Here's a nice link to a history of Vermilion on the Lake on the VOL website.

It's hard to believe that at one time, there were big plans for Vermilion-on-the-Lake, which was marketed as "The Atlantic City of Lake Erie.”

Here are a few newspaper clippings and ads from the early days.

This clipping from the Sandusky Star Journal of May 18, 1920 announces the construction of the first wave of cottages, and the now well-known log clubhouse.

In this article, which appeared in the Sandusky Star Journal a few days later on May 21, 1920, the sale of lots for Vermilion-on-the-Lake had just begun. The article notes that it had "been created from the Werk farm located just east of Vermilion.” The article also mentions Shore Inn and Blue Bird Beach, as well as farms that were going to be turned into other summer resort colonies.

It seems that getting the land ready for the new Vermilion-on-the-Lake allotment was hazardous. This clipping from the June 9, 1920 Sandusky Star Journal proves that mosquitoes, like now, were a concern back then.

This unfortunate chap was injured while clearing land for Vermilion-on-the-Lake. The small blurb about Joseph Wagner appeared in the Star Journal on June 30, 1920.

This article from the March 22, 1921 Star Journal notes that Vermilion was preparing engineering plans and cost estimates for the extension of the village water mains out to Vermilion-on-the-Lake. Also of note is the mention of the planned paving of Liberty Street, referred to in the article as part of the Cleveland-Sandusky highway. (The Federal route designation of the highway as U. S. Route 6 was still a few years away.)

Next: Selling Vermilion-on-the Lake

Vermilion in Post Cards – Part 4: Lighthouse, Vermilion-on-the-Lake and Crystal Beach

Today I’m wrapping up my series on Vermilion as seen though postcards found mainly on Ebay. We'll start with Vermilion’s lighthouse, which was a popular postcard topic.

(I’m fairly ignorant about Vermilion history, and was surprised to read on a Wiki page that the lighthouse shown in the above postcards was taken down in 1929 and sent to Buffalo (where it was originally built) to be renovated. Although today it is privately owned, it’s still in use in New York as the East Charity Shoal Light.)

The Vermilion-On-The-Lake clubhouse was also a popular postcard subject. I wrote about this iconic building a few times, including here.

I’ve done a couple posts about Crystal Beach. Lately there have been many vintage postcards for sale on Ebay for this iconic Vermilion attraction. Some of the postcards seem like they should be for one of the other same-named amusement parks, but the backs of them and postmarks confirm that they are indeed Crystal Beach in Vermilion.

(Postmarked 1910)

(Postmarked 1914)

(Postmarked 1927)

(Postmarked 1943)

It’s a little harder to find postcards of Cask Villa (soon to get its own post on this blog).

But I was happy to find a vintage postcard of one Vermilion subject that I’ve written about, namely Motel Plaza. It was part of my series about Rusine’s (here). And it’s still doing business out there on U.S. Route 6 with the same name.

Vermilion On-The-Lake Clubhouse Then & Now

Yesterday I posted the 1955 ad for Fior's Spaghetti House, which also included the above photo of the Vermilion On-The-Lake Clubhouse and Dance Hall. Apparently Dick Fior operated the Clubhouse in addition to the Spaghetti House.

Vintage postcard

The Clubhouse was originally built in 1919 as a private community center for the Vermilion On-The-Lake lakefront development. The Vermilion-on-the-Lake, Ohio website (here) includes an interesting history of the Clubhouse through the years.

During the 1950s, the Clubhouse hosted a variety of popular bands. The two upcoming bands mentioned in the ad yesterday were Big Jay McNeely (spelled wrong in the ad) and Rusty Bryant.

Today, the Clubhouse is owned by the Vermilion on the Lake Historic Community Center Charitable Trust. It's available for lakefront wedding receptions or as a meeting place. Click here for more information.

Oh yeah, before I forget, here's my obligatory "today" shot.

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I played at the Clubhouse several times in the 1980s for either wedding receptions or dances with various big bands. It's a beautiful, rustic building, and the Vermilion-on-the-Lake website notes that the very trees that were cleared to make way for the Clubhouse were used in its construction.