Al Doane 1925 – 2021

It was very sad to learn of the passing of well-known local historian Al Doane.

I first encountered Al back in the 1990s at the old Spitzer Renaissance Hotel, where he was displaying a collection of vintage Lorain postcards. I was there with my parents, and was surprised when the gentlemen behind the event greeted my father by his first name (“Hi, Eddy!”). I guess everyone knew Al.

I officially met Al when I was just getting this blog off the ground. One day we were both in the local history area of the Lorain Public Library, and he struck up a conversation with me. He was doing some maintenance of his historical archives, which he had donated to the library to make them available to other researchers. His material filled a whole room of file cabinets. 

Al helped me a lot with my blog. In recent years, the first email of the day that I received was usually from Al, contacting me about something that I had posted on the blog that day. He was always graciously thanking me for writing about Lorain’s history, and usually provided some reminisce or information that I would then add to the post to make it more complete. There are many posts that were enhanced with Al’s generous help.

Al always wanted to share information with me. A couple of years ago, he invited me to his house in Amherst so that he could provide me copies of things he had in his home files that he knew I was interested in. I enjoyed the hospitality of Al and his wife that wintery night. He would also, right out of the blue, send me a package in the mail containing copies of old articles that he thought I might find interesting.

At least Al made sure that all of his knowledge of Lorain’s history would not be lost when he passed on, by collaborating on a series of books with his friends and fellow historians. (I wrote about one of them here.) There was even a book entitled, The Life & Times of Al Doane – Memories of Lorain, which he wrote with his friends Matt Weisman and Paula Short. 

Al was a nice guy and Lorain’s biggest champion of its history. He will be missed, and I offer my condolences to his wife and family.

Al Doane Remembers: The Tourist Home at 1219 West Erie

Partial 1931 City Directory Listing of West Erie Ave. 

I received an interesting email from well-known Lorain historian and author Albert Doane concerning my post about the tourist home at 1219 West Erie Avenue. Mr. Doane has a unique perspective about the tourist home – because it was right across the street from where he grew up at 1224 West Erie Avenue.

"I knew the family very well," wrote Mr. Doane. "This home was owned by Mr. & Mrs. Smith H. Stone. The Stones had three sons and one daughter. Son John started work for my father's electrical business that was conducted at 1224 West Erie in the rear garage."

John Stone also figures in a cute story Mr. Doane relates about when he was born.

"John always remembered when he and my older brother Bob came home from school, John beat Bob into my house to claim that he got to see the new baby – me – first."

The former tourist home at 1219 W. Erie
(now demolished)

Smith Stone's tourist home was a busy place that was host to both celebrities and working men. 

As Mr. Doane noted, "I remember John Stone, son of Smith Stone, telling me that one time Al Jolson came to Lorain to do a show at the Palace, and he roomed at the tourist home at 1219 West Erie. John also remarked that in the summer, the Army Corps of Engineers would come to Lorain to do repair to the harbor breakwaters with a crew of men and their tugs, crane, and barges. There would be some men renting rooms at 1219 West Erie for the duration of their time in Lorain."

Mr. Doane noted that Smith Stone had other business endeavors besides the tourist home.

"Mr. Smith Stone had a cigar store Confection store in the basement of the Verbeck Theater at the time of its fire (December 1905). The Stone family made popcorn balls in the barn for sale on Broadway."

1905 ad from the Lorain City Directory

Thinking about the tourist home reminded Mr. Doane of other pleasant memories of growing up in that neighborhood.

The former Doane home
at 1224 West Erie Avenue

"I remember the constant running of the street cars on West Erie all the time, and the steady stream of trailer trucks traveling on the street," he noted. "Our dog never got hit by the trucks nor the street cars. West Erie was a nice street to live. It was a short block from the lake, where we kids grew up living at the lake most every day."

Although the tourist home at 1219 West Erie is gone, the barn behind it remains – and Mr. Doane has a memory connected to it too. 

"My brother Bob and Bob Stilgenbauer each built an 18-foot sailboat in the barn in the rear of 1219 West Erie, and, with the help of their buddies, lowered both boats by rope and sweat from the second floor of the barn to the ground."

Special thanks to Albert Doane for his reminisces.

The Story of Bob the Parrot – November 23, 1923

Well, it’s November already. Before I get down to business with some planned updates of past posts, let’s have a filler or two to buy me some time.

First up is a cute story from the front page of the Lorain Journal of November 23, 1923. It’s about Bob, a unique parrot owned by the well-known Doane family of Lorain.

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Lorain Parrot Calls For Dog That Died Long Ago
Remembers Friend He Talked To When In Sandusky-co

Every day for the last two years Bob has called in vain for Brownie, his playmate who died long ago.

Bob is a parrot who had reached the age of 33 years and is the treasured pet of Mrs. C.E. Doane, 539 Washington-av.

Brownie was a little dog who was Bob’s playmate when the two were pets in the home of Mrs. Doane’s sister, Mrs. Minerva Miller, Jackson-twp, Sandusky-co., who has passed away.

When but a year old bird in a California home, Bob was shipped to Mrs. Meade McIntyre, another sister of Mrs. Doane, at Lansing, Mich., as a present to her daughter. He remained at that home five years and then went to other homes of the Dundore family of which Mrs. Doane is a member.

A.W. Dundore, Burgoon, O., a brother of Mrs. Doane, was owner of the bird more than seven years. From there he entered the Doane household two years ago.

Sings “After the Ball”
Bob has many accomplishments. He sings and whistles the chorus of that old-time song, “After the Ball,” written by Charles K. Harris, Milwaukee, when most of the men and women of today were children. In addition, he whistles “I Wish I Was in Dixie.”

In the warm spring months Bob’s cage is placed on the front page of the Doane home which is passed by hundreds of school children on their way to and fro from school. It is then that the bird is in his glory, for he takes much pleasure in mimicking conversation.

Bob is a joker as well as a mimic. One of his favorite stunts is to turn dogs that are on the trail of their way to and from school by a shrill whistle they mistake for that of their masters.

No Chance for Burglars
The Doane home need never fear from burglars’ visits, for no matter at what time of the night members of the household enter they are greeted by Bob with a loud “hello” and a piercing whistle that awaken those who are slumbering.

When friends call at the home Bob insists on interrupting the conversation and assumes a hostile mood which vanishes when they depart. Despite Bob’s two-year residence in Lorain, the home of sailors, the bird has never learned to swear. Yet he repeats again and again, “Bob is a bad, bad boy.”

In the matter of food Bob is partial to that of his native state and clamors for fruit. Old age is taking its toll from Bob’s friendly nature. Years ago he greeted strangers in a pleasant way. Now he meets them with feathers rustled and many squawks.

When visitors depart Bob mounts his perch, smooths his feathers, emits ha ha’s and winds up whistling something that sounds like “Good-bye forever.”

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I found this article back in 2013 and forwarded it to local historian and author Al Doane. He thanked me for sending it. “I had heard talk about a bird in the house, but never had the entire story told to me at that time, as I was the younger brother that was always getting in their way,” wrote Al. “And now there is no one living who knew of and had seen the parrot.”

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So how does “After the Ball” go? Well, let’s hear (and watch) it sung by the man who wrote it: Charles K. Harris.

Early History of the Bait Shop

A 1930s view of the Lorain Yacht Club headquarters (at right)
with the Lorain Waterworks behind it
(Courtesy Al Doane Collection – Lorain Public Library)

As Al Doane pointed out to me yesterday, the small bait and tackle building down at Hot Waters that is going to be demolished has a pretty good historical pedigree.

The Lorain Journal of June 21, 1955 explained its origin in a story about water sports in Lorain County. It mentions how the Lorain Powerboat club was reorganized as the Lorain Yacht Club in 1927 and notes, “With funds from the old power boat club treasury plus money raised through the sale of subscription bonds, a clubhouse was built at Waterworks Park.

“John Dusendon, a popular Lorain small boat builder, and Dewey Moore supervised the construction of this building.”

1930s aerial view
(Courtesy Al Doane Collection – Lorain Public Library)

The article goes on to explain how the passing of L. I. Corthell, commodore of the Lorain Yacht Club in 1931, led to expansion of the building. He had left one-eighth of his estate to the Lorain Yacht Club and, as the article notes, “With these funds the clubhouse was expanded, the Bar and restrooms added and a permanent foundation placed under the building.

“This expansion took place in 1940 during Don Whyte’s term of office.”

In 1951 the Lorain Yacht Club purchased land on Alabama Avenue for a new clubhouse. As for its old one, “The club surrendered its old quarters to the Fraternal Order of Police in January 1953.”

So here you have a building that is Lorain’s oldest connection to its water sports heritage: the original Lorain Yacht Club headquarters. Plus, it has historical significance to the Lorain Fraternal Order of Police.

It not only needs to be saved and restored, it should have a historical plaque out in front of it.

Hole-in-the-Wall Part 2: the Claus Farm

1896 Map showing the two Claus (spelled Clause here) farms

While many local residents have fond memories of sneaking onto Hole-in-the-Wall beach near Oak Point as teenagers, the "other" Hole-in-the-Wall is much lesser known.

That's because as opposed to being adjacent to a resort area, this Hole-in-the-Wall was part of the Henry B. Claus farm, where Quarry Creek empties into Lake Erie.

Historian and archivist Dennis Lamont explained the story to me in several emails over the last few years.

First of all he pinpointed the location. "This is directly across from the little two stone graveyard on Route 6 between the power plant and the Fairlane yard sign. Before they rebuilt the road and filled in the valley, it was a pretty steep grade on each side."

Dennis pointed out that both the Nickel Plate railroad and the Lake Shore Electric Railway both had bridges over Quarry Creek. Both bridges had a built-in feature to allow the Claus family to access the lakefront.

"When the Nickle Plate came through, they had to build a cattle pass in the trestle so the farmers could take their cattle and horses down to the lake," Dennis noted.

According to Dennis, the Claus hole-in-the-wall was also the location of a terrible accident on the Nickel Plate Railroad. On July 17, 1912 an engine and baggage car were backing up from Lorain, heading west towards Vermilion to pick up a group of Crystal Beach picnickers. The cars jumped the track, and fell forty feet from the trestle into the ravine below.

Here is a Willis Leiter photograph of the accident. The view is looking west. The Lake Shore Electric Railway bridge is not visible in this photo, but it was just to the south of the Nickel Plate bridge.

The Claus family eventually lost their "Hole-in-the-Wall" beach access when Lake Road was improved between Lorain and Vermilion in 1933. But the family didn't give it up without a fight.

An article in the August 14, 1933 Lorain Journal and Times-Herald mentioned the Lake Road construction delay due to negotiations between the government and the family. It stated, "The strip now being improved cannot be connected at its west end with the present road unless the dispute between Henry B. Claus and the highway department is settled.

"The right of way is clear up to Claus hill, where the new road will join the old Lake-rd after cutting out several curves and hills.

"Claus wants $4,500, claiming that the new route will block off the present by-pass under the railroad and street car tracks, which allows access from his Lake-rd property to the beach. The state has offered $1,700. Efforts to bring the two together on a compromise arrangement are underway. G. A. Resek, attorney for Claus, says the case is near settlement.

Henry B. Claus eventually had to settle for less. The August 17, 1933 Lorain Journal and Times-Herald reported, "The last bar to the progress of the West Lake-rd. construction was cleared today with settlement of an injunction suit brought against the state highway department by Henry B. Claus, Lake-rd farmer.

"Claus procured a court order restraining the highway department from entering his property to locate a new section of the Lake-rd from Beaver Creek to Claus' hill. He asked $4,500 damages for this property to be confiscated by the state to lay down the new road. The state had offered approximately $2,000.

"The case was settled for approximately $3,000, it was learned today."

Here's an undated aerial photo showing the Henry Claus farm situated next to a widened Lake Road. At the edge of the photo, you get a glimpse of the culvert allowing Quarry Creek to flow under Lake Road. The photo was in a collection of photos at the Lorain Historical Society taken shortly before, during and after the construction of the Ford plant in the late 1950s. That's Old Lake Road winding its way down from the top of the photo.

Up until about four years ago, the Claus farmhouse still stood on the south side of  Lake Road just east of the small family graveyard on the other side of Quarry Creek.

Here's a 2011 aerial view (below).

And then suddenly – and quietly – the two buildings were torn down, along with the other buildings near the graveyard. Today there is no evidence that the farms were ever there – except for the two gravestones.

Here is a current Bing Maps view (below).

However, if you know where to look, you can see exactly where the "Hole-in-the-Wall" under the Nickel Plate Railroad bridge and the Lake Shore Electric steel trestle was located.

Al Doane and a friend visited the site in 2012 and took some pictures. He noted in an email, "The train workmen have marked where the hole in the wall is by the two painted white poles set in the Right-of-Way track bed.

Here is his photograph showing those poles.

Looking north at the location of Claus' Hole-in-the-Wall
(Photo courtesy of Al Doane)

Al also provided a great photograph showing how the filling in of the former ravine didn't entirely erase all evidence of what was there before. As seen in the photo below, according to Dennis, the stone part of the abutment is what's left of the Lake Shore Electric's bridge.

(Photo courtesy of Al Doane)

Lastly, here's what the location of Claus' Hole-in-the-Wall looks like today (below). Note the two sewer pipes emptying into the lake. As Dennis observed, "It's hard to imagine a wooden trestle on the Nickel Plate and an 180 foot long steel bridge on the Lake Shore Electric – along with Claus' cattle pass and a beach."

Thanks to everyone who contributed historical information and photos for these two posts.

Lorain’s Tucker Automobile Dealership

Last week I did a post about 939 Broadway, currently the home of Dabu Restaurant & Cocktail Bar, and for many years the headquarters of radio station WLRO. I’d mentioned in my post that there was a used car business at that location run by Arlington J. Popp in the early 1940s.

This triggered the memory of local historian and author Al Doane, who contacted me to point out something very interesting: that Arlington Popp had briefly operated a Tucker Automobile dealership at that same location.

It was pretty brief. An ad for the Tucker dealership only appeared in the October 1947 and October 1948 Lorain Telephone Company directories.

A 1948 Tucker Sedan at the Blackhawk Auto Museum
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Now, in case you’ve never heard of it, the Tucker Automobile was a revolutionary car conceived by Preston Tucker and known for its innovative design. 

Despite this, the car had only a brief life due to many controversial factors, and only 51 were produced before the company closed. (Preston Tucker and his cars were the subject of Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) starring Jeff Bridges and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.)

Al remembered one of the unique features of the car. “As the front wheels turned,” he noted, "the head lights also turned with the wheels.”

This is explained further in the Wiki entry on the Tucker 48 automobile. It states, “The most recognizable feature of the Tucker ’48, a directional third headlight (known as the “Cyclops Eye”), would activate at steering angles of greater than 10 degrees to light the car’s path around corners.” 

Not surprisingly – since so few cars were manufactured – Al remembered that the dealership “was never able to get one of the Tucker autos in their new showroom.”

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Al Doane was also able to tell me a little bit about J. Arlington Popp. Al reminisced, “Arlington was very much like a midget, very short in stature.

“He was so short that he would place a 2 x 4 to the car pedals so he could touch them and be able to control the car. He lived on Hamilton Avenue just to the west of Lorain High School.”

My mother remembered J. Arlington Popp as well, although she thought he might have been a dwarf. Nevertheless, Mr. Popp sounds like he was very well known character in Lorain, and successful at what he did.

J. Arlington Popp passed away on March 17, 1989 at the age of 75. He lived in Lorain all his life, and there were no survivors.

Lorain: The Real Postcards of Willis Leiter Now Available

The secret is finally out – and it's good news for anyone interested in Lorain history that wants to add an invaluable volume to their bookshelf.

Willis Leiter

The book Lorain: The Real Postcards of Willis Leiter is officially on sale today from Arcadia Publising. It features the photography of Willis Leiter, who established a studio in Lorain in 1901.

Like many photographers, Leiter's business was creating charming portraits of local citizens that were suitable for framing. But much more importantly to today's historians, Leiter also documented the Lorain of the early 1900s – ship launchings, steel production, buildings, schools, churches, community events – through thousands of real photo postcards. Those postcards are the focus of the book, and with the best of them compiled into one volume, they provide rare, wonderful and unexpected views of Lorain.

The book was the labor of love of five people with the aim of bringing long overdue recognition to Willis Leiter: Albert Doane, Bill Jackson, Paula Shorf, Matthew Weisman and Bruce Leiter Waterhouse, Jr.

The authors – (top row, from left) Paula Shorf,
Bruce Leiter Waterhouse, Jr., Matthew Weisman, Bill Jackson;
(seated) Albert Doane

Albert Doane is the well-known local historian who helped found the Black River Historical Society (now known as the Lorain Historical Society). He helped compile Lorain Ohio, the first Arcadia Publishing book on Lorain, as well as being one of the authors of Lake Shore Electric, another Arcadia Publishing book.

Bill Jackson of Chardon, Ohio, has collected postcards for many years, with an emphasis on those produced by Willis Leiter.

Former Lorainite Paula Shorf of Concord, California is also a longtime collector of Willis Leiter real photo postcards. Paula regularly patrols Ebay in search of rare Leiter treasures to add to her growing archives.

Matthew Weisman of Elyria, Ohio is a longtime collector of Lorain Shipbuilding history and memorabilia. He also presents programs about Lorain Shipbuilding to historical groups. 

Bruce Leiter Waterhouse, Jr., is a great-grandson of the photographer. He became interested in his ancestor's postcards when he saw a display of them at an exhibit depicting iron ore shipments on the Great Lakes.

How the book came to be is serendipity at its best.

Paula Shorf had been collecting Leiter real photo postcards since 2001 and had always hoped that he would get recognition for his work. At the same time, Paula and Matthew Weisman had been emailing back and forth about Lorain's shipbuilding industry, and the many Leiter postcards about that topic. A few years later, Bill Jackson – yet another Leiter collector – contacted the Black River Historical Society looking for information about the photographer. The Society put him in touch with Matthew, who introduced him to Paula. Before you knew it, the three were talking about writing a book. They were joined by Bruce Leiter Waterhouse, Jr. and Al Doane – and finally all of the players were onboard to make the book a reality.

The book can be ordered on Amazon and through the Arcadia Publishing website. It will be available locally at the Lorain Historical Society (which is currently closed for the winter).

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As part of the celebration surrounding this book, my blog this week will focus entirely on Willis Leiter – his life, his work and even his former home on East Erie in Lorain. Plus, more about the book!

A. Helfrich Building at 822 Broadway

Recently I received an email inquiring if I had any information on the history of the building at 822 Broadway in Lorain (above), which is currently undergoing some renovations.

It’s always a little tricky to use city directories to research a building, but here is what I believe to be correct.

The ‘A. Helfrich’ name on the building was Anthony Helfrich, who had a furniture and undertaking business. Up until the 1905 city directory, it was located at 700 Broadway (later the location of the Thistle Building, now a vacant lot). Thus the 1906 inscription date makes sense.

There were two addresses associated with the building: 820 and 822 Broadway. The funeral business was at 820 and a variety of businesses used the 822 address until it became the primary address in the 1980s.

The Shiff Brothers and their musical instrument, hardware and pawn broker business were an early tenant at the 822 address, appearing in the 1912 and 1915-16 editions of the directory. Around the time of the 1919-20 directory, the Helfrich Brothers Pool Room took over the 822 address.

In the 1921-22 book, the brothers were now running a cigar shop. Anthony Helfrich continued to run his funeral business at the 820 address.

By the time of the 1924 city directory, Jos. Stark had a dry goods business listed at the 822 Broadway. It wasn’t until the 1929 book that Stone Malt appeared at that address.

July 13, 1934 Ad from
Lorain Shopper News

Throughout the 1930s, the Anthony Helfrich funeral business continued to be listed at 820 Broadway (Helfrich passed away in 1930) and the restaurant known as Stone's Grill was at 822. Indeed, the two companies stayed put during the 1940s as well.

It wasn’t until the 1950 city directory that the business that many of us remember showed up listed at 820-822 Broadway: Rusine’s, run by Michael Rusine. Stone’s Grill apparently moved next door to 816-818 Broadway (the small brick building that is still there today) and kept on appearing in the  city directory right into the 1980s. (I’m not sure when it closed).

According to the city directories, Rusine’s eventually used the 820 part of the building for storage.

It will be interesting to see the next chapter in the history of the newly refurbished 822 Broadway.

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Here’s a link to a 2017 Morning Journal article by Richard Payerchin about the building’s deteriorating condition at that time.

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UPDATE (December 9, 2019)
Local historian and author Al Doane reached out to me today with some additional information about the Helfrich funeral business when it was located in its namesake building.

Al wrote, "I would like to add what I had found years ago about it. I found this information in a Lorain Daily News article.

"The article stated that the funeral business was conducted on the 4th Floor of the building. I had wondered how they got the body up to the 4th floor.” 

But then Al read that one of the problems that the present owners of the building faced is that there is an elevator shaft from the ground floor to the fourth floor. So it all made sense.

"At first when I read the article with funerals on the 4th floor, I could not imagine carrying a body up all those stairs,” noted Al. Hearing about that elevator shaft solved the mystery.

Thanks for sharing your findings, Al!

Bye Bye Bait Shop

The view on Tuesday night

I read in the Chronicle-Telegram last night (here) that Lorain is planning to tear down the city-owned Hot Waters Bait & Tackle building.

It’s been decided that given the poor condition that the building is in, there is no reason to continue to lease the property to a tenant, or invest in rehabilitating the building.

Once again, Lorain can’t wait to tear something old down.

Courtesy Lorain County Auditor

And that’s a shame. Here you have an old, interesting little building that would be right at home in a New England harbor environment. If it was fixed up and returned to its former glory, it could be something that tourists would utilize.

I don’t know how many people still fish down at Hot Waters, but I’ll bet plenty enjoy the view of the Lighthouse. This building would be perfect to sell pop, coffee, hot dogs, or newspapers – or even hand out tourist information. Or sell souvenirs. In addition to its purpose of selling bait and tackle.

If this building gets torn down, it’s possible that nothing will take its place. And Lorain loses more of its real, nautical heritage.

Authentic heritage that can’t be replaced by pagan fish pageants.

When are the city and civic leaders of Lorain going to start thinking of the city as a tourist destination and make sure every move is geared in that direction – instead of just cutting costs?

Please, Lorain – leave something old standing for a change. Make this building a project. Find volunteers – grants – corporate sponsors – and fix it up.

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Got an interesting email from local historian and author Al Doane this morning about this building. Apparently it has a lot more maritime history than I thought.

Al noted, "I remember when that building housed the Lorain Yacht Club until the new club was built on Alabama Avenue, just north of East Erie Avenue, and just north of the East entrance from East Erie Ave. to the Bascule Bridge.

"I remember the old Yacht Club using this old building in the 1930's, 1940's and 1950's. It had a lot going for the building when a regatta was held there, for all the various close yacht clubs would enter the races."

All the more reason to try and save this building!

F. J. McFadden, Lorain Architect

Listing from the 1936 Lorain Telephone Company directory
(Note the McFaddens were still living above the Pueblo at Stop 109)

Local historian and author Al Doane emailed me last week about F. J. McFadden, the Lorain architect who, along with his wife, conceived and built the Pueblo.

442 Oberlin Avenue today
still has a picket fence around it
(Photo Courtesy Lorain County Auditor)

Al wrote, “As a kid I remember that he and his wife lived on the northwest corner of Fifth Street and Oberlin Avenue. When each spring rolled around, his wife would paint the wooden picket fence that bordered the corner lot.”

This was very helpful to me, because it made me aware that while the McFaddens were not listed in the Lorain City Directories in the early 1930s (because they lived above the Pueblo restaurant which was outside city limits), they were still in the area. They were easier to find in the phone books later on the 1930s when they apparently sold the restaurant and moved back into town to 442 Oberlin Avenue.

I did a little Googling and discovered that F. J. McFadden enjoyed a fine and productive career as an architect, which is highlighted in this front page account of his passing which ran in the Lorain Journal on July 14, 1954 (below).

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McFadden Dies at 63

Heart Attack Fatal to Lorain Architect

A Lorain architect since 1918, F. J. McFadden, 63, 442 Oberlin, died at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in his home. He was stricken with a heart attack.

A native of Titusville, Pa., Mr. McFadden graduated from Chamberlin Military Institute, N. Y. Valparaiso University and the University of Michigan.

Served in Two Wars

He served in both World War I and II. During the latter conflict he enlisted in the Army Engineers where he held a rank equivalent to colonel and supervised construction of war plants.

He is widely known for his architectural work here in designing and remodeling many buildings in the Lorain public school system. Currently four of his designs are under construction, Washington School, additions at Lakeview and Larkmoor Schools and remodeling of Garfield School.

Designed Two Atomic Plants

He was also architect for the original Larkmoor and Lakeview Schools, the high school arts building, Boone, Palm Avenue and new Fairhome Schools, the addition to Longfellow and Hawthorne Schools and remodeling of the high school auditorium and cafeteria.

Since the end of World War II he continued his association with the government, designing two atomic energy plants.

Mr. McFadden was a member of First Congregational Church, Lorain Masonic Lodge 552, Moose Lodge and American Institute of Architects. He was a past president of Lorain Rotary Club and an active member for 17 years.

Survivors are his wife, Mallie; one daughter, Mrs. Geraldine Kuhn, Marion, O.; his father, Jerome, and a sister, Miss Jessie McFadden, Hydetown, Pa.; four brothers, George and Byron, Lorain. Jerome, Cleveland, Sydney, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Friends may call at the Schwartz Home for Funerals this evening after 7. Masonic rites will be conducted Thursday evening at the funeral home.

Funeral services will be at 2 p. m. Friday in First Congregational Church with Rev. H. F. Loomis officiating. Burial will be in Ridge Hill Memorial Park Cemetery.

The family requests that memorial tribute be paid through donations to the Rotary Club for work with underprivileged children.

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The Marion Star also published a story about F. J. McFadden on July 14, 1954 since his only daughter resided in that city. It reported that he died “while watching one of his favorite television programs.” It noted he had been in excellent health and had “returned home from the annual All-Star baseball game in Cleveland only a few hours earlier. He ate a hearty supper and sat down to watch TV after his return home.”

The article also included a few facts about McFadden's life. His wife was the former Mallie Ridgeway of Hydetown, the city where they were married in 1913.

They had resided in Lorain 35 years.

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Incidentally, a small item in the October 1, 1919 edition of the American Architect mentioned that "H. O. Wurmster [sic], architect, of Loraine [sic], Ohio, has formed a partnership with F. J. McFadden and G. L. Slater. Both are graduates of the University of Michigan.

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.

Water Works Park

Late April 2017 View

The building that served as the Lorain Yacht Club’s clubhouse continues to be of interest to me.

Recently I discovered that it dates back to at least 1929. An article in the Lorain Journal on August 19, 1929 about the Lorain Yacht Club’s second annual regatta makes reference to it. It notes, “More than 200 visitors came by water to Lorain for the regatta, and many of them remained for the buffet luncheon and awarding of prizes at the club house, foot of Oberlin-av, at the close of the races.”

Although today we generally describe the building’s location as being at Hot Waters, in its early days it had another address: simply Lorain Water Works Park. That’s how it appeared in several issues from the early 1930s of Motor Boating – The Yachtsmen’s Magazine.

Water Works Park was featured in the book, Lorain: The Real Photo Postcards of Willis Leiter. The book included the photo of the lakefront park below.

The caption noted, “The huge brick chimney on the left was the location of the steam boilers that powered the water pumps for the city water supply. The park was located behind the Lorain waterworks on First Street at the north end of Oberlin Avenue.”

Here’s another vintage postcard view (below).

An internet search reveals that many municipal water works seemed to have parks adjacent to them. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of available information about Lorain’s park. It’s hard to know when the park was apparently lost to the expansion and upgrading of the Water Department facilities.

It looks like change had already occurred in these 1930s views (courtesy of Al Doane).

Today, the Water Works Park area is unrecognizable (below). The towering chimney seen in the vintage views is long gone, along with the older Water Department buildings.

But at one time, the property provided a nice lakefront park for residents, and a good home and address for the Lorain Yacht Club.

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Here’s a view of Oberlin Avenue and First Street from yesterday afternoon. As you can see, the tall building in the background is in several of the vintage photographs.

The Pueblo – Part 9

As I’ve noted before, the widening of U. S. Route 6 west of Lorain in the 1950s created fragments of bypassed highway both east and west of the undercut. But by the early 1960s, the businesses and residences located on these short road segments still had their West Lake Road addresses.

Apparently, the decision was made to give these access roads new names to avoid confusion with the main highway. Unlike similar road fragments west of Vermilion, however, they were not called ‘Old Lake Road.'

The short road on which the Pueblo had been located for decades was named Pueblo Drive as a tribute, first appearing in the 1963 edition of the Lorain City Directory. The old numerical addresses for the businesses and residences located there (such as 4015 for the Hialeah Tourist Court) were simply retained for their new Pueblo Drive designation.

Today, Charles Akers Construction, Inc. sits at the western end of Pueblo Drive, approximately where the restaurant was located.

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Unlike many other iconic Lorain businesses (such as the Castle, or Heilman’s), apparently there are no postcards of the Pueblo that have turned up on Ebay. Matchbooks (such as those from Paula Shorf’s collection that I posted on Parts 4 & 5) have shown up from time to time.

A vintage Pueblo Barbecue menu (below) appeared on the Lorain, Ohio By Photos Facebook page in the last few years.

Al Doane’s archives at the Lorain Public Library included what appeared to be a later Pueblo menu (below).

Today, the Pueblo is remembered only by those Lorain Countians old enough to have enjoyed a fine meal or night out there. It remains a colorful piece of local lore that deserves to be remembered not only for the good times experienced there, but for the bold vision of F. J. McFadden in creating something so unique. It’s a shame that it met a fiery demise like so many other Lorain businesses through the years.