Quonset Huts in Lorain

I have no idea if any of the quonset huts that were part of Kew Gardens are still in Lorain. They had a unique construction that wasn't really the classic look commonly accepted as a quonset hut. But there are a few of the traditional type around town that are interesting to see.

For instance, there are two sitting right next to each other at 4465 Oberlin Avenue (shown above). The Lorain County Auditor website says they were built in 1948. One seems to function as a home, the other as a garage – it's kind of hard to tell. They seem to have been chopped down a little.

I first found the 4465 Oberlin Avenue address in the 1957 city directory – a year after Kew Gardens was dissolved and its quonset huts dispersed far and wide.

Here's an aerial view of how they are situated.

And here are a few more views of them.

Another quonset hut that was just brought to my attention yesterday by longtime blog reader and contributor Jeremy Reynolds is located at 1745 E. 28th Street.

The building's proportion seems right, and its 25' x 48' dimensions matches the huts listed for sale in the Kew Gardens sales ad.

I don’t know, but in this age of “tiny houses,” I wonder if quonset huts will make a comeback?

Kew Gardens – Part 3

In August 1956, the end of the line for Kew Gardens finally loomed into view. The Lorain Journal of August 23, 1956 announced that the buildings would be sold. The article also provides a short history of Kew Gardens.

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Kew Gardens To Go On Block
69 Buildings To Be Sold In 30 Days
Last 2 Families Will Move Soon

Sixty-nine buildings and fixtures at the 10-year old Kew Gardens veterans’ housing project in the East Side will go on sale to the public Sept. 3, it was announced today by Willard Francis, director of the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority.

Francis said the sale will mark the end of the temporary housing project which was erected in 1946 to relieve acute housing problems of World War II veterans and their families.

HE STRESSED that the buildings must be sold and removed from the property within 30 days after the sale begins.

“The buildings will be sold individually, if necessary, and anyone may purchase all of the buildings if the right price is offered,” Francis said.

Fixtures to be sold will include toilets, tanks, lavatory bowls, gas hot water heaters, gas space heaters, apartment-size gas ranges and combination sink and laundry trays, showers, and clothes poles.

Francis said he will handle the sale of the buildings, beginning Sept. 3, at the LMHA offices at 2150 Lorain Rd., Leavitt Homes project.

The sales of fixtures will take place at the Kew Gardens project. All fixture purchasers will be required to remove items they buy from the buildings.

“Only two families are still living in the Kew Gardens project,” Francis said. “Both of them will be out of the project within 10 days.”

There were 138 families living in 70 buildings at the project during most of the 10 years it has been in existence. One of the buildings was destroyed by fire.

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The Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority ran ads promoting the sale in the local newspapers. Here is the version that ran in the Lorain Journal near the end of August.

Here is the slightly different Chronicle-Telegram version (courtesy Rick Kurish).

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Remember the 1952 Historic Aerial of Kew Gardens that I posted yesterday? Here is is again (below).

And here’s the same view in 1962, six years after the sale of the quonset huts.

Today the former Kew Gardens property is covered with trees with no evidence the post-WWII housing project was ever there.

Kew Gardens – Part 2

In late 1947, additional trailers were still being added to Kew Gardens. The December 2, 1947 edition of the Chronicle-Telegram included the news that a contract was awarded "to set up 11 more trailers in the Kew Gardens veterans housing project in Lorain at a cost of $30 each. The trailers were recently acquired from the U. S. Government. They were located in Michigan.”

Apparently Lorain was interested in taking control of Kew Gardens early in the game, according to this article which ran in the Lorain Journal on November 15, 1949.

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Delay Action on Acquiring Kew Gardens

Action by the city in acquiring control of Kew Garden homes – not trailers – was postponed indefinitely by committee of the whole last night when Service Director Wallace Chapla announced that the deadline has been set back one year.

“A Public Housing Authority directive has extended the limit from Dec 22 this year to Dec. 22, 1950.” Chapla said. “I think council should decide whether the city should acquire the homes.”

Pincura Cites Ruling
In order to own the homes, the city would have to own the ground or lease it, according to Solicitor John Pincura. He told newsmen the city already meets federal requirements, since the Kew Garden area is now leased by the city.

Pincura said the city did not contemplate operation of the veterans’ housing development, but probably would sub-lease the land to the Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority.

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It’s interesting to see how Kew Gardens was laid out. Dennis Thompson made me aware that the veterans’ housing project was clearly visible in photographs found on the Historic Aerials website.

Here’s a 1952 view, with all of the quonset huts laid out neatly like a military base. I’ve labeled the main roads so you can get your bearing as to where it was located.

Next: On the Block

Kew Gardens – Part 1

On my post about the First Baby of 1947, I noted that the father and mother “resided in a quonset hut in Kew Gardens.”

At least one person who left a comment on that post had never heard of Kew Gardens. That’s easy to understand, since there isn’t really a trace of it left today.

So what was Kew Gardens? Rick Kurish provided me with a nice capsule summary of what it was all about in an email a few years ago.

Rick wrote, "While spending time with friends on Lorain's east side over the holidays, we were discussing the post World War ll building boom in the area. I asked if anyone remembered the quonset huts that were erected on the south side of Colorado Ave. shortly after the war. Everyone looked at me as if I was crazy, but I clearly remember them.

"In the early 1950s, we would occasionally visit cousins who lived way out in the hinter lands of the east side on Colorado Ave,” said Rick. "I remember a number of quonset huts located south of Colorado Ave. somewhere near where Discount Drug Mart is currently. When I asked my dad what they were, he said they were emergency temporary housing that was erected for returning veterans. By the time I saw them in the early 1950s they were apparently already unoccupied. My dad said housing, and building materials, were scarce immediately after the war, and this was a stopgap solution.”

It’s strange to think of a bunch of quonset huts being up there on the south side of Colorado by Drug Mart.

Anyway, since Rick's email, I have been trying to compile enough information about Kew Gardens to do a post about it. 

An article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 23, 1946 show how the tenants were picked. The article noted that the names "of 139 veterans, selected for a special screening committee of World War II ex-servicemen for occupancy of the Kew Gardens veterans housing project were made public today by Willard Francis, secretary of the Lorain-co Housing Authority, which has charge of the project.

"The screening committee, made up of one representative each from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, the AMVETS and the veterans committee of the CIO, examined more than 600 applications.

“The committee went over each application using a special system of points. For instance, so many points were allowed for a family living in doubled-up quarters, there were points in cases involving pregnancy or in cases where families were forced to live in cellars or other quarters unfitted for residential use, also for families forced to live without proper toilet and other sanitary facilities necessary for decent living.” 

Once it was determined who was going to live in Kew Gardens, they had to have something to live in. In addition to the quonset huts, trailers were a big part of the first phase of the housing project. Where did they all come from? An article that ran in the Lorain Journal on December 26, 1946 revealed where they originated – and that they would soon be on their way to Lorain.

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TRAILERS COMING

County to Let Contract For Vets’ Home

By Staff Correspondent

ELYRIA – County commissioners laid plans today for moving the county’s house trailers to the Lorain Veterans housing project at Kew Gardens from points in Michigan, Maryland and Florida.

The trailers will be inspected at their present sites to determine what repairs are necessary. Trailer that do not pass inspection will not be brought to Lorain.

Contract for the moving will be awarded to a Midland, Mich. hauling firm as soon as the inspections have been made. A small number of utility trailers in Michigan are to be brought to Lorain.

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Quonset huts were apparently still a novelty when they were being used at Kew Gardens. In fact, the Journal ran this photo and accompanying caption to help explain what they were in the January 29, 1947 edition.

Fire Station Eyesore – March 1964

Although nowadays it seems like my hometown of Lorain is demolition-happy, there was a time when only truly rundown structures were targeted.

That seems to be the case here with the old No. Five Fire Station, which was located at 208 East 32nd Street between Broadway and Elyria Avenue. The photograph below and accompanying caption calling for its demolition ran in the March 7, 1964 Lorain Journal.

Although it was no longer an operating fire station, the Fire Chief wanted to keep using it for storage. 

Apparently he lost the battle because today a small, newer home sits at that address.

Bradymobile at Thomas Edison’s Birthplace – 1962

Remember last week when I mentioned that my family had visited Thomas Edison’s Birthplace in Milan at least once?

Well, here’s the photographic proof: a 1962 photo of my parent’s 1958 Plymouth Savoy parked right in front of the house! Dad found a good parking space that day.

Here’s a closer look without the photobombing Beetle driver.

Seeing the photo of that car brings back a lot of memories. It was red, and not easy to forget with those huge fins.

Here’s another photo (below) of the Savoy from about the same time, along with my brothers and me. (I’m on the left.) Note the trailer in the back, as we were tent camping in those days.

Around 1964 or so, my parents got rid of the Savoy and bought a new Oldsmobile F-85. From then on, we were a loyal Oldsmobile family.

But I still link that 1958 Plymouth Savoy to some of my earliest and happiest memories of childhood.

The Showboat in Lorain – Part 3

The Showboat kept rolling along during the 1950s, showcasing a variety of acts from around the country. Above are two ads from the mid-1950s (courtesy of Rick Kurish).

By the late 1950s, however, the Showboat had apparently shifted its focus from entertainment to fine dining, judging from the ad below – which appeared in the Lorain Journal on June 1, 1957.

Gus Atthanasoff had also shorted his name in the ads to the more pronounceable ‘Gus Athan.’

But disaster in the form of a fire struck on November 17, 1957 – for the second time that year. The Lorain Journal article (below) tells the story.

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Showboat Fire Again Shuts Doors
By LEN POGER

Fire again swept the Showboat Restaurant yesterday.

It was the second major blaze of the year in the same establishment.

One other time, on May 14, the restaurant was damaged by smoke from a fire in the adjoining Muir drugstore at 758 Broadway.

This occurred shortly before the planned “grand opening” of the Showboat after the place had been remodeled as a result of a fire earlier in the year.

August Atthanasoff, proprietor of the restaurant, estimated damage Sunday at $15,000.

Cause of the blaze has not been determined. It is being investigated by the fire department and the state arson board, Fire Chief Alfred G. Nickley stated.

The origin of the fire, which started yesterday afternoon in the restaurant at 776 Broadway, had not yet been determined. Chief Nickley said this morning that he would not know the cause until he makes a complete investigation.

The inside of the Showboat, one of the largest restaurants in Lorain, was gutted with heavy damage to the bar and dining room.

Smoke damage was also reported by 12 business offices in the Commercial Building above the restaurant and to adjoining stores.

Nickley said that gas service had been shut off to the surrounding stores.

The fire, a repeat of a $15,000 blaze last Jan. 15, was brought under control by 22 firemen directed by Nickley, 35 minutes after the first alarm was sent in at 5:23 p. m.

Atthanasoff said he could not say how long the restaurant will be closed.

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The Elyria Chronicle covered the story as well. Here is that paper’s version (below). By the time of the Chronicle’s story, Atthanasoff had decided not to reopen the Showboat.

2nd Fire Does It
‘Showboat" Will Sail Under New 
Name – Too Much Bad Luck in Old
By DAN J. WARNER

SEAGOING SUPERSTITION – Twice sunk, the “Showboat Restaurant,” once a popular Lorain night club is going to be salvaged. But she is going to be launched in a new location under a new name. Her captain-owner is convinced that she’s jinxed.

Plans are now being made to re-open the club by its owner, August G. Atthanasoff, of 2520 North Jefferson Blvd. It was closed for the second and last time on Nov. 18 when the restaurant’s plush interior was destroyed by a $27,000 fire, the second such fire in a year.

The first fire hit the night spot on Jan. 17, also destroying the interior and causing about $20,000 worth of damage.

Atthanasoff said he is now working on several deals on a location to reopen the restaurant sometime in the near future. And the name will be changed.

“The ‘Showboat’ has just had too much bad luck,” he declared.

Atthanasoff, in the meantime, is kept busy operating his second restaurant, Vian’s Bar-B-Q on Lake Rd.

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As it turned out, Gus Atthanasoff’s new restaurant was Colony Bar, located at 1407 Colorado Avenue on the east side. Today the building is home to Offshore Pub and Grub.

It’s just too bad that the Showboat became yet another memorable Lorain business that was lost to fire.

Thanks to Rick Kurish for his help with this post.