1918 Pandemic Hits Lorain – Part 2

The Spanish flu reared its ugly head on the front page of the October 5, 1918 Lorain Times-Herald (shown above), affecting a family on the East Side, as well as a pair of Lorain soldiers stationed at camps.   

The Lorain couple and their daughter, who lived on Georgia Avenue, were noted to be “suffering from an ailment which has been diagnosed as Spanish influenza.” The parents were doing better, but their daughter was still bedridden.

At Camp Sherman in Chillicothe, Ohio, a news bulletin hopefully stated, “The situation virtually is unchanged, but with encouraging reports from the base hospital because of the diminishing number of new cases reported, medical authorities today believed that the epidemic here of Spanish influenza, bronchitis and pneumonia has been broken.”

Sadly, Vincent Bonomonnio, a Lorain soldier at Camp Sherman, had passed away the previous day of pneumonia. “He was in Lorain on a visit last Sunday and at that time suffered with a severe cold,” the news article reported. 

M. Venatius Moriarty, another Lorain soldier, died of pneumonia the previous day as well. He had been stationed at Camp Taylor in Kentucky.

Another Lorain soldier perished at Camp Taylor as reported on the front page of the October 7, 1918 Times-Herald. 

Paris J. Plumb, aged 31, died of pneumonia, following the Spanish flu. His body was to be escorted back to Lorain by one of his brothers, Sergeant Harry Plumb, who was stationed at Camp Sherman.

On a positive note, four graduates of St. Joseph’s hospital volunteered for service at Camp Taylor to help with the influenza epidemic. Miss Marie Strohmeier of Elyria; Miss Stella Miller of Amherst; and Miss Clara Zimmerman and Miss Pauline Curran, both of South Lorain. Two other Lorain volunteers – Mrs. Effie Teemer and Mrs. Edward Kaufman – were already headed to Camp Taylor to help with the more than 8,200 cases of influenza.

The October 8, 1918 Times-Herald included information from Dr. Valloyd Adair, Lorain’s city health officer, as to how to prevent an epidemic in Lorain. “Those who wish to avoid contracting the disease should stay away from public gatherings and especially avoid contact with persons showing evidence of catarrhal symptoms,” he suggested.

Elsewhere on the front page, Lorain went about the unhappy task of conducting funeral services for the young men struck down by the disease; the Surgeon General offered a free pamphlet about the Spanish Influenza that was available to anyone who wrote and requested a copy; and Camp Sherman reported that the total number of deaths since the beginning of the influenza epidemic had grown to about 530.

The news was getting significantly worse on the front page of the October 9, 1918 Lorain Times-Herald. The number of cases in Lorain was increasing, with five in one family alone. School officials awaited instructions from the state authorities as to how to control the influenza in schools.

(On the same page, a small article noted that former Lorain photographer W. A. Leiter had enlisted in the ordinance department of the army.

The situation on the front page of the October 10, 1918 Times-Herald wasn’t much better. A story with the heading, “ESTIMATE 200 HAVE INFLUENZA” noted, “City and health officials are watching the situation and are prepared to carry out any measures which may be recommended by the government or state to check the spread of the disease.”

It was becoming apparent that drastic action was needed, and the front page of the Friday, October 11, 1918 edition of the Times-Herald revealed the plan. 

“CLOSE UP CITY TO FIGHT FLU” was the headline. “All moving picture shows, theaters, churches and Sunday schools, public, private and parochial schools and dance halls are closed until further notice, and all public or private gatherings of groups of people are prohibited,” noted the article. “All loafing and congregating in pool and billiard halls, soda and soft drink parlors and saloons in Lorain is prohibited by a proclamation issued by Mayor A. J. Horn this morning.

“Every person in Lorain is directed to comply with the necessary order reached at a decision of the health board.

“Police and other city officials will enforce the order."

The October 12, 1918 Times-Herald acknowledged the grim truth. 

“The first great national epidemic is sweeping the country," noted an article on the front page. "The Spanish influenza is taking a heavy toll of lives in army camps and in cities. Thousands of persons are ill with the disease and still more deaths are expected.”

“For the first time in the city’s history, Lorain will be an entirely closed town Sunday,” the article stated. “For the first time on record every church in the community will have its doors closed and theaters will be closed for the first time since they were permitted to operate."

Lodges suspended meetings, clubs and societies abandoned their sessions, and funerals were banned.

Sprinkled among the other items on the front page were articles about the impact of the influenza in other states, more local cases, and reports of what were probably the last funerals to be held for a while.

Sadly, the October 14, 1918 edition of the Times-Herald included the first deaths in Lorain caused by the flu. Both of the deceased were from St. Louis, Missouri.

1918 Pandemic Hits Lorain – Part 1

The 1918 flu pandemic took a great toll on the City of Lorain.

How bad was it? According to an article that appeared in the Journal on July 18, 1959, more than 200 deaths resulted out of the 2,500 reported Lorain flu cases. (For comparison, there have been between 185 and 200 Coronavirus deaths in all of Lorain County since the pandemic began in 2020.)

Watching the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic unfold in the pages of the Lorain Times-Herald is fascinating, especially in comparison to what we have been living through since March of last year with Covid-19. 

It is generally accepted that the first wave of the Spanish flu occurred in Europe in the spring of 1918. However, while quickly scanning front pages of the Times-Herald on microfilm, I could find no mention of it through the spring and summer. This could be due to the fact that World War I was still raging and news of it was occupying most of the front pages, or perhaps because of the limited news reports as to what was going on in Europe.

It wasn’t until the September 21, 1918 edition that I noticed a small article, about halfway down on page four. 

“Reports from some European countries indicated that 20 percent of the population has been affected this summer by Spanish influenza,” it noted.

“Sur. Gen. Blue said today in reminding the public that it was well not to underrate the disease. While the epidemic is some places has been mild, it was attended in others, he said, by considerable mortality. A fatal outcome is not uncommon, the surgeon general said, when the infection takes the form of pneumonia.

The Surgeon General even offered a little poem instructing how to combat the influenza. “Cover up each cough and sneeze for if you don’t, you’ll spread disease.”

A few days later, the flu made the front page near the bottom of the September 25, 1918 edition. Unfortunately, the almost comical assertions made in the article belied the threat that would soon be all too real.

Although the article observed that Spain was unfairly being blamed for the flu, a few kooky theories were offered as to how to deal with it. 

One opinion offered was that it was something conceived by the Germans as a sort of psychological distraction, and the point was made to “Just abandon any thought of the influenza and it will do more good than doctor’s pills.”

In closing, the article noted, “So far no cases of the malady have been reported to health officials here.”

Even the September 30, 1918 Times-Herald seemed to think that Lorain had dodged the flu bullet.

It did note, however, that “Scattered cases of the ‘flu’ have appeared in Ohio, although the threatened widespread epidemic has not yet reached this state.

A list of don’ts was included to help avoid an outbreak of influenza in Lorain, including: "Don’t cough or sneeze in crowed places if possible to prevent it. If you must do so, smooth or cover your cough or sneeze with a handkerchief.

“Don’t use common towels.

“Don’t visit any person who is suffering from or who is suspected to be suffering from the grip.

“Don’t visit places of crowded assemblage.

“Don’t sleep in overcrowded or poorly ventilated rooms.

“Live up to these rules and, health authorities say, there will be no danger of the ‘flu’ gaining any ground in Lorain.”

The October 2, 1918 edition offered a list of symptoms, as well as even more detailed instructions for avoiding the flu.

It also provided some tongue-in-cheek advice. “If Spanish influenza reaches your neighborhood,” it noted, "don’t give way to alarm and start trying all the remedies suggested by the neighbors.

“Unless, of course, you want to prosper the undertaker."

Cavalier China Ad – January 8, 1971

I’ve mentioned Cavalier China Co. at least once on this blog over the years. 

I don’t remember that we ever shopped at the store, which was located at 4340 Liberty Avenue (U.S. Route 6) in Vermilion. It was one of those things in Vermilion – like the A&W Root Beer stand – that we only saw once in a while. So why do I remember it at all?

The former home of
Cavalier China in Vermilion

Because of the huge sign on the building, which a 1950s stock illustration of a smiling woman’s face, with her hand making a pointing gesture.

I’d sure like to see a photo of that sign just so I can be sure that I didn’t imagine it.

Anyway, above is a store ad, which ran in the Journal on January 8, 1971. It has a stock illustration, but the drawing of the woman operating a cash register doesn’t seem to be the same one that I remember from the sign.

Cavalier China had moved to Vermilion in April 1965 from its location in Lorain at 1431 Colorado Avenue.

Click here to revisit my post about the 1970 Vermilion streetscape, with vintage photos of the historic building that would become the home of Cavalier China.

Name that Brownie

Do you recognize this guy? 

If you were a regular reader of the Plain Dealer back in the 1960s, you probably do.

Why, the little elf is none other than Andy, whose syndicated "Ask Andy” column for kids appeared in newspapers across the country. Children were invited to submit questions to Andy about nature, science, astronomy, etc. If their query was selected for the column, they received a prize (usually a set of encyclopedias). The column dates back to the early 1950s and was similar to “Tell Me Why,” which appeared in the Lorain Journal.

(To read a great article about the history of the long-running “Ask Andy” column and Ellen Wales Walpole, the woman behind the column, click here.)

Here’s a promotional piece for “Ask Andy" from the August 5, 1958 Des Moines Tribune about the column’s impending appearance in that paper.

And here’s a sample column from the Los Angeles Times of April 5, 1964 with the more familiar rendering of the helpful elf.

When I was a kid, I used to see (and sometimes read) the "Ask Andy" column in the Plain Dealer. I remember thinking that Andy was just another version of the Cleveland Browns brownie mascot! 

And speaking of the Browns, here’s wishing them good luck on Sunday in their game against the Kansas City Chiefs!

December 5, 1960 newspaper ad

The 150-year-old Pickle – January 11, 1961

When looking at old newspapers on microfilm, I’m always amazed at the interesting stories that Lorain Journal reporters were able to dig up back in the 1950s and 60s. 

Here’s a good example. Written by Dick DiLuciano, the story is about a 150-year old pickle growing in a bottle that was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Adam Blakely, a Lorain couple.

The article ran in the paper on January 11, 1961.

As noted in the article, the pickle was planted by the great-grandfather of Mrs. Blakely. However, she was more interested in the bottle than the pickle! “It’s a bottle that used to hold a product called ‘Dr. C. Pope’s Sarsparilla,” she observed.

“My parents gave the pickle to me. If my grandfather, who passed it on to my parents, were still alive he would be 106 years old and he got the pickle from his father!” she noted.

Well, the pickle – if it’s still around – would be the 210-year-old pickle today. I wonder if the Blakely kids still have it? Was there a custody battle over it?

I hope not. It would have been quite a, er, pickle.

****

Courtesy of antiquemedicines.com, here’s a bottle that just might be similar to the one owned by the Blakelys. 

The description of the bottle said that it had “the faint aroma of a gherkin.”

Just kidding!

Lorain’s Civil Defense Tower to Come Down – Jan. 1971

As noted on several recent blog posts, the year 1971 was a big one for change in Lorain. The preparation for the construction of a new City Hall required the demolishing of many buildings and structures that residents had gotten used to seeing.

One of those iconic structures was the old Civil Defense Tower that stood behind City Hall. 

It had originally served as the life-saving tower by the United States Coast Guard station in Lorain, but was removed in the early 1950s to make room for a new small boat harbor. Consequently, Forest J. Greenshields, the director of Lorain’s Ground Observer Corps, obtained it for his team of 24-hour volunteers scanning the skies for enemy planes.

But by 1971, the old tower was no longer being used and had to go, to make way for the new City Hall. That’s the subject of the article above, which appeared in the Journal on January 15, 1971.

As noted in the article, Don Buchs Inc., the company doing the demolition, had the salvage rights. The Lorain County Regional Airport expressed interest in the tower but didn’t want to pay for it and didn’t know how it was going to move it.

I wonder if it ever ended up anywhere other than the scrap heap?

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign – January 1961

In January 1961, Lorain was in the midst of a growth spurt, with newly annexed industrial land & neighborhoods, with more to come. Thus, there was a need for a lot of new street signs.

That’s the subject of the photo in the upper left hand corner of the front page of the January 7, 1961 Lorain Journal, shown above.

Here’s a closer look at the photo.

That’s Mrs. Donna Ignatko, “smiling brunet secretary of Safety Director Gabor Toth” holding the sign for Fulmer Rd.

It’s interesting noting where the signs were going. There are several going into newly-annexed areas on the west side, including Fulmer Rd., Brenner Dr., S. Hogan Dr., etc. 

Two more west side signs that jumped out at me were the ones for Baumhart Road and Marshall Ave. 

Baumhart Road is now very important to me. Since I live in the eastern end of Vermilion, I use that particular highway to get on and off Route 2, and to get to the Ohio Turnpike. 

And Marshall Ave. was the nearest cross street to us on Skyline Drive (when my family first moved there in late 1965).