St. Paddy's Day at Heilman's 1960

Here's a wee bit of fun in honor of St. Patrick's Day – a 1960 ad for Lorain's iconic Heilman's restaurant that ran in the Lorain Journal.

The ad's a little curious in that there are no mentions or descriptions of any special Irish menu items. I suspect the whole ad was part of a 'clip book' of prepared artwork that leaves room for a company's name and phone number.

By the way, the long pipe that the leprechaun in the ad is smoking is an Irish clay pipe, which you can read about here.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Carnegie Library Dedication Front Pages

I almost forgot I had these!  Fellow blogger and local history expert Loraine Ritchey and I had traded a few emails about the history of the library building itself, and I realized that I had neglected to do enough research.

So I went back to the library and retrieved these library dedication front pages for some more information.

Here's the one from the Lorain Daily News.

And here's the one from the Lorain Times-Herald. Click on each so you can read it! (Sorry some of it is cut off!)

I also have to point out that the dedication date is May 20, 1904 and not May 30 as listed in various Lorain history chronologies. The date is correct on the official Lorain Public Library history website, which you can find here – check it out! (No pun intended!)

Streator Park – From the Air!

My final look at Streator Park and the former Carnegie Library is a bird's eye view – well, actually a couple of views.

This great 1924 aerial photo is courtesy of Dennis Lamont, local historian and archivist who, fortunately for me, enjoys sharing! Gee, this picture would have come in handy when I was trying to find out where that circular fountain was! It's easy to find in this photo. (Click on it for a closer look.)

And blog pal Bob Kovach sent me this comparison of a 1962 aerial view from historicaerials.com and a recent one from the bing.com search engine. (Give a click also!) I guess judging by this photo, the fountain was gone by 1962, so I was a little bit late looking for it!

Lastly, here's the full bing aerial.

Thanks, guys, for the images!

Streator Park Photo vs Hand-tinted Postcard

My recent series of blogs on the Carnegie Library and Streator Park generated several emails from my rich network of people and fellow bloggers who are knowledgeable about Lorain's history.

Well-known local historian and archivist Dennis Lamont sent me a great vintage photo of Streator Park, with the Carnegie Library in the background. While admiring it, I realized I had seen it before – as one of the hand-tinted postcards that I had already posted!

I sometimes forget that colorful, vintage 'white border' postcards often have bright blue cloud-filled skies dropped into the composition during the lithographic process. (Click here and here for some nice websites about the history of these 'white border' cards.)

Here's a nice comparison of the original photo and the resulting lithographed postcard. In this case, the outlining of the trees on the colorful postcard is almost amusing (click on it so you can see what I'm talking about!)

Photo courtesy of Dennis Lamont

Vintage Postcard

I wonder how many postcards had those very same clouds?

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 3

Here's the final installment of my quest to get the then-and-now shots of Streator Park, despite the fact that the sidewalk configuration had changed over the years.

I checked on Ebay again and purchased another vintage postcard of Streator Park. (I began to think that the printers of these postcards were pretty desperate for local subject matter!)

This new postcard provided a different view of the park, with the fountain visible on the left side. Using the sidewalk and the building chimneys as coordinates, I finally had a pretty good idea of where the fountain was located.

Here are the resulting then-and-now shots. They were shot over a period of a couple days (which explains why the sky looks so different in some of the photos).

Here is the fountain shot that was so hard to figure out.

And lastly, here is the lagoon shot. The playground equipment made it impossible to replicate the angle exactly.

It is disappointing to see how much the park has changed. During the early 1900s, citizens could stroll through the park on their way to the library, rest on the park benches and appreciate the park’s beauty. Unfortunately, the park is now dominated by garish playground equipment.

This is one park that I wish could be restored to its original state.

Anyway, the Carnegie Library served the city well until the new library replaced it in 1957. We'll see if the building is put to some new use as a result of Lorain City Council's efforts. (The lawsuit has moved ahead, as explained here.)

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 2

In the past, I've found Ebay to be a great research aid, as people always seem to be selling Lorain postcards, maps and even photos. I was hoping that some more postcards of the Carnegie Library and Streator Park would help me find where the fountain in the postcard (at left) had been. I was right – although it would only complicate matters, as you will see.

While looking on Ebay, I found two other vintage postcards of Streator Park. Both, strangely enough, showed a lagoon. (In the middle of Lorain?) Since the postcards were inexpensive, I bought both of them, hoping that they would help me understand the park’s layout. When the postcards arrived in the mail, I was surprised to see that they were the same photograph, but cropped, colored and labeled differently.

However, with a magnifying glass I was able to see the fountain to the right of the lagoon on each postcard. (See close-up at left.)

I went back to Streator Park, determined to get my photographs. The lagoon seemed to correspond with a large, mulched play area. Unfortunately I still couldn’t determine exactly where the fountain had been located.

More library research failed to produce any maps or photos of Streator Park to help me.


It was time to head back to Ebay - again. Good thing I had dough to blow!

Next: the then-and-now pix

Carnegie Library & Streator Park Then & Now Part 1

Sometimes it’s a challenge to get a then-and-now photograph of a vintage postcard because of changes in the subject’s surroundings. That was certainly true with this 2007 project, as I discovered that getting my photographs would be no “walk in the park”!

It started with a postcard (at left) that I purchased on Ebay featuring a fountain in Streator Park in Lorain, Ohio. I’d never heard of Streator Park back then, but I recognized the building in the background as the Carnegie Library (the original Lorain Public Library).

I did a little research and learned that in 1902, the Lorain Public Library Association applied to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation for a grant to erect a public library building. To receive the grant, the city had to meet two conditions: agree to support the library financially and provide a suitable site for the building. The site that was chosen and ultimately approved was Streator Park and on May 20, 1904, the Carnegie Public Library was dedicated.

Since I already owned a vintage postcard of the Carnegie Library, I planned to do then-and-now shots of both the building and the fountain. A mild December day provided the perfect opportunity to have some photographic fun.

Recreating the postcard of the front of the Library was easy. 

It was interesting to see how the landscape had changed after more than a century. 

Unfortunately, the park fountain was long gone, and to make matters more difficult, a playground, basketball court and picnic shelter now occupied much of the park. None of the trees on the postcard seemed to have survived either. After walking around the grounds for an hour, I realized that it would be impossible to determine the fountain’s location without some more information.

It was time to head back to Ebay!


Next: The Lagoon