When the Lakeview Park Fountain was New – May 1936

Late 1930s view

Everything is new at some point, including Lorain's landmarks. The article above, which appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal and Times-Herald on May 16, 1936 – 78 years ago today – announces the upcoming unveiling of the iconic Lakeview Park fountain on Memorial Day, May 30th.

The short article points out that the fountain would provide 60 changes of water design and color effects every six minutes while in operation. It also notes that the fountain was a federal aid project, built with sandstone from the Amherst quarries.

The fountain – like the park's Easter Basket – looms larges in the collective memories of Lorain's citizens. I remember many times my parents would pull into Lakeview Park and er, uh park, so that my siblings and I – sometimes in our pajamas – could watch the fountain change colors.

Also like the Easter Basket, the fountain has been the subject of many postcards over the years.

Lorain's First Catholic Church to be Razed – May 1917

I seem to spend a lot of time on this blog writing about old buildings – especially old buildings that aren't around any more. That's why this item from the Lorain Daily News caught my eye.

It ran in that paper on Saturday, May 5, 1917 and tells the story of the impending demolition of the city's oldest Catholic church building to make way for a new central electric power station for the Lorain County Electric Company.

The church originally had been erected in 1873 at Reid Avenue and Eighth Street as a place for St. Mary's parish to worship. In 1883 it was moved to the rear of the property and replaced by a new building.

Eleven years later the newer building was destroyed by fire, and the original structure was pressed back into service for a year until a new St. Mary's was built in 1895. The old church building was then sold to Anton Schmidt, who moved to the rear of his property on Second Street. There, it was used to store ice.

The property, and thus the old church building as well, changed hands a few times during the ensuing years. Its last owner before being sold to the Lorain County Electric company was A. E. Willis.

I like the fact that 97 years ago the newspaper saw the significance of a historic structure and paid it an appropriate tribute on the front page with a well-researched article.

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According to this article on the Morning Journal's website, St. Mary Church was originally forced to merge with Holy Trinity Church on Elyria Avenue as part of Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Lennon's 2009 edict. The merged church was called Mary, Mother of God. The Vatican later overruled the edict and restored the St. Mary church name in 2012 – which was only fitting for Lorain's oldest Catholic Church.

Hill Climb at Mill Hollow Hill – May 16, 1931

I'm sure many of my fellow Baby Boomers recall childhood trips to Mill Hollow near Vermilion, and the steep hill where North Ridge Road entered the park at the eastern end.

I remember being fascinated when, after a family picnic or weekend of camping, Dad had to put the car in low gear as we slowly climbed the steep grade to exit the park. It always made for a memorable end to the day.

Years later, when my high school chums and I rode our bikes there, I used to dread the ride home and having to try and get up that hill on my Schwinn. Many times, we had to just walk it up part of the way.

That's why it was interesting to me to see this ad, which ran in the Lorain Times-Herald on Saturday, May 16, 1931. It advertises a motorcycle hillclimbing competition that took place on that well-remembered hill.

It all seems very modern to me for something that was held in 1931– 83 years ago this month.

Anyway, I can't remember exactly when the hill leading into Mill Hollow was rerouted and "improved" during the last few decades, but the drive into the park was never quite the same to me. Much of the route's natural beauty was lost when the bend in the road was broadened. Plus, the elements of historical charm and drama were gone forever.

Looking at an aerial view of the hill today (below), it's easy to see where the road used to go. You can see the ghost of the old road bed if you look closely (click on the photo for a larger view).

Beaver Park RR Crossing – Then & Now

Courtesy Lorain Historical Society

I found this undated photo of the infamous "Killer Crossing" – the railroad crossing at Beaver Park – down in the archives of the Lorain Historical Society. The wintery view is looking west, with West Erie Avenue visible at the left edge of the photo.

It's kind of hard to come up with a time frame for the photo without any vehicles.

Anyway, here's my corresponding shot from last weekend (below). I was very careful when I stopped on the tracks to get it!

As you can see, the bridge on the right has been replaced, and the Beaver Park Marina building at 6101 West Erie on the south side of the highway is visible.

The one thing that's consistent in both photos, though, is the presence of billboards along U. S. Route 6.

You might remember that railroad crossing lights and gates were finally installed in 2007 thanks to the efforts of a little girl who sadly lost her father there at the crossing in 2006. You can read the story of Jennifer Bracken here on the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen website.

Cedar Point Frontier Trail Opens – May 1971

Well, Cedar Point opened for the season over the weekend, so it's a good time to post this article.

Courtesy www.rollercoasterfreak.com and Ebay

It's from the May 21, 1971 Lorain Journal and it announces the premiere of the new Frontier Trail. The addition of the Trail offered park visitors another way to get to Frontier Town (besides the now long-gone Frontier Lift and the train). It also provided some historical and educational entertainment with its recreation of Fort Sandusky, as well as various mills, a blacksmith, a trading post, glass blowers, etc.

What I didn't know (as the article explains) is that many of the pioneer buildings along the trail – the old cabins, barns and the grist mill – are the real McCoy, not recreations. The mill came all the way from Franklin, North Carolina; the 140-year-old barn came from Findlay, and the cabins came from Bucyrus and the Findlay-Galion area. It's a nice touch of authenticity that I certainly wouldn't expect.

Of course, having a trail that enabled you to walk to Frontier Town hastened the demise of the Frontier Lift, which lasted through the 1985 season according to this Cedar Point historical timeline website.

Benny's Restaurant Part 2

Benny's Restaurant at the time of the shooting

The front page of the Lorain Journal of Monday, July 25, 1966 summed up the sad story in a headline: Ben Hart Slain; Suspect Jailed.

According to the story written by Ron Royhab, Ben Hart was shot five times and killed in his own night club, Benny's, by a Sheffield Lake man over a bar bill.

Ben Hart's last words were, "Oh my God, he killed me. My wife and kids.."

After he was shot, his wife, Elaine ran to his side and stayed with him until the Lorain Rescue Squad took him to St. Joseph Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m.

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According to the article, one eyewitness explained that Hart had been acting strangely that night. The eyewitness said that Hart "dragged a man from the lounge into the bar area" and was slapping the man across the face with the front and back of his hand. Hart allegedly knocked the man against the juke box and the man didn't even try to fight back.

Then a gun barrel appeared and shots were fired. Apparently the fight started because the man wanted to pay his bill by check.

Mrs. Hart's version of the story was slightly different. She stated that the bartender had told her that the man didn't want to pay his bill, and she was asked by the bartender to intercede. She asked the customer to pay his bill, which was $19.02. The man went through his pockets, scattering papers all over and Mrs. Hart helped him pick them up. The man then produced a checkbook and Mrs. Hart filled out the check for him. When the check was brought back to him for signing, however, he refused and pushed Mrs. Hart. That's when she got her husband involved, with the result that the man produced a gun from his pocket and shot Hart.

The man ran out the front door, and was later arrested in Oberlin after his car went left of center. During his test for intoxication, he admitted that he just shot a man at Benny's in Lorain. He had a speedy arraignment on Sunday – the first ever on a Sunday in Lorain.

He later admitted that he was in the bar that night because he was separated from his wife and thought that she and her boyfriend would be there that night.

He eventually was allowed to plead guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to one to twenty years in the Ohio Penitentiary.

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Mrs. Hart kept the nightclub open for a few more years. It eventually closed, and later became the home of Tiffany's Steakhouse in the early 1970s.

Benny's Restaurant Part 1

September 12, 1968 ad from the Lorain Journal

Benny's Restaurant – also known as Benny Hart's – first appeared in the Lorain City Directory at 4900 West Erie Avenue around the mid-1960s.

Before that, the business was located in Downtown Lorain and was known as Ben Hart's Show Bar at 651 Broadway. (I wrote about the nightclub here and here.)

The move out to the West Erie Avenue location seemed to occur shortly after the relocation of the Ed Blahay Transportation from 4900 West Erie out to E. 28th Street in South Lorain. Ben Hart apparently took custody of the motel on the property as well, as Benny's Motel appeared in the directory about that time.

Several restaurants preceded Benny's at the 4900 West Erie location, including Page's Restaurant (in the late 1940s), Stan's Truck Stop (in the early 1950s) and Smith's Restaurant (late 1950s until early 60s). It's unclear whether they were located in the same building as Benny's.

Like Ben Hart's Show Bar, Benny's was a nightclub that featured a variety of acts including exotic dancers. Some of them (like Little Egypt, show in the ad at the top of the post) had popular careers. Others (such as Jerri Carr, shown in the July 23, 1966 ad from the Journal at left) left a very small internet footprint and are almost impossible to research.

Tomorrow: the sad tale of Benny Hart's murder

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By the way, the performer known as Little Egypt featured in the ad at the top of this post had a pretty good career belly dancing on television.

Her real name was Lorraine Shalloub. She was the great-granddaughter of the original Little Egypt, who created such a sensation at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

Miss Shalloub performed on a variety of shows on the 1960s and 70s, including the Tonight Show and even Batman (at right), in which she danced at a campaign rally being held for the evil Penguin, who was running for Mayor of Gotham City.