Sheffield Lake Community Days are here!

The multi-colored (and much reused) rainbow posters are all over Sheffield Lake and that can only mean one thing: Sheffield Lake Community Days are here! Yup, the fun starts tonight at Shoreway Shopping Center at 6:00, followed by a parade on Thursday night and fireworks on Friday.

The spouse and I walk the mile to the Friday night fireworks each year (it's just a good stretch of the legs) to avoid having to find a parking space.

In honor of the celebration, here's a capsule history of Sheffield Lake, from the vantage point of 1955. That's when the article below appeared in the Lorain Journal on June 21, 1955.

****

Sheffield Lake Grows From Small Dairy Community

SHEFFIELD LAKE – Once a small community of dairy farmers, Sheffield Lake Village has grown in the past 35 years, and at the present time has a population of over 4,000 with a tax valuation of $5,000,000. If the population increases in the next few years as it has in the last two, the village will become a city in 1960 when the federal census is taken.

Summer Resort
Because of the wide sandy beaches and the Cleveland Beach dance hall the community became a summer resort before the depression years. Today many of the cottages have been remodeled into comfortable year around homes and a new modern school, Tennyson elementary, has been erected where the dance hall once stood.

Only a few of the sandy beaches remain today because of the rise of the water level in Lake Erie. A new public beach and picnic grounds was made available to the residents of the village when the village purchased lakefront property at Stop 86 this year. The village recently obtained the recreation field where the Little League games are played each summer.

Houses Going Up
Four building contractors are helping increase the population of the village by constructing 720 new homes, valued from $15,000 to $25,000. During the past few years approximately 100 homes have been constructed on Warwick Dr., 390 are being completed in Knickerbocker Knolls by the Land and Development Company, 168 houses in Maple Grove Allotment are now under construction by Marvin Helf Inc.; and 68 houses are to be built in Lake Breeze Manor. Paved streets, sanitary and storm sewers and utilities are being installed in these allotments.

Another step forward for the village is the construction of a sanitary sewer on East Lake Rd. that will connect with the Lorain sewer system. This sewer will service houses on East Lake Rd. and in the new allotments. Extensions down other village streets may be obtained by petition. Three quarters of this long awaited Lake Rd. sanitary sewer has been constructed.

Council has realized the additional police and fire protection that will be needed when these houses are completed and have purchased a new police cruiser and voted to increase the voltage in the police department's two way radio, thus enabling the police force to keep in contact with the Lorain police department as well as neighboring villages.

Twenty five volunteer firemen and a resident truck driver comprise the village fire department. The village has mutual and reciprocal additional fire protection agreements with the villages of Avon Lake and Sheffield so that in time of an emergency, if the villages would require assistance, one fire company would aid the other. A two-way radio will also be installed in the fire truck.

Charter Committee
Mayor Sydney W. Jordan, thinking of the future when Sheffield Lake will become a city, has made plans to appoint a charter committee to study the form of charter best suited for the village. If the village has a population of 5,000 when the federal census is taken in 1960 it will automatically become a city. To retain as much home rule as possible it will be necessary to vote for a charter before the census is taken.

July 8, 1942 – A Soldier's Heroism

When I read this tribute to the World War II heroism of a Lorain soldier – Private Chester Dombrowski of Lorain – I knew I would have to post it here.

The story of Private Dombrowski's exploits appeared in the Lorain Journal on July 8, 1942 – 72 years ago today. It was submitted by Corporal F. Carter on behalf of his squad, the Landing Combat Team, Company H, 7th Infantry.

Corporal Carter's letter to the Journal is eloquent in its simplicity. It embodies the warm camaraderie shared by soldiers called upon by their country to do a difficult job.

Here's the text of the article. I think you'll agree it's a wonderful piece.

****

Story of Lorain Soldier's Heroism Told in Note From Corporal of Landing Force

A story of the heroism of a Lorain soldier came to The Journal today, not thru the routine channels of the War Department or regular news dispatches, but from the corporal of his squad – Landing Combat Team, Company H, 7th Infantry – in a letter from Fort Ord, Calif.

Dignified by the significance of its message and the unconscious use of striking free verse, the letter follows:

The rest of the boys and I would like to put a few lines in your paper about a soldier from your town, Lorain, O.

He is a gunner in a 30-calibre machine gun squad. His name is Chester W. Dombrowski, private first class, and his home address is 812 W. 18th-st.

He is with us in the Landing Combat Team – that's the LCT. We land troops all over the world. Maybe his friends and all who know him would like to know of his wonderful bravery in the last two troop landings we made – and that we are proud of him.

At the "isles," the name of which I won't mention, we in the first section owed our lives to him, for he saved us where many others had been lost.

He opened a field of fire with his "typewriter" – meaning his machine gun – and kept up a stream of bullets, opening a gap for us to go thru – to reach our landing boats. And he held the enemy at bay 'til we made our way to the troop transport far off at sea.

This SOLDIER stayed and held his ground in a steady field of fire. Splinters and logs and whatnot were falling on him and around him, but he kept the enemy in their place.

We thought he and his squad were "goners" but later we learned differently, for they, too, came aboard ship, tho they all looked a sight.

Most of us came back to the States to take more troops to other parts of the world. And the boys and I hope we have this Dombrowski with us, too. (Signed) Corp. F. Carter and The Squad.

****

I checked the Lorain City Directories on two different occasions to see if Chester Dombrowski made it through the war and came back to Lorain.

It's kind of hard to tell. The information in the city directories is confusing.

There were families listed in the city directories with the name Dombrowski as well as Dombroski living on W. 18th Street in almost the same block. And – surprisingly – both families appeared to have at least one person named Chester. At this point, I think that our man Chester was actually Chester Dombroski, since that is the name briefly associated with the 812 W. 18th address. Or was it a typo?

So until I do some more research (which I will post here eventually), I don't know if the Chester Dombrowski in the article was killed in the war, or survived to come back to Lorain or somewhere else. But I do know after reading Corp. Carter's letter that his family must have been awfully proud of him.

July 1954 Sam Sheppard Murder Case Headlines

The  former Sheppard home on Lake Road in Bay Village
(now demolished)

Over the weekend an unhappy anniversary came and went quietly, with some subdued coverage on the Cleveland TV newscasts but with no acknowledgement (that I'm aware of, anyway) by the two Lorain County newspapers.

On July 4, 1954 – 60 years ago this past week – Marilyn Sheppard was found brutally beaten to death in her Bay Village home. Her husband, Dr. Sam Sheppard, had been asleep downstairs at the time of the murder according to his story. The rest of his version of the aftermath of the murder – including his being knocked unconscious by a "bushy-haired intruder" – are well known to Northeast Ohioans, as well as much of the nation.

The sensationalized coverage of the crime by the Cleveland Press and that newspaper's call for the arrest and conviction of Dr. Sheppard is well-remembered. The aggressive coverage by the Press was part of the reason that Sheppard was granted a retrial in 1966, after he spent ten years in prison for his initial conviction of the murder. He was acquitted after the second trial.

Despite the media fatigue that greeted the anniversary of the murder, many people in the area will probably always have a fascination with the tragedy, since it took place nearby.

To refresh your memory, here are links to two interesting articles that appeared in the Plain Dealer recently about the 1954 murder. The first one is written by Brent Larkin, and the second is by the very first policeman to arrive at the scene of the gruesome murder.

And how did the murder play out in the Lorain Journal in the week after it occurred?

The Sheppard murder grabbed the headlines for the first few days. Here are the front pages of the newspaper for July 5th, 6th and 7th.

Here's the front page for July 8th (below). I was able to replace the two low quality microfilm images with the same two exact photographs, which I found online.

Here's the front page for July 9th. As you can see, it was the night of the Miss Vacationland contest (which I wrote about last week here). 

The crowning of Darlene Ehrlich as the winner of the Miss Vacationland contest finally nudged the Sheppard murder case out of the top spot on the front page of July 10th.

Have a Safe and Happy July 4th!

July 2, 1954 cartoon from the Lorain Journal

It's July 4th so you know what that means here on the Brady Blog – another grisly visit from the Grim Reaper!

He looks pretty gleeful in the cartoon above, sitting at the edge of the highway and ready with a basket and a shovel for his next victims. There's already some comical carnage going on in the background.

The macabre cartoon appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal on July 2, 1954. It accompanied a United Press article that stated that it was expected that 430 lives would be lost on the highways during the holiday. Even President Eisenhower made a direct plea for caution on the roads, and asked newspapers, television and radio stations to do all they could to help cut the death toll of the previous year (400) in half.

Anyway, here's hoping you enjoy a safe and happy July 4th!

Miss Vacationland 1954

July 1, 1954 ad from the Lorain Journal

Did you know that Lorain used to hold a beauty contest every year?

That's right. The Lorain Chamber of Commerce, in conjunction with the Lorain Journal and the Downtown Retail Merchants Association members used to crown a "Miss Vacationland."

I don't think Lorain is generally accepted as being part of the area in Ohio traditionally known as Vacationland, which includes Put-in-Bay and the Islands, Port Clinton, Sandusky, Vermilion, the Firelands, etc. But contestants from Lorain, Erie and Huron counties all competed in this pageant.

According to the ad – which ran in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1954 – there was a pretty good first prize for the winner, consisting of an all-expense trip (including pocket money) for two to a choice of Atlantic City, New York City or Washington, D.C.

The contest was a big success, with a crowd of 4,000 watching eighteen women compete.

And the winner? It was seventeen-year-old Clearview High School Graduate Darlene Ehrlich. Darlene B. Proctor was the Runner-up.

The Journal helpfully printed the measurements of all eighteen contestants.

And here's a photo of the 1953 winner, Marlene Witbeck, (right) congratulating Miss Ehrlich (left).

Darlene Ehrlich later got married and became Darlene Klingenmeier. She passed away in 2008 after a great business career including 30 years as a real estate agent. Happily, her online obituary (which you can read here) includes her 1954 beauty contest achievement.

1969 Burger King Phone Book Ad

1969 Lorain Phone Book ad

Last week I posted the late June 1960 Grand Opening ad for the McDonald's on West Erie, which got me wondering when McDonald's arch-nemesis – Burger King – entered the local fast food market.

Burger King was kind of a latecomer to the area, arriving after McDonald's and Sandy's. Its first ad appeared in the November 1969 phone book (above), promoting two locations: one out in South Lorain on Fairless Drive near Kmart, as well as one in Elyria on Broad Street. By the time of the 1970 phone book, Burger King had added the restaurant on Leavitt Road (Route 58) near W. 21st Street.

The 1969 phone book ad is interesting to me because it includes the original, little-remembered king mascot that looks like he belongs in a nursery rhyme. He was replaced in the late 1960s by the more cartoony guy at right, who was featured in TV commercials and had a blustery personality. The burger chain later went with a live-action king.

To visit a great website with a visual history of not only Burger King advertising but McDonald's, Wendy's, Dairy Queen, Arby's, Hardee's, and a few others, click here. And to learn specifically about all of the various Burger King mascots through the years, click here.

The Burger King restaurant on Leavitt Road was the one my family went to once in a while. I remember we were fairly excited to give it a try after seeing all those Whopper commercials – and we weren't disappointed.

Speaking of commercials, here's a few vintage ones to jog your memory. The one I remember well – with the poor guy in handcuffs trying to eat his Burger King french fries – is in there too.

I don't make it to Burger King too often these days, although ironically there is one just a little over a mile from my house. But it comes in handy once in a while.

In contrast to McDonald's, who closed all three of the original Lorain locations (and built new restaurants elsewhere), Burger King still has restaurants at both the Leavitt Road and Fairless Drive locations.

The Burger King at Leavitt Road & W. 21st Street today

Service Creamery on Clinton Avenue in South Lorain

I had never heard of Service Creamery at 3045 Clinton Avenue in Lorain before I saw this ad announcing the Grand Opening of its newly remodeled store. The ad appeared in the Lorain Journal on July 1, 1954 – 60 years ago today.

I assumed that the store was a Johnny-come-lately on the 1950s Lorain dairy scene, but I was wrong. Service Creamery had actually been around since the 1930s, when it first appeared in the city directory at that Clinton Avenue location.

The names originally associated with Service Creamery were Lorn Gulett and Albert Kohart. Albert Kohart's name would continue to be connected with the dairy well into the 1960s.

The business' motto as stated in the 1942 Lorain City Directory was, "A Modern Dairy, Our Service and Products Will Please You Too."

Near the end of the 1960s, the dairy changed hands, with the listings in the directory changing to La Puertoriquean Dairy (1968) and then to Gonzalez Food Market (1970). The building went vacant for a little, while until Daisy Ice Cream appeared in the books at that address in 1972. The following year, Clinton Market was the tenant, and it remained so into the 1980s.

Today the building is the home of Licha's, Inc., which offers both groceries and carry-out foods. Here's the link to its Facebook page.

The view last weekend