Goodbye, Captain Aaron Root Home?

The view this past Sunday

Take a good look at this tranquil country scene – because it's going to disappear soon. The view is looking south at the southwest quadrant of the intersection of Colorado Avenue (State Route 611) and Abbe Road in Sheffield Village.

It was noted in The Press on January 22, 2014 that a new Dollar General store for the southwest corner of the intersection is in the planning stages. It would sit right across from St. Teresa of Avila Parish and its cemetery.

According to this article in The Press by John Edwards, it remains for the Ohio Dept. of Transportation formally approve the creation of a lane that will enable eastbound autos on Colorado Avenue to more easily make a right turn to Dollar General.

Here's an aerial view of the area, with the southerly direction at the top of the picture.

Courtesy Sheffield Village
Historical Society & Cultural Center

What's really sad is that the old Captain Aaron Root house (at left) will most likely be demolished, as it is located near the rear of the land that is being developed. Captain Aaron Root was a Great Lakes shipmaster from Sheffield. He was known for secretly smuggling runaway slaves on their way to freedom in Canada aboard his ships.

You can read an extensive history of Captain Aaron Root and the whole Root Family here in this great article that appeared in the December 2012 issue of The Village Pioneer, Newsletter of the Sheffield Village Historical Society & Cultural Center.

Here's another view of the home that Captain Aaron Root lived in until the mid-1800s (below), courtesy of the Lorain County Auditor Website.

It's strange knowing that the scene below (photographed as I drove by it on the way home from work on Monday) will probably become a thing of the past, and thus one of the oldest homes in the county – ramshackle as it is – will disappear. 

Demo Update: Aaron Root House & the House at 32990 Lake Road

You can't see the Root House for the trees in this shot from Thursday night

The nice weather lately means that the bulldozers have been busy.

There's been lots of activity in the last few days around the old Captain Aaron Root house at Abbe Rd. and Colorado Avenue. Large trees are being uprooted, and excavation is taking place (below).

I grabbed this shot over my shoulder on Thursday morning

It's just a matter of time before the Root house comes tumbling down.

And out on Route 6 in Avon Lake, the old house behind the black iron gates was finally demolished (below).

It will be interesting to see if the vintage fence is retained to protect whatever eventually goes in there. I kind of hope it is.

Captain Aaron Root House – Up Close

Last Friday was sunny and bright – and I had the afternoon off – so it was the perfect time to grab a few daytime shots of the home that Captain Aaron Root lived in until the mid 1800s. I had wanted to do this for a long time, but it had never seemed important before. But with a Dollar General proposed for that corner, I thought I'd better grab a few shots before I suddenly drove by the property some night and saw a steaming pile of rubble.

With the trees barren, the house was more visible than usual. It was interesting to see it up close.

I was surprised to see that what I had thought from the road was brick was actually some sort of shingle. 

Tempting as it was to think about entering the rickety structure, I was content to grab this view looking in.

Before I left, I grabbed a quick view of the rear of the house (below).

It's obvious the house is beyond repair (it's been wide open to the elements for years), but it's still nice to have a photographic record of what it looked like it.

Capt. Aaron Root House: the Guerrilla Archaelogy Visit

On Wednesday, I had an opportunity to see the Captain Aaron Root house up close one last time before it gets demolished.

I was a member of Director Dr. Charles Herdendorf's "guerrilla archeology" team that visited the house.  Dr. Herndendorf had permission from the owner of the house for us to go through it and "take whatever we wanted." So on Wednesday morning, we paid a visit to the house to see what – if anything – could be salvaged.

The house had a lot of stories to tell, if you looked closely, such as the various layers of material on the outside of the house leading down to the original wood siding, or the windows with their square nails.

Inside, we found a wall with some ancient wallpaper that had several layers of paint and plaster partially covering it.

Part of the adventure was just getting up enough nerve to climb those rickety stairs – especially because if the steps collapsed, you'd drop like a rock directly into the basement!

Once at the top of the stairs (below), you really couldn't go anywhere, since the second floor was lying on the first floor.

The basement was probably the most interesting part of the house, because of the huge beams. Some of the logs still had bark on them.

I did my best to look for stuff throughout the house that might be salvage-worthy and bring it outside to scrutinize in the sunlight. The pile soon grew to include pieces of trim, bricks from the fireplace, door frames, and other odds and ends.

My best find of the day? This rare 20th-Century artifact (below) created in the shape of a costumed waterfowl that apparently was some sort of pipe. It was down in the basement under a pile of rubbish.

So although I didn't find any dusty envelopes stuffed with wads of yellowed greenbacks hidden in the walls, I thoroughly enjoyed myself during my house visit. It was a fascinating way to spend a few hours.

Col. Matt Nahorn and his team from the New Indian Ridge Museum also participated in this salvage effort. Be sure to visit his interesting website (here) for some historical background about the house, as well as an informative documented account of what he observed, and what he was able to salvage.

Captain Aaron Root House – Down at Last

The view on Wednesday morning

The house that was once the home of Captain Aaron Root finally came tumbling down on Tuesday night.

As I drove home that night on Route 611 and approached the intersection with Abbe Road, I saw a large, reddish cloud of dust and dirt hovering above the ground – so I knew that the demolition team was hard at work. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera.

All was quiet when I passed it on Wednesday morning. But when I went by it again Wednesday night on my way home, the property was again teeming with activity. I had to drive by a few times just to grab a few usable shots (below).

It's too bad that one of the oldest homes in Lorain County had to go, but at least I had the opportunity (along with several others) to satisfy my morbid curiosity and run amuck in the house before it was taken down.

Plus, I have my souvenirs – a brick from one of the fireplaces and my Donald Duck bubble pipe.

***
Update
All the trees are down (below) in this photo taken on Saturday, June 21.

Captain Aaron Root House – Inside

After reading some of the comments left on my post about the Captain Aaron Root house, I decided to go back and get some photos of the inside. This past Saturday morning was nice and sunny, and the snow was melting, so I headed over there with my camera once again.

After a brief confrontation with the adult son of the owner of the house next door (who wanted to know what I was doing), I went about my business getting the shots I wanted.

First, I went in the front door (or where the front door would have been if there was one). I had seen this view from the highway for many years and it was fairly exciting to walk right in.

Unfortunately, once inside, I couldn't do much more than poke my camera at each room from the entrance foyer. (I didn't dare climb the stairs.) Here's the view to the left (below).

Years of neglect resulted in major structural damage, and I had no desire to go crashing through the floor in a slapstick manner – which is what might have happened if I had stepped onto the floor of the room to the right of the entrance foyer (below). You could see clear down to the cellar.

Sticking my camera in various windows revealed the sad remnants of a historic house.

Pointing the camera up allowed me to get an idea of what the second floor looked like, especially since the upper floor was gone.

Entering the house from the back was an impossibility, due to thick brush and years of debris which accumulated behind the house (below).

Here are a few random shots (below).

Reluctant to leave, I re-entered the house and tried to imagine what it was like living there. Here's the view looking out a front window onto Colorado Avenue.

All in all, it's a sad end to a historic house that played an important role in Underground Railroad history.

I sure wish some archaeological team was allowed to dig around the foundation of this house before its past is covered up with that new dollar store. 

Arkansas Ave. House Demolition – March 11, 1970

The demolition of old buildings and structures has been a reoccurring topic on this blog for many years. I’ve written about demolitions that took place long ago, as well as many that are quite recent (no shortage of those).

I’ve featured historic houses (such as the Foote House, the Judge Henry Brown House, the Captain Aaron Root House) and not-so-well known houses (such as the Dembek farmhouse on Leavitt Road and the house at Kolbe and Jaeger, and some old farm houses on Colorado Avenue near Miller Road). Other structures include the City Bank Building in South Lorain, and buildings in Central Lorain that had to go to make way for senior housing.

There’s just too many demolitions to mention.

In recent years, the roll call of pulverized structures have included the original Lorain Yacht Club clubhouse, the old Oberlin Inn, a lakefront mansion in Avon Lake, Garwell’s Bait & Tackle, and even the Avon Lake water tower.

Too often the trend (in Lorain, at least) tends to be to tear down an old building that has been declared an eyesore, and then leave the lot vacant.

But apparently that idea is nothing new. Today’s post concerns the demolition of a house that was located at 112 1/2 Arkansas Avenue in Lorain. The article below appeared in the Journal fifty years ago today on March 11, 1970.

Despite the photo caption, I assumed the house wasn’t really 200 years old since it would pre-date the founding of the city by many decades.

So how old was it?

It’s hard to tell from the city directories. An address of 112 Arkansas Avenue was in the listings for many years before the 112 1/2 address joined it in the directory in 1950. I suspect they were both for the same house. 

Both addresses were vacant in the 1969 edition, and both disappeared in the 1970 book. Looking at the Historic Aerials website, only one house was torn down in that block during that time period – bolstering the argument that the home was originally just 112 Arkansas Avenue.

Nevertheless, the house next door – which you can catch a glimpse of in the photo – is still there on the street, at 116 Arkansas Avenue. In 1940, it was known as Pierce’s Convalescent Home, operated by Mrs. Pearl Pierce.

Anyway, today the location of the demolished home is largely empty, except for possibly a small addition to the neighboring commercial building that is currently for lease.

Colorado Avenue Farmhouse Update

The view back in December 2010

Last week I was watching the Captain Aaron Root house come down and the land clearing begin, in preparation for the new Dollar General at the intersection of Abbe and Colorado Ave. Well, just a little to the east near the intersection of Colorado and Miller Road, there apparently hasn't been any major developments with regards to the two farmhouses and the farmland behind them.

I first wrote about them back here in December of 2010. At the time I wrote, "Soon this scene will change" as a caption for one of the photos.

Boy, was I wrong. More than three years later, the houses and farm are still for sale.

Too bad the land won't be used for growing anything when it eventually does sell. It must be pretty fertile, judging by the size of those monster shrubs!

The view this past Sunday morning

By the way, the house shown above is listed on the Auditor website as having been built in 1900, which as usual means that it actually predates that year.

The other house for sale along with the farm was built in 1954. Here's the view from back in December 2010.

And here's my matching shot from Sunday.

Okay, so the view doesn't match exactly (note the fire hydrant). But remember, I was doing this from memory – while driving – and approaching the dreaded construction zone at the I-90 interchange no less!

Special thanks to Bill for his suggestion to do an update on these two farmhouses.