Beulah Beach in the News – Part 1

My post on Beulah Beach from the middle of June contained very little information about its history. To rectify that, here are some various newspaper clippings from over the years that tell the story of its growth and development.

The earliest mention of Beulah Beach in available online newspapers dates back to the summer of 1921, when it was already a destination for fun, as well as Bible conferences.

Sandusky Star-Journal, July 15, 1921

Sandusky Star-Journal, August 17, 1921

That was also the summer when it was announced that the property was purchased by the Christian Missionary Alliance.

Sandusky Star-Journal, August 23, 1921

The article notes, “The association has erected a 100-room hotel at the beach but this year it was necessary to provide 100 tents to accommodate the overflow."

By the next year, it was common to see ads in the newspapers for the annual convention, as well as small personal ads announcing the attendance of some local citizens.

The News-Messenger, August 12, 1922

The News-Messenger, August 25, 1922

Here are the ads from the Fremont News-Messenger announcing the 1924, 1925 and 1926 conferences.

The News-Messenger, August 7, 1924

The News-Messenger, August 8, 1925

The News-Messenger, August 18, 1926

This article from the Akron Beacon Journal of August 9, 1928 notes the large amount of Akronites that would be attending the summer conference at Beulah Beach. “More than 100 tents have been erected at the beach to accommodate the visitors who will come from every section of the country,” the article observes.

Akron Beacon-Journal, August 9, 1928

This article from the News-Journal of June 8, 1929 provides a little background of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. It points out that the mission fields are in 25 different countries in all parts of the world, with more than 500 missionaries.

This article from the August 8, 1930 Sandusky Register reveals the activity schedule for the opening day of the annual conference.

Beulah Beach made the newspapers several times in the spring and summer of 1932, with articles about a March series of meetings, promotion of the summer meeting and even the selection of a Postmaster.

Sandusky Register, March 26, 1932

Sandusky Register, July 16, 1932

Greenville Daily Advocate, July 27, 1932

Sandusky Register, September 25, 1932

Cottages were mentioned in newspaper articles about the 1934 conference in both the Fremont News-Messenger and Sandusky Register. Both articles noted, “The majority of the guests will be housed in two fifty-room buildings, cottages, and tents rented by the association. Scores of others will bring their own camping equipment.”

Fremont News-Messenger, July 25, 1934

Sandusky Register, July 26, 1934

By 1940, the newspaper publicity for the annual Missionary Convention and Bible Conference included a well-written description of the grounds. An article in the July 29, 1940 News-Messenger noted, “Beulah Beach, which is becoming one of the nation’s leading camp grounds, is located four miles west of Vermilion and six miles east of Huron on Routes 6 and 2. Accommodations include rooms, cabins and camping privileges. Meals are served in a cafeteria, and a refreshment stand and grocery are located on the grounds.”

Fremont News-Messenger, July 29, 1940

Next: Into the 1940s, 50s and 60s

Through the Eyes of the Press– Part 2 Now Available

Stop the presses – here’s an important announcement! Part 2 of Paula Shorf’s FREE book "BLACK RIVER CHARLESTON LORAIN – Through the Eyes of the Press" is now available.

Like Part 1, Part 2 includes colorful historical maps
created by Matthew Weisman

Actually, the presses were never rolling to begin with, since the book is only available as a downloadable PDF.

Back on this post, I posted the link where you could download Part 1, which covered the years 1818-1869. Well, Part 2 is now done, and covers the years 1870-1910. You can download it here.

BLACK RIVER CHARLESTON LORAIN – Through the Eyes of the Press is a collection of transcribed newspaper articles from Lorain’s early days. It sheds light on what life was like for the city’s earliest residents.

The book can be a valuable resource for anyone interested in local history, especially as it played out in the various newspapers. But remember – don’t look for it at your local bookstore (are there any?) because the book is only available for downloading.

Tornado Damaged Fifth and Hamilton – Then & Now

I thought I had done every possible "Then & Now" photo of homes damaged by the 1924 Lorain Tornado, but every so often I come up with another one.

The postcard view above is of West Fifth Street (east of Oberlin Avenue), looking towards Hamilton Avenue (barely visible at the far right of the photo).

And here’s the recent “now" view.

As a bonus, here’s a Google Maps street view circa July 2019 (below). Gee, those lawns look parched.

With so many of the homes in the 1924 view having been torn down, it’s not much of a Then & Now. It’s more of a lesson in how the tornado changed the look of Lorain’s streets forever by eliminating so many of what now be century homes. 

However, the one house in both views is the beautiful, historic one at 440 Hamilton (below). Here are two recent shots.

Local historian Loraine Ritchey has featured this home on her blog, noting that it was built for the well-known Wickens family of Lorain.

1924 Lorain Tornado Headlines in Other Cities

Yesterday was the 96th Anniversary of the 1924 Lorain Tornado.

It’s hard to believe that in only four years, a hundred years will have passed since the disaster that still defines the city.

My parents had told my siblings and me about the tornado when we were very young. Knowing that it had killed so many people, and done so much destruction in the city that we lived, caused me to worry every time there was a tornado watch in effect. My parents must have felt the same way, because we went down in the basement a few times when the sky looked particularly threatening.

Anyway, the infamous tornado has been discussed here on the blog many times.

I posted Jack LaVriha’s look back at the tornado from a 1958 perspective here; a view of the tornado from a 1969 perspective here; then-and-now photos of tornado-damaged houses and buildings here, here, here, here, here, here and here; vintage articles and postcards on the occasion of the 90th anniversary back in 2014 here; and actual front pages of the Lorain Times-Herald and Chronicle-Telegram here.

Just about the only thing I haven’t posted are front pages of how the tornado was covered in a few major newspapers – so that’s what I’m doing today.

Here’s the story as it appeared on the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer of Monday, June 30, 1924.

“Maimed, desperate, bruised almost senseless, Lorain, a city once of some 50,000 souls, is still trying to count its dead tonight,” the lead article notes.

“Lorain is in ruins. By day, workers attempt to clear away the wreckage. At night, the city is in darkness.

“Martial law has been declared and a thousand troops of the Ohio National Guard, Naval Reserves, the extra police from Cleveland, thirty miles to the east, and from Elyria, ten miles to the south, are keeping order.”

Over on the west coast, the Los Angeles Times took a more regional overview of the storms, including reports of the death toll in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Illinois.

Although the second page headline – “Ghouls Prowl Amid Corpses in City Stunned by Deadly Hurricane” – makes the disaster sound more like a zombie apocalypse, the paper’s coverage is still thorough and impressive.

Powdermaker Road

You can see Powdermaker/Chester Road just above the dotted line
of the proposed route for  I-90 in this 1960s-era map

While looking at old maps in preparation for yesterday’s post about Route 83, I happened to notice the name ‘Powdermaker Road’ for part of what we know today as Chester Road in Avon. It reminded me of something I read in the Chronicle-Telegram a few years ago that made me aware of how easy it is for local history to be forgotten.

The article was about how the planning of the new development along Chester Road was bringing to light some of the old legal descriptions of the properties. This resulted in the name ‘Powdermaker Road’ being discussed, and curiosity as to where the name came from.

What was somewhat surprising was that someone quoted in the article noted that the name came from the fact that back in the day when it was just a dirt road, it was often quite dry – and kicked up a lot of powder when traveled on.

While that may certainly be true, a look at some historic maps reveals that the name more likely came from the fact that the P. Powdermaker (also spelled ‘Poudermacher’) farm was located on today’s Chester Road a little east of the intersection with Moore Road.

Here’s part of an 1874 Avon Township map showing the Powdermaker property.

And here’s a portion of an 1896 Avon Township map.

On that same map you can see the beginning of the Powdermaker Ditch as it makes its march to the lake, just north of the Powdermaker property.

I understand that these various ditches (now referred to as creeks) were dug for drainage purposes.

By the time of the 1912 maps series, the Powdermaker name was no longer associated with the farm properties, and today Chester Road seems to be the name of the road from end to end.

A glance at a map, however, shows Powdermaker Creek (or Ditch) running parallel and just to the west of Moore Road. Where it crosses Pin Oak Parkway, there are still identifying signs.

Today, the Powdermaker name also lives on in the attractive Village at Powdermaker Creek residential development, which is adjacent to its namesake creek.

Ode to a Road: State Route 83

Today’s blog post was written by longtime contributor and local historian Dennis Thompson. Dennis wrote it as a response to my story a few weeks ago about Klatik’s Log Cabin and its location on State Route 83.  As Dennis explains, the road has been known by different names and numbers over the years, and it came very close to losing its current '83’ designation to a replacement highway. 

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The Saga of Center Road and Route 83

By Dennis Thompson

If you read the comments on Dan’s blog article about Klatik’s Log Cabin Nite Club, you will see Rick Kurish's mention of several names for what we now know as Route 83. As is typical of many of the area main roads, it started out as a descriptive name – Avon Belden Road.

As these roads went through villages, they often got renamed within the village limits. In this case, both Avon and North Ridgeville used Center Road as the local name for Avon Belden Road.

Ohio’s major roads got numbered within the state highway system in the early 1930s and Avon Belden Road was then known as State Route 76. This can be a bit confusing if you read old phone directories or newspaper articles, or look at old maps. 

Skip forward a few decades to the time of the Interstate Highway system and we see that Interstate 76 is scheduled to be built in Ohio. 

So, in 1972 the state renumbered State Route 76 as State Route 83 to avoid confusion.

When the federal highway system was being planned, state and county officials realized there was no major state highway that ran north and south in the area. We drive on Routes 57, 58, 83, 301 and 511 to go that direction. But these are two lane rural highways that go through every village they encounter.  So they decided to add a four lane highway that was limited access as needed. They choose the recently renumbered State Route 83. 

Period maps show the proposed path would be to the west of Avon Belden Road. The new highway would be State Route 83 and the old road would be just Avon Belden Road with no state numeration.

This was a part of the grand plan that added Interstates 80 and 90, and modernized State Routes 2 and 10, as well as U. S. 20 in the county. Since the plans for Routes 10 and 20 were ready to start construction, the officials decided to begin building State Route 83 where it crossed State Route 10. This would avoid a later construction that would impede traffic on Route 10. And indeed - they built that section.

This Google Maps view shows the result – a half mile stretch of road with an interchange onto State Route 10. That is why when you exit State Route 10 you are on a roughly north-south country road instead of State Route 83. That short road is designated “Alternate State Route 83” or “State Route 83C”.  Alternate State Route 83 includes the section of Butternut Ridge Road (Lorain Road) that leads back to Avon Belden Road. 

And they did it again at State Route 2. This Google view shows the short stretch of State Route 83 that is to the west of old Center Road. There are two dead end sections of old Center Road remaining. In this case the newly created State Route 83 does have a name – Center Road. This westward jog and the turn back to the east on Chester Road creates headaches every single day.

That is all that was ever built of the State Route 83 highway scheme. The project was abandoned in 1991. 

Thus we still have to drive south on rural roads.  The proposed Route 83 would be forgotten, except for the fact that it made it onto some maps. These (below) are from the 1976 Commercial Survey, Lorain County Street Guide. (The never-built proposed relocation of State Route 83 is indicated in yellow.)

Although it would have been nice to have a high speed north south corridor, I hate to think of how many Lorain County farms would have been cut in half for the new highway.

I will end with some more trivia about Avon Belden Road. I could not find a reference to when the road was first built. It seems to be complete through the county on the 1851 plat maps. It is a bit hard to tell as the road coincided with property lines. But it could not have been the Avon Belden Road in 1851 as there was no Belden yet.  Belden was originally called Rawsonville. The name was changed to Belden in 1876. It is named after Bildad Beldin, a pioneer settler. (To learn more about the early days of Grafton and Rawsonville, click here.)

State Route 83 goes all the way to Beverly, Ohio in Washington County. There it ends near a BP station on State Route 60 a couple hundred yards short of having to cross the Muskingham River. It is 157.6 miles long.

In the 1976 maps, note that it is called the Avon Lake-Wooster Road starting in North Ridgeville. I can’t recall anyone using that name but Google uses it also. 

After it leaves Wooster, it is called the Millersburg Road. South of Millersburg it does not seem to have a name.

And finally, Route 83 isn’t the only state highway for which big plans were made that never got past the drawing board stage. As part of the big highway scheme, State Route 18 was proposed to have been made into a four lane highway with a bypass around Wellington. Today, parts of State Route 18 have been widened to 4 lanes but only east of Medina – not in Lorain County.

The northern terminus of State Route 83 at Veterans Park in Avon Lake.

The Scoop on the Loop – Part 2

Vintage postcard circa 1907

Apparently, getting rid of the Loop had been talked about for a while. After all, it was dangerous to have streetcars turning around in one of the main intersections of the business district.

This article from the Elyria Republican of August 9, 1907 mentions the removal of the Loop as one of the proposed improvements to be undertaken by the streetcar company.

But it was not until 1919 that the removal of the Loop actually happened. This article on the front page of the April 4, 1919 Lorain Times-Herald noted that track removal would be starting soon.

 And on June 12, 1919, this article on the front page of the Lorain Times-Herald noted the historical significance of what was happening.

The article observed, “For a quarter of a century the loop at Broadway and Erie-av has been the city’s principal storm center. It has caused political quarrels and score of franchise controversies.

“This morning a gang of workmen began tearing up the rails of the loop and it is no more. Cars are being run to West Erie-av and are being turned on the Y near the interurban station. 

“Before many hours all that will be left of the loop will be the trolley wires over heard and they will soon come down. A Y at the intersection of the streets will replace the loop and cars will be run to a new loop in north Broadway.”

The passing of the Loop even made the pages of the Elyria Evening-Telegram on June 13, 1919.

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Although its tracks have been gone for more than a hundred years, the Loop lives on in the memories and vernacular of longtime Lorain residents and local historians.

It will be interesting to see if newer residents of the city perpetuate this nickname. Or is it already dead?

Perhaps some savvy restaurant owner at or near that intersection will revive the name.

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I did a Then & Now post on the Loop back in 2016 here, with some of the same postcards, but without the historical perspective.