Another One Bites the Dust

I spent a few days this week talking about model homes – brand new homes from different decades that symbolized progress.

Today's post is different. Instead of being about homes going up, it's about one coming down.

Way back in December 2010 (here), I wrote about some properties for sale along Colorado Avenue just east of Miller Road. They were former farms with old houses on them, and I mused about their eventual demolition.

One of the handsome old farm houses – at 39308 Colorado Avenue (below) – caught my eye. The Lorain County Auditor website has it listed as constructed in 1900, which means that it was built before that.

December 2010

Three and a half years later, the house and farm were still for sale and I wrote an update (here). Here's my June 2014 shot (below).

June 2014

In late April, I noticed that the house was sadly looking worse than ever (below).

April 25, 2015

I was going to post the above photo as part of an update, but decided to wait another weekend so I could take a better photograph. So last Sunday, I went back to grab one more shot. That's when I saw the heavy equipment adjacent to the house (below).

May 3, 2015

The house came down the very next day.

Here's one last shot (below).

So it's goodbye to another old Lorain County farmhouse, and all of the history and memories contained within its walls.

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor website

1949 Cleveland Indians Sketch Book: A Tale of Two Wahoos

Cover of the 1949 Sketch Book
(Courtesy of Gene Biros)

A pal from work recently loaned me a copy of the Cleveland Indians 1949 Sketch Book (above), which came out the season following the team's triumph in the 1948 World Series. For me, the book was a lot of fun to look at – both as a graphic designer and an Indians fan.

What's interesting is that the book contains illustrations of both the earlier version of Chief Wahoo, as well as the modern design that is beloved by Indians fans today. I've scanned some samples from the book to show this transition in progress.

Here's an example. Despite the presence of what we now consider to be the modern Chief Wahoo on the cover of the 1949 book, the title page has the earlier, large-nosed version (below).

That same version of the Chief is found in a great Vernors ad (below) that also features multiple appearances of the iconic soft drink's gnome mascot. 

Here are some more examples of the earlier Chief Wahoo design (below) from the book.

Lastly, here's a unique, head-on view of the more "modern" Chief Wahoo atop a totem pole (below).

If you're interested in learning more about the history of Chief Wahoo, be sure to read this fascinating piece by Brad Ricca.

Lorain Model Home – May 1931

Here's another model home, this time in Lorain. However, this home warranted its very own section of the May 29, 1931 Lorain Times-Herald.

The house – located at 2910 Park Drive – was built by S. S. Moles, general contractor for $14,000. A the time of the above newspaper announcement, it had already been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Michael Savulak.

The special newspaper section devoted to the "Mole's Model Charm House" promotes many companies and businesses who had a hand in either the construction of the home, or the preparation for the showing. The Wickens Co. provided all of the furnishings. The Pandy and Marcie Co. was in charge of the interior and exterior painting and decorating. The Brunk Machine and Forging Co. furnished all ornamental steel work. A General Electric full range radio was installed and provided music during the model home inspection. George Nemeth installed the plumbing fixtures. Crystal Ice provided the slag for the driveway. Stucco work was done by W. W. Duffield. Lorain Glass Co. provided all mirrors and leaded glass windows and doors. Rogers Bros. did the heating and cooling system. Smith-Bickel installed the electric washer and all building hardware. Schmitt Tile and Marble Co. did the tile work.

Interestingly, the date on the Lorain County Auditor website for the house is a little off, as it lists 1940 as the year it was built.

Here's the aerial view showing the house's location opposite Central Park (below).

And here's my photo from last weekend. As you can see, it's still a very charming house.

By the way, the house to the left of Mole's Charm House is one of the houses we drew for Frank Hicks' Art Class at Admiral King High School.

Amherst Township Model Home – May 1964

As regular readers of this blog know, I enjoy posting vintage ads for Lorain County model homes.

Why? The ads are interesting, providing a documented glimpse of the latest modern features for homes at that time. Best of all, since the houses were special, they're usually still standing and in good shape, thus providing me with good "then and now" posts.

The above ad ran in the Lorain Journal on May 22, 1964 and featured an Amherst Township house built by C. Don Yunker. The ad was basically a plug for Ohio Edison (note the cameo appearance of our pal Reddy Kilowatt).

Perhaps because the house was so new, there was no address listed other than Oberlin Road. And despite the small map indicating its approximate location, it was a challenge to find it. It took me a while "cruising" Oberlin Road via Bing Maps to eventually figure out its location (below) so I could head out there with my camera.

On Sunday, I took a detour on the way to the grocery store to get my "now" shot. Although the rendering of the house in the ad suggests that it sits on a bland suburban street, that is not the case. The house's Oberlin Road setting is tranquil and beautiful, and the house could easily be mistaken for a charming farm house.

Anson Titus House in Avon Lake

Recently, while on the way home after taking some photographs in Avon Lake, I noticed this fine old house on Lake Road just west of the Avon Lake Water Filtration Plant. Although I had driven by and admired it many times through the years, I had never bothered to try to find out something about its history. Until now.

Fortunately, its history is well-documented. Gerry Vogel's great Avon Lake Images of America book for Arcadia Publishing includes a vintage photo (below) of the house courtesy of Gerry Paine, and a capsule history.

It reads, "The Titus House, 33350 Lake Road. Built in 1847, by pioneer educator Anson Titus, this early Greek Revival home is also known as the Cuyler-Curtis house after descendants who kept it in the family. Anson also built the first schoolhouse in northern Avon Township."

There's actually a lot of information online about Anson Titus and his family, due to his prominence. The avonhistory.org website reveals that Anson Titus taught school in a log school house on Moore Road, and that he fought in the War of 1812.

Two more photos of the home can be found on the Cleveland Memory Project website. The first photo (below), also courtesy of Gerry Paine, is believed to have been taken around 1910.

The second photo (below) was donated to the website by Nancy Jane Nelson Abram. (Ms Abram wrote a self-published two-volume history of Avon Lake, which is available at the Avon Lake Library.)

Here is the link to the www.findagrave.com page for Anson Titus.

Broadway Recreation Ad – April 10, 1956

Well, the last day of April was yesterday but here's one final vintage April ad. It ran in the pages of the Lorain Journal of April 10, 1956 – 59 years ago. It's a snapshot of a moment in time in bowling history–when Broadway Recreation switched to automatic pinsetters.

What did they do before that? According to this website, before automatic pinsetters became standard in the late 1950s, boys were employed "to pick up bowling pins, arrange them in order and return bowling balls to the players."

The website says that the boys were sometimes called "pin monkeys," and that explains why on The Flintstones, real monkeys were shown performing the task in the bowling alley where Fred did his famous twinkle toe ball release.

What used to be in that building at 2834 Broadway?

I haven't done one of these in a while–where I photograph some arbitrary building, and then research it in the library to find out what business originally called it home over the years.

In this case, however, I already knew what longtime Lorain business was located in this building at 2834 Broadway. Do you remember?

Perhaps like me, you had your senior pictures photographed by John J. Gargus at Gargus Studio. If so, then you most likely had them shot in this small box-like building.

1955 Lorain Phone Book ad

The original Gargus Studio was located at 1561 E. 33rd Street, from around 1946 or so until about 1948. Beginning with the 1949 directory, the business was at 2834 Broadway.

The studio continued to be located here even after Mr. Gargus retired in 1977. The business finally disappeared from the city directory beginning with the 1983 edition.

I had thought that perhaps some other businesses preceded Gargus Studio at this location and that's what I was hoping to find out. But according to the city directories, the original building in the back was merely a residence before that, hosting various tenants at the same time. So it appears that Gargus Studio was the first business in the front addition to the house.

Interestingly, the Lorain County Auditor website has the house listed as being built in 1875.

You can read more about John Gargus here.

Some of the subsequent businesses that called 2834 Broadway home include Ritenauer Real Estate (mid to late 1980s), Century 21, Mid Town Security Agency, Computer Exchange and West Furniture.

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I still chuckle when I look at my senior pictures. It was a very hot day in July when they were taken, and I was wearing an uncomfortable, heavy brown jacket that was not unlike a bearskin rug. And I was wearing shorts, since they weren't going to be in the camera frame.

I didn't wear a jacket and shorts combination again until my honeymoon in Bermuda.