AND WINTER BEGINS: As winter falls softly outside our comfortable ranch on Oakwood Drive in good old Vermilion I am inclined to recall snowstorms of the past.
I don't know that those I remember when I was a youngster were any worse than the one we're currently experiencing (or about to experience). But when you're about 4 feet tall and fifty some years younger they seemed very dramatic. Or as kids say today - awesome.
The one I remember the most was during the late Spring of 1954. I remember it for two reasons: 1.)Mom was in New York City on an excursion with the local "B&PW" (i.e. Business and Professional Women); and 2.) just the day before the weather had been so balmy that we (all the kids in the neighborhood) had all locked on our roller-skates on the blacktop tennis / basketball courts behind South Street School, and let the strong winds blow us back and forth across the pavement.
That night the storm hit with a vengeance.
Radar tracking the storm over Ohio early this a.m.
Everyone in town lost electricity. In the morning Pa went over to "the shop" (the Vermilion News office and a printshop) to make sure the boiler was properly fired and stoked. We (my brothers and sisters) watched out the windows of our house on Perry Street as the electricity bounced along the wires on the north side of the New York Central Railroad tracks just north of us.
All transportation systems in the area were stalled. Even the trains quite running. When daylight came word came that there wasn't a loaf of bread left in town. God only knows why that might have been real important because at that time most folks maintained well-stock pantries. But it seemed important to a 10 year-old kid.
We were warm. We had food (we heated and cooked with gas). What we didn't have was information. Without electricity all the information we received - for at least the first few hours of the day - was word of mouth. It was kinda' fun.
Two days later most of the snow was gone and - I suppose for many - so was any lasting memory of that storm.
And I don't doubt that the current storm will provide some youngster - somewhere in good old Vermilion, Ohio - with a memory he, or she, too will never forget.
George Whitmore
WHO WAS GEORGE WHITMORE:
Someday I would like to help make a list of those I believe to have been among the top 10 or 20 most influential Vermilionites of the 19th and 20th centuries. This list would not necessarily list those who might be said to be affluent (i.e. well-to-do). Like all communities Vermilion has had its share of wealthy citizens. George Whitmore, for instance, was hardly a wealthy man. Moreover; his name is scarcely known by most people. His influence over the development of the community was, however, significant.
In 1897 a fellow named Robert Whitmore came to Vermilion from Greensprings, Ohio. In a building known as the “Wells Building” on the east side of Grand Street just north of the railroad tracks he set-up his press. And on June 24, 1897 he produced a weekly newspaper called "The Vermillion News". [The Wells Building once stood in Hanover Square and had served as a schoolhouse. It was razed sometime in the 1960’s.]
By November of 1898 Robert grown tired of the business turned over the operation to his father George (photo) - whom he had coaxed to Vermilion with glowing recommendations of it as a shipping hub for his (George's) budding furniture business. For reasons unknown George named H.A. Haven as the publisher of the weekly. “H.A. Haven” - a fairly distinguished looking / sounding name -was actually George’s mother Hattie.
At the very beginning of the 20th century Whitmore sold the business to a newly married couple, Pearl and Elizabeth Roscoe, for just a few hundred dollars. The newspaper was located on the 2nd floor of the structure. In September of 1904 the Roscoes purchased a property further south on Grand Street, and in November moved the business to a new building on that lot.
Though he's a hard man to follow (historically) the family remained in Vermilion, and members of the family were employed by the Roscoes in the production of their newspaper. While Whitmore, himself, was an true entrepreneur - and was involved in various enterprises during his lifetime - his greatest contribution to the fledgling village of Vermilion, Ohio was that of establising the Vermilion News weekly as a dynamic force in the development of the community.
And for that he should be recognized and remembered.
EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS
These useful quotes are from actual federal employee
performance evaluations:
* Since my last report, this employee has reached rock
bottom and has started to dig.
* I would not allow this employee to breed.
* This employee is really not so much of a has-been but
more of a definite won't-be.
* When she opens her mouth, it seems that it is only to
change feet.
* He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.
* Got a full six-pack but lacks the plastic thing to hold
it all together.
* A gross ignoramus - 144 times worse than an ordinary
ignoramus.
* He has been working with glue too much.
* If you see two people talking, and one looks bored, he
is the other one.
* A photographic memory but with the lens cover glued on.
* Donated his brain to science before he was done using it.
* Gates are down, the lights are flashing but the train is
not coming.
* Has two brains: one is lost and the other is out looking
for it.
* If he were any more stupid, he would have to be watered
twice a week.
* If you stand close enough to him, you can hear the ocean.
* It is hard to believe that he beat out 1,000,000 other
sperm.
* Takes him two hours to watch 60 Minutes.
* The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
(Who'd a thunk?)
[From doctordialtone.com]
"...by 1907 baseball was more than just a game to Alta - it was a passion."
ALTA: 1907 did not descend gracefully upon Linwood Park in the Village of Vermilion, Ohio. Oh, the weather was pleasant enough - but it was perhaps too pleasant. A sere, and rather brisk April wind caused an errant spark from a chimney of one cottage in the park to silently light upon the roof of another with rather disastrous results. Thirty percent of the park’s 70 cottages were reduced to ash. Were that the sum toll of misfortune for park residents that year it would have been quite enough. But it was not.
NOTE: The aforementioned fire did not take place until April of 1910 although it appears in the late Betty Trinter's book, "The Way It Was" as having happened in April of 1907. It was reported as news in an April 1910 edition of The Vermilion News. In addition to this the Karen and Ray Boas book, "Through These Gates" also documents the date as April 1910. Please excuse the error. Thanks to Bob Shanks for the heads-up. 1/12/09.
Linwood Park took its name from a great tree (8 foot in diameter, and 85 feet high) which overlooked, and shaded, the Linwood Hotel. The hollowed-trunk of the tree had provided generations of youngsters with a place to play unfettered by the busy world around them. The shadow of the great tree was cast across the earth long before white men knew this land existed. However; it was deemed to be, by the powers of that “busy world”, an ageing risk and was, thusly and forever, laid low.
As spring turned to summer the sounds of hammers, saws, and jovial voices could be heard throughout the park as folks worked to recoup some of which they had lost. And quite suddenly and subtly Linwood came to life again. Summer residents removed the shutters from their homes and waved to their neighbors, and smiling visitors filled the rooms of the hotel along the beach. Among them was a pretty 17 year old girl from Ragersville, Ohio. Her name was Alta Weiss.
Ms. Weiss was the second of three daughters born to Dr. George and Lucinda Weiss. Alta was a young lady of remarkable talent. She was an excellent student. She played the piano, the violin, and had a wonderful singing voice. But those things were not uncommon among girls of her age in 1907. What was truly extraordinary about her was her love for outdoor sports. This included hunting. But more importantly it included playing the game of baseball and, specifically, having an ability to play it better than more than a few of her male counterparts.
Her talent at the game was so remarkable that her father had established a two-year high school in Ragersville to allow her the opportunity to play on a school team. Moreover; he built a ball park for the town team. Alta was playing first base for the town’s second (string) team (consisting of men) when she was but 14.
Thus, it should suffice to say that by 1907 baseball was more than just a game to Alta - it was a passion. And, thus, it should further be of no surprise to anyone that upon settling in at Linwood for a vacation she would, and did, seek out a means to exercise her skills at the game.
Happening upon a group of boys playing catch she asked to join them. Whether this amused them, or they were just being courteous, or both, the boys agreed. And the rest is history.
The Mayor of Vermilion in 1907 was a fellow named H.R. Williams. The “Squire” (as he was called) and his family were among those who kept a summer home in the park. Among his sundry interests was the game of baseball. And as fate would have it he saw the 17 year-old Alta setting fire to the gloves of the aforementioned group of boys in the game of catch.
Immediately recognizing her talent the Squire suggested to Charles Heidloff, the manager of Vermilion’s semipro Vermilion Independents, that he sign her to play for the team. He initially scoffed at the idea. But after watching her play in a game the Squire arranged to be played between two local teams, with Alta pitching, he scoffed no more. Alta Weiss, with her father’s permission, took the mound at Vermilion’s Crystal Beach ball park on September 2, 1907 and pitched her way into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The following year Dr. Weiss purchased the team and renamed it the Weiss All-Stars.
In 1910 she, in effect, left the field forever when she entered the Starling-Ohio Medical College in Columbus. She graduated from med-school in 1914 - the only woman in her class. Eventually she returned to her home in Ragersville, retired from doctoring, and spent the rest of her life tending to her ten cats, reading three newspapers every day, driving her 1940 Buick to and from the store, and watching children play ball on the street in front of her home. And there she died in 1964.
Back in Vermilion, Ohio Crystal Beach has disappeared, replaced by a bank, a gas station, and a number of apartment buildings. And just a hop, skip, and a jump to west - in Linwood Park - an empty ball field waits in anticipation of days to come, and quietly recalls a yesteryear that began very badly but ended quite marvelously.
Ref: Timeline; Ohio Historical Society; You Can’t Play In Skirts, Alta Weiss, Baseball Player, Barbara Gregorich; 1994; Special Thanks to Janet Ford; Ritter Librarian and Bette Lou Higgins; Eden Valley Enterprises; The Way It Was, Betty Trinter; 1966; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 1/5/07.
1/1/07
10:36 AM
"Electricity came to the village in the wake of the development of the Lake Shore Electric (L.S.E.) interurban railway system."
NOTES ON A TIME WHEN VERMILION WAS VIRTUALLY WIRELESS: It is, of course, a rather subtle observation. But when some nameless photographer froze this image of the First Congregational Church building (currently the Millet Auction House) on the west side of Division Street just north of the Vermilion Township Hall, and all that then surrounded it, Vermilion, O. was, among many other things, virtually wireless.
There are no electric nor telephone wires drooping like empty clotheslines strung from lopsided pole to lopsided pole up and down the streets or across backyards of homes in the village. The only wires to clutter the landscape were telegraph lines. Most ran east and west along the path of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad which neatly and permanently divided the nascent metropolis north and south.
Electricity came to the village in the wake of the development of the Lake Shore Electric (L.S.E.) interurban railway system between Cleveland and Detroit in the early years of the 20th century. And though Alexander Graham Bell had been awarded the U.S. patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876, and the world's first long-distance telephone line had been established in 1877 in Nevada County, California a telephone system was not established in Vermilion until 1901. [Note: Nevada County is also the place where Vermilionite Lester A. Pelton designed and perfected the “Pelton wheel” to provide power for gold mining. They are still used to drive hydroelectric generators throughout the world.]
One may safely gather from this “wirelessness” state of affairs that the photograph was taken well before the turn of the 20th century. The church building in the photo, which boasted a parlour, dining room, kitchen, and lecture room in addition to a large sanctuary was completed and dedicated on a cold Sunday - January 15, 1888 - at a cost of $7000. [Note: This was, incidentally, during a time when the average workmen's wage was somewhere between $16 and $20 a week.]
The road and driveway are unpaved and the sidewalks are made of wooden planks. [Note: The childhood sidewalk game of "Step on a crack, you'll break your mother's back, step on a nail, you'll put your father in jail" was inspired by the wooden sidewalks of North America.]
But back to the wireless world of 19th century Vermilion. The building directly behind the church was a stable; a veritable 19th century public parking garage. It served as a temporary shelter for the animals of those who were visiting either the church or the township building by horseback or horse / mule drawn wagons. Two wagons are visible in the photo. The facility ran the length of the property line behind both the township building and the church.
Persons currently familiar with this area will notice that in this photo the duplex (house) just to the north of the church is yet to be built. Not visible in this photograph is the old train depot that once occupied a place next to the tracks just west of the crossing. The house to the back and right of the meeting house still exists. It’s on the northeast side of Grand Street near the rails. [Note: The house to the right of the aforementioned house - just visible in the distance - also remains. That which is truly noteworthy about this observation is the grade (i.e. the height) of the rail bed. It has been raised, perhaps, ten feet since this photograph was made.
]
There is, perhaps, some irony involved in the idea that in just a little over a century Vermilion has gone from being a “wireless” community to being well “wired” and is now headed back to being “wireless” once more. And whilst the people, the times, and the definitions of the term, have changed substantially it is hard to say which is most noteworthy.
Ref: Rich Tarrant’s Yesteryear - An Anthology of Historical Narratives of Vermilion, Ohio and Its People - 2005; Rathbun Family Photo Colletion courtesy of the Vermilion Area Archival Society.Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 11/13/08.
11/9/08
1:35 PM
VFW Band Truck c.1972
THE RUBE BAND TRUCK: The truck seen here with members of Vermilion High Schools band in about 1972 was probably first used in the mid to late 1930's. Although the precise origins of the truck are unknown [it was likely manufactured by local members of the American Legion] it was commonly used by the post's "Rube Band" in parades, street dances, and celebrations at the Olympic Outing Club just south of the village.
In this pic / sketch late Vermilionits Ozzie Kelm is the driver and and Clayton Cook his navigator. The photo is courtesy of Scott Dommin - who was then a member of the VHS band on the vehicle.
The locale is Ohio Street near the Vermilion Fire Station #1. In the background the Vermilion Township Hall is visible. It was probably taken during Vermilion's Festival of the Fish. (The Wooley Bear had not yet come to town.)
The truck ended up virtually disintegrating along side Ozzie's home on Cherry Road. The son of local resident Jim Smith currently owns the bell that once graced the hood of vehicle.
DON'T JUST SIT THERE WITH A MOUSE IN YOUR HAND! HELP THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY!: Take a cyber visit through my on-line store.
Christmas is over but I still have some things left. If you've not purchased something yet you're missing the proverbial boat. So stay close; and take a virtual tour of the shop. I keep the floor swept and the windows clean.
And for those who might wonder - this is my shop - and I do make a few bucks selling the items therein...
VERMILION VIEWS GIFT SHOP
Podcasts - "forever under construction..."
PODCAST #110: This week the Vermilion Views Podcast #110 is a short video taken near and around Main Street Beach in Vermilion just prior to the first big snowstorm of 2009. It's mostly an excercise in coordinating video, titles, and music by myself. It is 4:31 minutes long.
Also note that all the video (MP4) podcasts (where used) are done in the "Quicktime" format.
Stay with me on this project. Things will get better. (I pro-mize.)
NOTE NOTE:Past podcasts are no longer available in the on-line archive. They just take up too much disk space. But if one really, really, really wants to acquire a copy of a past cast it can be had by contacting moi - and I will place it on a disc and send it to ye for a minimal fee.
LOCAL ANNOUNCEMENTS: After giving it much thought this link has been "put-down". During the last year most of the folks who used to use this page as a bulletin board have acquired their own and, consequently, no longer need this forum from "Views". I have, however, kept links (in the links section) to Larry Hohler's "Hope Homes" in Kenya - and to Bette Lou Higgins' Eden Valley Enterprises sites. They are historically and socially relevant projects.
Pay particular note to the "Hope Homes" page during the next few months. They've recently received a significant grant from the Dolan Foundation and are constructing a Manual Training Center for their children and for other young people in that community. This is an exciting project.
If, however, something important come along - it will appear here.
The Beat Goes On: The page is generated by the dreaded Macintosh Computer and is written and designed by (me) Rich Tarrant. It will change weekly ~ usually on Saturday. Bookmark the URL (Universal Resource Locater) and come back at your own leisure. Send the page to your friends (and enemies if you wish). If you have something to share with those who visit this page, pass it on. And if you see something that
is in need of correction do the same. My sister, Nancy, is a great help in that respect. It only takes me a week to get things right. And follow the links. You might find something you like. If you experience a problem with them let me know. Also, if you want to see past editions of this eZine check the new archives links below.
If you're looking for my old links section (pictured) I've replaced it with a pull-down menu (visible in the small box next to the word "Go"). If you're looking for links to more Vermilion history check that menu.
How the old links menu looked
For Persons who would like to donate to the cause (to keep these "Views" on-line you can send whatever you would like to me at the following address. And THANKS to everybody who has already donated to the cause. I doth certainly appreciate it):
Rich Tarrant
1041 Oakwood Drive
Vermilion, Ohio
44089
Telephone: 440-967-0988 - Cell: 440-522-4459
"Here's a hot tip: Madoff is putting all his money in the USPS."
-Professor Roselyn Picher
Vol.6, Issue 43, January 10, 2009
Archive Issue #304
© 2009 Rich Tarrant