The Bench by the Bascule Bridge

If you've driven over the Bascule Bridge, you've probably seen it: a huge stone bench at the eastern end, on the north side of U.S. 6.

Have you ever wondered how it got there? If so, then you'll enjoy the amusing article below, which ran on the front page of the Lorain Journal on Friday, June 6, 1941. There's also two accompanying photos, featuring Lorain's Barbara Coley, who agreed to sit on the bench and pose for a Journal photographer. Her comments are pretty funny!

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$10,672 Stone Bench
All Ready for Sitters
Erie Avenue Bridge Armament Seat Called
'Shoe Shine Stand' by Commissioner

Lorainites have an opportunity to sit on a $10,672 stone bench today – if they like stone benches and a view of whizzing automobiles.

The opportunity for this pastime is at the east end of Lorain's E. Erie-av bascule bridge, where the 80-foot stone bench, paid for by the county and PWA, is now complete.

There's ample room. Computed on the basis of 18 inches per person, 60 sitters can ensconce themselves on the bench at once. A lofty perch too, for sightseers, the bench looms some six and one-half feet above the sidewalk. One reaches the dais by walking up three steps.

View Not So Good
The view from the bench is neither one of beauty nor of grandeur. From the seat, a person cannot see the harbor nor the river.

Unless the sitter turns around and kneels so that he can look lakewards over the back of the bench, he has a view only of Erie-av traffic and with the south guardrail of the bridge approach for a background.

The former board of county commissioners approved plans for the structure and on May 31, 1940, awarded the contract to the T. J. Hume Co., Lorain, for its construction. All three board members – J. E. Davidson, E. W. DeChant and Oscar G. Dunn, who continues on the present board – voted approval.

The present county commissioners, including Dunn, have expressed themselves as opposed to the project.

However, they could not block the construction, according to Commissioner E. M. Wickens, because a subcontractor on the job had already cut the stone and if the county had refused to go ahead with the bench, it would have faced a damage suit.

Wickens, bitter against what he said was a waste of taxpayers' money, declared today:

"The thing's a monstrosity. It looks like a glorified shoe-shine stand."

Two weeks ago ago, the American Institute of Steel Construction gave the bascule span honorable mention in competition to determine the most beautiful bridge completed in 1940. The bench was not finished, however, until last week.

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Barbara's photo in the
1939 LHS Scimitar

And what about the young model that the Journal used for its photos?

Barbara Coley graduated from Lorain High School as a member of the Class of 1939. She married Julius A. Komlosy, and they were together an amazing 71 years before his passing in February 2014.

Here is a link to his obituary.

Here's hoping that Barbara is enjoying good health, and that she has had a happy life during the 75 years since her moment in the spotlight on the front page of the Journal.

Ely Park Soldiers Monument – Then & Now

My trip to Elyria to photograph the old courthouse also included getting a current photo of the Soldiers Monument to accompany this 1905 postcard (above).

The monument was dedicated on June 26, 1888.

Here's another vintage postcard view, postmarked 1907 (below).

Like the courthouse, it’s a tough thing to photograph as it’s on the south side of the street. It looks north and never really faces the sun during the day, being forever cloaked in shadow. The best I could do is hope the late afternoon sun might send some rays its way.

It did, and I got my shot (below).

Like the courthouse, the monument is somewhat obscured by trees and shrubs (although that won’t be a problem for the courthouse when the renovations are done).

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To find out more about the history of the Soldiers Monument, follow this link to the Steen Cannons website, and this one to the Great Elyria Time Machine.

Old Lorain County Courthouse Then & Now

The old Lorain County Courthouse was in the news last week (here), with designs for its planned renovations finally revealed to Elyria’s Planning Commission. So it’s a good time to post this vintage postcard of the historic old courthouse, which was built in 1881 and designed by Elijah Myers.

There’s no postmark to provide the date, but I think that’s a mid-1950s Buick parked at the first meter.

I got home from work early last Thursday, so I headed over to Elyria to grab my now shot. Ely Park was full of people relaxing in the sun as I crossed the square towards the courthouse.

I couldn’t quite recreate the shot exactly, although I suspect the vintage postcard was also a late afternoon shot.

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To see some really great vintage photographs and postcards of the Lorain County Court House (such as  the 1909 postcard below in which the structure has its original dome), follow this link to courthouse history.com.

Rock Creek Run Ad – June 11, 1960

I've driven by the entrance on Leavitt Road to the Rock Creek Run housing subdivision in Amherst for years, wondering what it was like back in there. It wasn't until last year, when a friend of mine moved there, that I've had a chance to drive around it and check it out. I found it to be just as charming an area that I thought it would be, with its gently winding shaded lanes and well-manicured lawns: a perfectly preserved 1960s neighborhood.

That's why this ad (below) caught my attention. It ran in the Lorain Journal on June 11, 1960 – 56 years ago tomorrow – and shows Rock Creek Run in its early stages of development.

I think it's interesting seeing what amenities were popular in 1960 houses: separate dining rooms, family rooms, ceramic tile baths, etc. Quite a contrast compared to today's homeowners' desires for open floor plan homes.

It's nice that the distinctive wooden sign design shown in the ad is still in use today at the entrance and throughout the neighborhood.

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UPDATE (June 27, 2017)

A handsome new color scheme for the signage is being introduced.

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UPDATE (June 13, 2019)

Here’s another vintage ad for Rock Creek Run, from the June 5, 1965 Journal.

National Pharmacy Celebrates 25 Years – 1950

Here’s another May “leftover” that didn’t get posted. It’s a full spread, two-page ad for National Pharmacy celebrating its 25th Birthday that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 19, 1950.

The ad is interesting in that it never really comes out and says when it opened; it just says it was “nine thousand, one hundred and twenty-six days ago.” (That was enough to stop me from going back and trying to find a Grand Opening ad.)

National Pharmacy must have liked that particular graphic border design because it was still using something similar in its 1986 telephone directory ad (below), 36 years later.

National Pharmacy managed to hang on at 300 E. 28th Street until it disappeared from the Pharmacy listings beginning with the 1994 phone book.

Here's the former National Pharmacy store today.

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Of interest in that 1950 Journal ad is the mention of Buddy and Betty Bowman making an appearance at National Pharmacy.

As you might remember, Bud Bowman is the cartoon archer (sometimes referred to as an elf) that appeared in Bowman Ice Cream ads. Here he is in a 1962 ad (below).

As the 1950 ad noted, “These nationally known trade marks for the Bowman Ice Cream Company will be on hand to entertain you Saturday, May 20th. Here is your chance to see this tiny couple (scarcely 36” tall).

Here’s a promotional postcard showing the diminutive couple in their Bowman costumes.

And here’s a closeup.

I’ll bet they had a lot of fun at their jobs. Plus it’s hard not to make friends when you’re handing out free ice cream in dixie cups!

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I received at least one email reminding me that I neglected to mention Joseph Ivey, also known as DJ Joey. He has performed on the corner right in front of the former National Pharmacy for many years (although I recently saw him dancing in front of Czech Grill). You can see him in this Google Street View (below).

Down at the Loop – Then & Now

With the fate of the Broadway Building being mentioned so often in the news lately, it seems like a good time to post this undated vintage postcard featuring that venerable old building.

The postcard is fairly amusing because of the blurred image of the car towing the boat. It’s as if the photographer thought, “Oh, what the heck, I’ll just go with this shot. It’s good enough!”

As for dating the postcard, there’s not much to work with (unless you know your vintage cars).

Bear's Furniture had been listed in the city directories at 319 Broadway since around 1947. Fisher Brothers was at 330 Broadway all through the 1950s and into the 1960s. So the photo is probably from the 1950s.

More than fifty years later, the Broadway Building wears a hairnet and many of the buildings shown in the postcard are gone, thanks to urban renewal. And boats are still finding their way into the picture.

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As a bonus, here's some more views of the same subject.

This slightly wider pre-tornado view (below) is from two postcards both postmarked 1905. Sorry, no boat in this one, just a horse and carriage turning the corner.

But by George, you can see the actual streetcar "loop" tracks in the photo.

And here are a few more postcards, dated by their postmarks. I’ve tacked on the card at the top of the post at the end for comparison.

Vintage postcard postmarked 1939

Vintage postcard postmarked 1953

First Methodist Church – Then & Now

Lorain has sometimes been referred to as the “City of Churches,” so it’s not too surprising to see one of them on a postcard.

This subject of this undated Lusterchrome postcard is First Methodist Church. It was published by Cigarette Sales Company of Lorain, Ohio.

When I was a senior in high school, I used to park in the street in front of this church whenever I went to the library. In the dark, I thought it looked like Dracula’s castle (except for the cross on top of course).

Today, the still beautiful church building is now home to Greater Victory Christian Ministries. Here’s my “now” shot from the Lorain Public Library’s private parking lot.

Coincidentally, this church is located pretty much across the street from where the Downey sisters operated their boarding house.

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Local historian and author Al Doane kindly contacted me to offer a little bit of history about the church building. He wrote, "That Church was built in 1926 to replace the old Methodist Church (below) that was built on that same corner of 6th & Reid, built in 1892 and was destroyed in the June 28th 1924 Lorain Tornado.

"I have a book that tells all about the beginning of the Methodist Church in Lorain. The Methodist Church that preceded the 1892 Church was located across the street from the Antlers Hotel on W. Erie & Washington Ave. on the NW Corner where the old smoke shop was located.” 

You can find a text-only version of the book that Al is talking about by clicking here.