Peck’s Cottages – Part 2

So when did one of Lloyd Moats' cottage camps become Peck’s Cottages? For that, I had to do a little digging.

An April 19, 1947 article in the Sandusky Register noted that Harry J. Peck was the man associated with Moats’ Camp No. 2. The article pointed out that Peck had recently been named president of the recently organized Lake Erie Playground Association. Other member businesses mentioned in the article included Lake View Cabins, Cask Villa, Colonial Villa, Wild Waves and Hartley’s Beach. The article stated, “The group intends to prepare circulars for distribution of the various vacation resorts in the area through information bureaus in Huron and Vermilion."

The Tourist & Trailer Camps listings in the Lorain Telephone Company directory eventually revealed when the changeover from Moat’s to Peck’s took place.

The October 1947 edition of the Lorain Telephone Company directory included what would be the last listing for Moat’s Cabins No. 2 (below).

By the time of the 1948 phone directory listing (below), Moat’s Cabins No. 2 would have a new name: Peck’s Tourist & Vacation Court. The phone number remained the same.

The 1950 directory included two listings for Peck’s, one with and one without the reference to Moat’s Cabins No. 2 (below).

It’s interesting seeing all the different cottages, trailer camps and motels listed. There are a few I’ve already covered on the blog (such as Hialeah and Grandview). And one of them is coming up next, right after Peck’s!

Next: Vintage Peck’s Cottages postcard views

Peck’s Cottages – Part 1

Summer’s beginning to wind down, so let’s head back out to Vacationland for a while longer. Today’s destination: Peck’s Cottages.

Peck’s Cottages was located on West Lake Road (U.S. 6) where it intersects with Joppa Road about five miles west of Vermilion.

The small cottage resort was originally one of three owned by Lloyd W. Moats of Berlin Heights. The Moats family had deep farming roots in Erie County and is profiled in A Standard History of Erie County, Ohio (1916).

Lloyd W. Moats had a successful fruit farm as well. In November 1939, according to an article in the Sandusky Register, he sold five carloads of apples to the Federal Surplus Commodities Corporation, “the largest number by any single grower in any week since the purchasing program has been in progress here.” But by the early 1940s, he focused on his cottages, cabins and motel business. (According to the Sandusky Register, his equipment used to produce cider and wine was for sale in 1939, and the Moats farm itself was listed for sale or lease in 1942.)

A vintage postcard exists that shows some of the cottages at Moat’s Modern Camp near Mitiwanga. It’s unclear as to exactly which camp is depicted.

The back of the vintage postcard, which provides a description of the three cottage camps and their approximate location, has this information:

"Three Modern Tourist Camps, one mile apart on Lake Erie at Mitiwanga between Huron and Vermilion, O. State Route 2, U. S. Route 6. All three Camps have Electricity, Gas, Hot and Cold Running City Water, Showers, Flush Toilets and Telephones. Free Bathing, Parking, Picnicing, Play Grounds, Boating, Fishing. New Furniture, Inner Spring Mattresses. Specially equipped for over night, week, month or season. Cooking allowed in cabins.

Moats' Modern Camp No. 1 – 20 Cabins – 34 Beds
Moats’ Tourist Camp No. 2 – 40 Cabins – 50 Beds
Moats’ Willow Haven Camp No. 3 – 10 Cabins – 30 Beds

Both single and double cabins for (2 or 3) (4 or 5) guests. Reservations, write L. W. Moats, Berlin Heights, Ohio – Owner and Proprietor.”

Note that all three camps are identified as being "at Mitiwanga,” which is only a mile from what later became Peck’s Cottages.

Anyway, you can learn more about Lloyd Moats and his various tourist properties, as well as many of the other resorts by visiting the ‘Vacationland’ page on the Lake Shore Rail Maps website.

Next: A Change in Name

Get the Chronicle at Your Cottage – 1936

Last week I posted a 1938 ad that explained to Lorain Journal subscribers that they could get the paper delivered to them while they were on vacation. The assumption was that readers would not want to miss what was going on the Popeye comic strip while they were on summer vacation.

The ad wasn’t very specific as to how the Journal was going to get the paper to them; I just assumed that it was going to be mailed.

Well, thanks to regular contributor Rick Kurish, we can see how the Journal’s competition – the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram – dealt with the same promotional gimmick in a very clever manner.

Rick wrote, "When I saw your "Take Popeye on Vacation" blog the other day it reminded me of a similar service offered by the Chronicle-Telegram at about the same time. I first ran across the ads for the service some time ago while looking for something else.

"The Chronicle-Telegram would deliver the newspaper the same evening it was printed to apparently select vacation cottages on Lake Erie --- and the delivery cost was only 18 cents a week! Just thought you might like to see the ad.

"The attached ad was in the Chronicle-Telegram of May 23, 1936.

"Imagine what the people who used the service in 1936 would think of getting their news instantly on an iPad!” observed Rick.

It’s a great ad (thanks, Rick!) and a nice snapshot of nearby cottage and resort communities at the time, including: Vermilion; Linwood; Crystal Beach; Elberta; Vermilion-On-The-Lake; Sunnyside Beach; and Nakomis [sic].

Click here to visit Rich Tarrant’s "Vermilion Views" website to learn more about Nokomis Park development. That particular issue of "Vermilion Views" also includes some great Lake Shore Electric photos near Vermilion, courtesy of – who else? – Dennis Lamont.

The “Moving” Story of LSE 38 – Part 2

After the Lake Shore Electric Railway closed down in 1938, its assets – including the cars – were sold. What’s surprising is how much is known about the fate of each car.

As Drew explains, “It’s amazing how much documentation there was on each car, who bought it and when. One of the guys who moved a lot of them kept a ledger of each car number, buyer, where it was hauled to, and how much he charged. And all this stuff has survived, and Dennis has collected it.”

Not surprisingly, Dennis was able to provide me with a copy of that ledger showing the entry about No. 38 (below). It's the last one on the page.

The ledger shows that No. 38 was sold to a Mr. Smith of Vermilion, who paid $35 to have it moved to its new home at the Vermilion Fish & Game club in March 1939.

Dennis noted, "Mr. Smith bought 38 and 39 from the LSE in Sandusky where the stripped bodies were selling cheap. 

“A complete interurban car, wheels and all was selling for around $250 ($4400 today). No. 39 went to Ruggles Beach, and No. 38 went to Vermilion Fish & Game. 

“The shipping cost of $35 would be about $600 today. (Cheap!)

"Vermilion Fish & Game did a great job of keeping the car painted and roof protected.  The club used the car for a storage shed for all their landscaping tools and equipment, and had it nicely rigged out as a workshop. 

Dennis provided me with this aerial photo (below) showing where No. 38 was situated on the Vermilion Fish & Game property on Thompson Rd. The yellow rectangle marks the spot.

Here are two shots of No. 38 taken in 1978, showing it at its home at the Vermilion Fish & Game club. (Photos are courtesy of Dennis Lamont.)

No. 38 continued to be used as an office and storage shed by the club until it was purchased by Thomas Patton and moved to Avon Lake.

Here are some shots from that 2008 move. (Photos courtesy of Dennis Lamont.)

And here’s No. 38 at its new home in Avon Lake in 2010, ready to be restored. (Photo courtesy of Drew Penfield.)

As Dennis notes, "Tom and his crew went over the entire body, sandblasting, replacing rusted out metal, new doors and windows, paint and lettering.”

You can see the results of their TLC.

There’s still some work that needs to be completed to get No. 38 ready for its place in the limelight in front of the planned LSE museum.

"Still to be done are the fabrications necessary to mount it on the trucks,” Dennis explains, "which are sitting right around the corner, and then moving the whole shebang out to the section of track that was installed in the parking lot out front."

It will be quite an impressive accomplishment when done.

As Drew notes, " Although it’s not a fully functional car, LSE 38 is the only Lake Shore Electric freight motor to have been restored to this extent. LSE 42 is awaiting restoration at the Northern Ohio Railway Museum near Chippewa Lake, and car 46 has been partially restored at the Mad River & Nickel Plate Museum in Bellevue, but 38 is the only freight motor to have been refurbished, repainted, and put on display thus far. The fact that it will be displayed in front of the Lake Shore Electric’s former Beach Park station makes it even more special.”

Here’s wishing much success to Thomas Patton and Dennis Lamont with their project. It will be a gift not only to Lake Shore Electric Railway fans, but to history lovers everywhere.

Special thanks to Dennis Lamont and Drew Penfield for their help in preparing these posts. 

****

And while we’re waiting for the museum to open in Avon Lake, now is a good time to check out an online museum: namely, Drew Penfield’s Lake Shore Rail Maps website. Not only is it the most comprehensive online history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway available, it’s also a great historical resource for Northeast Ohio. It's extremely well-researched, and includes rarely seen photos, all in an easy-to-read narrative.

The “Moving” Story of LSE 38 – Part 1

When the Lake Shore Electric Railway went out of business in 1938, its assets, including the various numbered LSE cars (like No. 38 above) were sold off. Many of the cars that previously carried passengers and freight were converted into houses, cottages, diners and storage sheds.

So what became of No. 38 when its glory days on the Lake Shore Electric ended, and how did it end up in Avon Lake today?

Historian and archivist Dennis Lamont and Lake Shore Rail Maps Webmaster Drew Penfield kindly enlightened me on No. 38’s history and provided me with photos from various periods in its “life.”

So when was the car built? Drew provided some quick specs. He noted, “It was built in 1920 at the LSE shops in Sandusky. It weighed 42 tons, and had a cargo capacity of 48,000 pounds. It’s 55 feet long and originally had four 140 horsepower electric motors, for a total of 560 horsepower.

“No. 38 and its sisters were built by the LSE in 1920 because they were ramping up their freight business after World War I. As passenger ridership began to fall off in the 1920’s and especially the 1930’s, moving freight helped keep the LSE in business.”

Drew pointed out that No. 38 spent much of its working life making nightly freight runs between Cleveland and Detroit. 

Here are some photos showing No. 38 in the 1920s and 30s.

No. 38 at the freight depot in Cleveland circa 1927

No. 38 at Rocky River circa mid to late 1930s

No. 38 (at the far left) at the Rocky River Freight House circa 1936

Another Rocky River Freight House photo circa 1936

When the Lake Shore Electric Railway closed down, No. 38 would soon have a new home – in Vermilion.

Next: No. 38 in Retirement

Lake Shore Electric Railway Museum on Track in Avon Lake

Since yesterday’s post dealt with the old interurban stop numbers in Avon Lake, it’s a good time to post this. In case you missed it, the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram two weeks ago had a nice article with the story behind a new museum dedicated to the Lake Shore Electric Railway.

The museum is the brainchild of businessman Thomas Patton and archivist and historian Dennis Lamont (a regular contributor to this blog), and is under construction in Avon Lake at the Artstown Shopping Center in a former bowling alley.

(Thomas Patton with Dennis Lamont and Albert Doane previously published the Arcadia book Lake Shore Electric Railway, which was featured in a four-part series on this blog beginning here.)

The Avon Lake museum project undertaken by Patton and Lamont also includes the restoration of a former Lake Shore Electric baggage car (shown in the photos) – Number 38 – that currently sits behind the shopping center near the U. S. Post Office facility.

But how did it get there, and what had it been doing since the Lake Shore Electric Railway went out of business in 1938?

Stop back here tomorrow for the “moving" story of LSE 38!

LSE Stop Numbers in Avon Lake Make Comeback

For decades, the poles painted with the Stop numbers associated with the Lake Shore Electric Railway (and the buses that replaced them) were a familiar sight to Lake Road (U.S. 6) travelers. I remember seeing them while commuting to Cleveland in the 1980s.

But as the decades passed, the painted yellow bands with the numbers on them began to chip away and fade, just like the memories of what the numbers represented. 

Happily, the numbers on the poles – and the history behind them – are making a comeback.

According to the Heritage Avon Lake Facebook page, the Boy Scouts of Troop 338 have taken on the task of repainting the familiar yellow band and Stop numbers.

The first one – at Stop 56 (at Route 83) is completed and was the subject of media coverage last week. Here’s what it looks like (below).

Several others have been completed as well.

The book The Avon Lake Story (1965) by Milburn Walker included a mention of the old Stops. It stated, “A carryover from electric interurban days in Avon Lake is a numbering system to denote bus stops. Along the interurban right-of-way before the electric line’s demise in 1938, the stops are now on Lake Road, the bus route. Stop 56 is at Center Road and Lake Road."

From the book The Avon Lake Story

Congratulations to Avon Lake and everyone involved with the project for celebrating the city’s transportation heritage, and taking steps to make sure that this part of it is not forgotten.

For much better coverage (with photographs) of the Stop 56 pole being painted, be sure to visit Heritage Avon Lake’s Facebook page and scroll down the page a bit. It also has a great ongoing selection of “then and now” photographs of Avon Lake through the years posted on its timeline.