George Wickens Home to be Auctioned Off

It’s kind of sad that the Walter A. Frey Funeral Home on W. Erie next to Lorain City Hall will be going up for auction in early November, as reported in the Morning Journal by Richard Payerchin (here).

Why? Because it’s one of those landmarks in Lorain that we’ve all gotten used to seeing, year after year, for decades. It’s somehow comforting seeing it there.

A 1945 Phone Book Ad

At least the business will continue, and soon celebrate its 75th annniversary. (Here is the link to the company website.)

Longtime readers of this blog know that the Walter A. Frey Funeral Home building is special for another reason as well; it was the home of Lorain Mayor George Wickens, a gentleman who made beautifying Lorain a priority.

His home was even featured on a postcard (which I wrote about here, featuring a Then & Now comparison).

It will be interesting to see what happens to the house after it changes ownership.

I would hope that the historic structure would play a role in a Downtown Lorain that is trying to make a comeback. It’d be ideal for a restaurant or B&B.

I have the perfect name for it too: Wickens’ Place.

“Civic Beauty” Home – Then & Now

I saw the above postcard recently on Ebay, identified as one in a series of 20 promotional postcards produced by the Lorain Times Herald.

The back of the postcard had the instructions as to how to acquire the whole set of 20 cards. It read, “A Post Card Coupon cut from the Times-Herald gets you one card; 18 coupons get you the entire series. No charge.”

The typeset caption of the postcard – “South View, a “Civic Beauty” Home – made me think that the house was somewhere out in South Lorain, and I groaned at the thought of driving around looking for it. But then I peered closely at the handwritten caption in the photo and recognized part of a name, “Wick.”

Then I knew exactly whose house it was and where it’s located (below).

Former Lorain Mayor and Councilman George Wickens lived there. It’s appropriate that his house was featured on a postcard, as he was one of the city’s champions when it came to promoting civic beauty.

You can find a sampler of my posts about George Wickens by clicking here.

But it’s kind of sad, and a little ironic, that this “civic beauty home” (now the home of Walter A. Frey Funeral Home) now sits on a four lane federal highway, wedged uncomfortably between Lorain’s monstrous City Hall and Muzik’s Auto Care.

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home Open House - June 15, 1958

I've written about Walter A. Frey Funeral Home a few times.

Back here, I did a "then and now" feature on the building using a photo from a 1945 ad, and back here, I mentioned the home as being the former home of Lorain Mayor George Wickens.

Above is an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal announcing an Open House of the newly redecorated building on June 15, 1958 – 56 years ago yesterday.

Every guest that took the tour of the new building received a free gift. I wonder what it was?

Anyway, it's great to see two of Lorain's oldest businesses – Walter A. Frey Funeral Home and Muzik Brothers side by side on U. S. 6 next to Lorain City Hall.

New Muzik Bros. Location Revealed

The view this past weekend

A former Downtown Lorain business is coming home.

Muzik's Auto Care is returning to U.S. Route 6 after an absence of almost 60 years – and just a stone's throw away from the firm's original location at the northeast corner of Broadway and East Erie.

Muzik Brothers first appeared in the Lorain City Directory in 1947 (below).

Muzik Brothers 1947 City Directory Listing

It was around that time period that John C. and Joseph J. Muzik opened their business in the gas station formerly operated by Lorain Mayor Harry VanWagnen.

Here's a shot of the Muzik Brothers service station from March 1952 (below).

Muzik Brothers Gulf Station at Broadway and E. Erie
(Courtesy Lorain Historical Society)

The company remained at that location until around 1955, when it moved over to 901 Broadway (below) across from the Post Office.

Muzik Brothers service station at 9th and Broadway
(Courtesy Lorain Historical Society)

Around 1973, Muzik Brothers moved their business over to 1245 Broadway. It remained there until around 1983 or '84, when the business was relocated to 3671 Oberlin Avenue (below).

A Taco Bell is going to be built at the 3671 Oberlin Avenue location (which I wrote about here and The Morning Journal covered here), resulting in Muzik's Auto Care's move to the vacant property next to Walter A. Frey Funeral Home.

It's great to see a longtime Lorain business committed to staying in business in its hometown. Best of luck to Muzik's Auto Care at its new location.

George Wickens Wrap-up

Although I concluded my series on George Wickens last month, I now realize I have a few more things mention – thanks to some great comments that were posted at the time, as well as some other loose ends that I had left hanging.

George Wickens' Home
One anonymous (but well-informed) commenter believed that the Walter A. Frey Funeral Home at 700 West Erie Avenue was the former home of George Wickens. The commenter was quite correct and I thank him (or her) for pointing it out.

At the time of Wickens' death, he was living at 142 West Erie, which was right next door to his undertaking business located in the Parkside Chapel at 140 West Erie. As Drew Penfield pointed out in his comment, Lorain's streets and house numbering system all changed in the early 1900s – with the result that the Parkside Chapel ended up with the address of 600 West Erie. To the east was City Hall at 500 West Erie, and right next door to the west was 700 West Erie, current home of Walter A. Frey Funeral Home.

An article in the Lorain Journal from August 15, 1968 about George Wickens' contribution towards the acquiring of the Civil War soldiers statue and fountain mentions that it was located "in the park across from his home" and that he "lived in the home which is presently the Walter A. Frey Funeral Home next to City Hall."

I haven't confirmed it with any research, but it also appears (thanks to a recent commenter's observation) that George Wickens' daughter Elizabeth lived in the house for a number of years until the early 1920s.

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Wickens Place

I was unsuccessful in my attempt to locate some sort of newspaper article about the dedication of this short road in honor of George Wickens. I scoured the newspapers on microfilm for almost a year immediately following his death in March 1908, hoping to see some front-page mention of the naming of the street in his honor but it was not to be – for now, anyway.

I can say with certainty that in May 1908, Lorain introduced its new street renaming plan, which included specific instructions for how it would be implemented. One part of the plan called for "Short and blind streets running north and south to be named Places."

Although the library is missing quite a few city directories between 1900 and 1920, the 1912 edition did indeed  include Wickens Place. Thus that street has been named for George Wickens for at least one hundred years, and it was wise not to rename it last year.

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Wickens, Herzer, Panza, Cook & Batista Co.

The law firm's Avon offices

Although the Wickens funeral and furniture businesses in Lorain are long gone, today the Wickens name lives on locally via the law firm of Wickens, Herzer, Panza, Cook & Batista Co. with its offices in Avon and Sandusky.

As the law firm's website points out, its roots are traced to the law firm founded in 1932 by William G. Wickens, grandson of George Wickens. William G. Wickens wrote an excellent history of Lorain – Early Days of Lorain – in 1927 that was published in the Lorain Journal in 1981. Its sequel – Birth of a City – appeared in the newspaper in 1985. Both articles are fantastic historical resources and are conveniently available online (for free!) in PDF format on the law firm's website here.

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home Then and Now

I ran across this ad for Walter A. Frey Funeral Home in a 1945 Lorain telephone book. The photo caught my attention, since I drive by the building at 700 West Erie Avenue near Lorain City Hall almost every day. So I figured it was a good candidate for the 'then and now' photo treatment.

Walter A. Frey Funeral Home has been a Lorain business since the early to mid-1940's. A 1942 city directory still included its predecessor, Royce Funeral Home, but by 1945 it had acquired its present well-known and respected name.

Walter A. Frey Sr. passed away on January 27, 2002.

The 1945 phone book indicated that there was a church at 600 West Erie Avenue, between the funeral home and City Hall. But the church, along with the original City Hall, are long gone.

The Lorain County Auditor's website indicates that the building dates back to 1870, making it a true survivor in a downtown that doesn't have a lot of really old buildings, thanks to the 1924 tornado and urban renewal.

I photographed the building a few weeks ago on a sunny Saturday morning. As you can see, there have been a few architectural and landscaping changes, including enclosing the porch. The addition to the west end of the building has brought it literally up against Pete's Repair next door.