Remember Gold Circle?

1969 version of the logo

Remember Gold Circle? Sure you do, especially if you’re a Baby Boomer like me who grew up in this area.

It was a discount department store chain, based in Ohio, with an outlet across from Midway Mall on Midway Boulevard. (Marc’s uses part of the former Gold Circle building.)

Gold Circle was similar to Hills Department Stores, Kmart or Walmart. It was a division of Federated Department Stores.

Here's the Journal article from September 13, 1969 announcing the new store. (The photo is of a store in Columbus.)

Gold Circle was great because, like Walmart today, it had everything you needed – all in one store.  Perfect for lazy shoppers like me.

1975 version of the logo

According to the Gold Circle Wikipedia entry, Federated Department Stores was sold in 1988. The new owner consequently liquidated the Gold Circle stores. A few converted to other store brands, including Kmart or Hill’s.

Today, Walmart and Target continue to serve the shoppers that once patronized Gold Circle. Ironically, Target’s bullseye logo is vaguely reminiscent of Gold Circle.

The Columbus store (shown in the 1969 Journal photo) as it looked in 1989

Midway Mall Third Anniversary – Sept. 1969

Fifty years ago this month, Midway Mall was celebrating its Third Anniversary. Above is the full page ad making the announcement that ran in the Journal on Sept. 17, 1969.

And here's an article about the big event, which ran in the paper the same day.

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It's strange thinking how big an impact Midway Mall had on our daily lives. While it was fun to shop there in the 70s and 80s, it all came at a cost.

It basically sounded the death knell for most Downtown Lorain businesses, and later, the O'Neil - Sheffield Shopping Center. And today, Midway Mall itself has been ironically supplanted by shiny new planned shopping and residential developments like Crocker Park and Legacy Village, which are pretty much fake versions of what they replaced.

In my opinion, Midway Mall hasn't been helped by the modifications to the highway there, especially the removal of the 49th Street Bridge and the Cloverleaf. It takes forever to get around with all the traffic lights. 

And for westbound traffic on State Route 2 during the evening rush hour, the Route 57 interchange has become a major bottleneck with nightly backups. Without the Cloverleaf (which allowed for a continuous flow of vehicles moving on and off the highway), traffic consequently builds up at the traffic light entrance to westbound Route 2, until the light changes, turning loose dozens of vehicles all trying to squeeze their way onto the two-lane expressway at the same time.

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Click here to bring up all of my posts about Midway Mall in chronological order. (If you scroll all the way to the bottom, then be sure to click “Older Posts” (on the right) and it will continue to bring up the rest of the Midway Mall posts going back to 2010.)

Key Harbor Lagoons – Sept. 1963

I’m still learning about Vermilion (the city in which I live), so this article about lagoons in a part of town I never heard of caught my interest. It ran in the Lorain Journal on September 17, 1963 and spotlights the Key Harbor Lagoons and the Vermilion Marina.

As noted in the article, “the twin projects are on the Vermilion River, south of the Nickel Plate Road, at 1295 West River Road.

‘The Key Harbor Lagoons, where five homes are already completed including a model dwelling, will have 61 lots of which 29 are now ready for home building.

“All of the lots, located on lagoons with individual boat dockage, will be on paved streets with all utilities available.”

Erwin Schultz, the secretary-treasurer of Lorain Incorporated, the company behind both projects, noted, “We’re trying to accomplish a development to give the average person with moderate means a kind of living which heretofore has been accessible only to well-to-do residents.”

I wish developers thought like that in 2019.

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Key Harbor Lagoons actually broke ground in 1961. Here’s the article from the January 20, 1961 Sandusky Register making the announcement.

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Today, Key Harbor retains its original name – but with the addition of a ‘u’ in Harbour.

I drove over there Sunday evening for a few photos.

At the entrance on West River Road

Lorain County Courthouse Gets Facelift – Sept. 1963

Vintage postcard

You might remember that the old Lorain County Courthouse was rededicated in June of 2018 (for use as the county’s Adult Probation Department) after an extensive renovation.

But it was back in 1963 that the Courthouse also received a facelift of sorts, according to the article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on September 18, 1963.

The article notes that it was the Courthouse’s first cleaning in twelve years.

Just for a comparison, I took a side trip to Elyria last night to get some “now” photos of the renovated former Courthouse. It’s really a beautiful building.

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I also gave the former Courthouse the then-and-now photographic treatment back here in 2016.

East Breakwater Today

After my blog post on Friday about the construction of the East Breakwater, I realized I hadn’t been down there since the dedication of the Historical Marker for the Lighthouse in late June 2017. So I headed down there to grab a few photos.

As I walked, I remembered decades ago how it used to be a long, lonely walk out to the end of the pier.  Once you got to the end, you might see a couple of other hardy souls and a few fishermen.

Now, with the addition of the access road and parking lot on the Diked Disposal side, you can drive three quarters of the way there – making it much more accessible to the public.

It’s interesting to see how the original cement walkway surface has been enhanced and beautified. I was pretty impressed.

The only thing missing from the sunny scene were a few vendors. A hot dog cart would have been great, and maybe someone selling hot coffee or other beverages. Or maybe a food truck in the parking lot. Then you have a festive, touristy atmosphere that would make Lorain seem more like it's part of Vacationland – instead of a well-kept secret.

East Breakwall Construction – Sept. 1963

This set of photos and caption might be of interest to anyone who ever enjoyed a pleasant stroll on the East Side Pier.

The photos ran in the Lorain Journal on September 19, 1963 and provided a progress report on the construction of the new East Breakwater, which was part of a major harbor improvement program at that time.

Here's a newspaper account of the awarding of the contract.

From the News Messenger, January 25, 1963

And here's a clipping from the Sun and Erie County Independent of May 30, 1963 about the shipping of the steel to be used in the construction of the east breakwater.

By the mid-1970s, the Diked Disposal area to the east of the break wall was being proposed.

A portion of a 1974 map prepared by U. S. Army Engineer

A November 1974 U. S. Army Engineer proposal called for "the construction and operation of a 58-acre diked disposal facility to receive polluted sediments dredged from Lorain Harbor."

"After filling and a subsequent period of stabilization, the site may be used for parkland or other recreational purposes," noted the report.

Anyway, since its construction in the early 1960s, the East Breakwater and its surrounding area have undergone more even improvements, and would be unrecognizable to someone who hadn't seen it in a long time.

Here's a current aerial shot of the "Mile Long Pier" and Diked Disposal area courtesy of Google Maps.

Lake Shore Colonial Apartments Ad – Sept, 7, 1963

Although much of the western approach to Lorain on West Erie has changed in the last few years (with many former motels and restaurants being demolished), there are still a few nice-looking apartment complexes out that way, including the Lake Shore Colonial Apartments.

Above is an ad announcing the premier showing of Lake Shore Colonial Apartments. It ran in the Journal on September 7, 1963.

As usual, a major utility – in this case, Ohio Edison – sponsored the ad, which promoted the apartments as being designed for “comfort, convenience and flameless electric living.”

Today, the apartments have apparently been remodeled a bit compared to the architectural rendering in the newspaper ad.