SCOUTBOARD This week was an interesting week for me - historically and technically.
Vermilionite Jim Smith stopped by the church early in the week with several old pix that a fellow named Isaac Shatz [sp] gave him. It is my understanding that Mr. S. has a shop of some kind in beautiful downtown Berlin Heights, Ohio - and that he is also a local historian.
Two of this pix appear in today's "VV". Eventually all of them will be published. They will also become part of the Vermilion Area Archival Society's photo collection archives.
Later that same day a fellow by the name of C.Herbert Minkler called and stopped by the house to give me a copy of the West Vermilion Freewill Baptist Church Minutes From 1840 to 1852.
The following is a piece which Mr. Minkler sent to me prior to our meeting that provided me (and all of you) with some infomation about him and the reason behind the transcript:
Rich,
Thanks for your reply. [NOTE: In a previous communique he asked if I would be interested in the church minute transcription and I replied (or course) in the affirmative.] I am glad you are interested. I thought I might share a little about myself to help you see how I fit into the history of Vermilion. My father had shared with me as a little boy many details of his experiences about living on Joppa Road. The house still stands where he was born in 1896. He would take Mom, me, an my sister, Jean, for rides from Lorain to visit the Shoops on Joppa Rd., then stop at all the cemeteries to look at the tombstones of our relatives. Marian Shoop Cronowalt was a cousin that we visited often. Her husband was Dick Cronowalt. Both are deceased. Lightening hit their farmhouse and burned just about everything. They moved to Vermilion from there.
I was employed by Columbia Gas of Ohio for 39 ½ years retiring in 1996. I worked in Vermilion often. As you can understand, being a serviceman helped to get well acquainted with the area and many residents. I have worked in the whole of Lorain County as the years went by.
After I retired I took time to read some of the books that had been handed down to me from my family. My father’s sister, Ruth Minkler, was a schoolteacher in Lorain and was active in recording our genealogy. A cousin, Gertrude Patton, had given her the book of minutes. She was a granddaughter of Dan and Sally Minkler. Aunt Ruth entrusted this prize to me. She passed on in 1964.
One day I was inspired to learn exactly how my Father’s side of our family became members of our church. The search was on and I finally got serious about the treasures I had only skimmed over previously. Letters that had also been handed down explained much.
In 1840, Nehemiah Dodge Smith and his wife, Olive Bailey Smith, opened their home for a meeting place for the newly organized West Vermilion Freewill Church. I understand the name “Baptist” was added later.
Saturday, October 12, 1844 was the date of the “Covenant Meeting” that Olive Smith and N.D. Smith requested “letters” as they planned to move to Iowa where Homestead Land was available.
One of their children was Chastina Smith. One of Her daughters was Kittie Carkins who married Elmer Minkler, a son of Alvin and Nancy Driver Minkler. My father was born to Elmer and Kittie. My answer was given that Olive Bailey Smith was the first to become a member of our church. It happened in Iowa. There are a number of stories that could be brought to light here but only if there is interest.
My great-uncle Herb Carkins was held by Sitting Bull as a child in Nebraska. He wrote a story that was printed in a magazine about his experience. I have a copy.
I will get my booklet copied and call to arrange a meeting with you. I like your website very much. Thanks for being who you are.
Yours truly,
Herb Minkler
P. S. You mentioned Gregg Trocchia in your website. I used to play Tuba in the Vermilion Community Band under his direction. Had some good times.
There are a number of familiar "Vermilion" family names in this document: Brooks, Smith, Minkler, Driver, Rumsey, etc. It will be passed along ot the Vermilion Area Archival Society also.
On the technical front - I came across a piece of software that will extract video files from websites and transfer them to other formats for whatever use one might have for them. This software - as you will soon see - will allow for some rather interesting future podcasts because I won't be limited to only those things I can directly produce.
One of the items I want "Viewers" to have access to is a "Depression Era' cooking demonstration accomplished by a lady who learned how to cook from her mother during those years. It's well done and very informative.
Cool Beans-ly,
State Street School Class c.1900
CLASSROOM NO.1: This is one of the pix that Vermilionite Jim Smith acquired from Berlin Heights historian Mr. Shatz (sp). I've got no background on the photo (yet)- and I've not done any investigatin' (I've been busy playing with the aforementioned software and doing some audio recording). But I would say that these shadows were captured about 1905 inside State Street School. If you look at the transom window over the entrance to the room you can see the crescent window over the front entrance to the school building. This is the first interior pic of the school where I have personally had an ability to understand where the room in the photo was actually situated.
The pic is fraught with detail. There is a glass vase and several glass bottles on a desk in the left foreground. There is a clock on the wall, and a picture of an indian cheif tacked to the top of the blackboard. And the cartoon-like drawings on the board behind the kindly looking teacher to help (I assume) with their reading lessons are very professional looking. The number "175" which appears to be written on the board beneath the indian picture is something I am unsure about. Whether it is really a part of the photo or is actually written on the blackboard is something I've not yet determined.
Lastly, I'm thinking that the teacher was a member of Vermilion's Krapp (pronounced "Crop") family. I have that impression because the photo was among several that were definitely of that particular family.
This likely will not be the last time this photo appears in "VV".
E.L. Coen
A NOTE ON THE COEN FAMILY: This pic of Edward L. Coen is, or course, a repeat from last week - but I think some folks might be interested in a few more details re: his immediate family.
Firstly, Edward died when he was but 58 years of age (b.1864 - d.1922). His brother Frederick (b.1872 - d.1942) - the gentlemen some came to know as "Mr. Lake Shore Electric" - was eight years his junior.
Edward was married to a lady named Cora. I believe they had a son. And the family lived in the house located on the southwest corner of Liberty and Perry Streets in Vermilion. The house was later the home of Captain Ferl and Alice Roscoe Lindsay.
It may be that Vermilion resident Bettie Coen Hornig is a granddaughter. And, somehow (via census data) I believe that Mrs. Coen was related to Vermilion's Lawless family.
I need to discover what Edward's definite role was in the Erie County Bank. It may be that his obituary (if I can find it) will reveal that information.
Cooler beans!
WWI Tank invading Vermilion, O.
THE TANK INVASION OF 1917: From the recesses of some person's closet came this extremely fascinating and unusual snapshot of a WWI vintage tank rolling down Main Street c.1917. And were it not for the keen eye of Vermilionite Bill Lehky this pic may well have ended up in someone's trashcan.
The photo is taken from the approximate location of the building which currently houses the Vermilion (Ohio) Photojournal and Vermilion Dentist Dr. Szusko's office (formerly the Wagner Hotel). A Kishman Fish Comapany fish-house, part of George Fisher's home, and a small portion of the river and swampland (that eventually became the Vermilion Lagoons) are very visible in the background. Mail Pouch tobacco advertised on the roof of the fish-house.
The occasion for this odd parade is unknown. Perhaps it was just part of a traveling an exhibition to promote the war effort. Tis currently anyone's guess. But the pic is certainly an extremely rare piece of "Vermilion-cana".
SONGS FROM THE HOSPITAL HIT PARADE
••"I'll be Sewing You"
•"Red Cells in the Sunset"
•"It's Spleen a Long, Long Time"
•"It Had to Be Flu"
•"On the Bonny Banks of Glaucoma"
•"Gonna Take a Sentimental Gurney"
•"The Staphs and Streps Forever"
•"Old Man's Liver"
•"I've Grown Accustomed to Her Brace"
•"The Girl From Emphysema"
•"MRI Blue?"
•"My Melancholic Baby"
•"From Here to Maternity"
• "76 Sore Bones"
• "I've Grown Accustomed to My Gown"
• "Be Still, My Heartburn"
• "It Seems to Me I've Felt This Pain Before"
• "Has Anybody Seen My Scar?"
• "Stitched, Bothered and Bewildered"
•"What Now, My Spleen?"
•"I Left My Sponge in San Francisco"
•"What Is This Thing Called Lunch?"
"The accompanying photographs were taken in (and above) the Village of Vermilion, Ohio
during the Vermilion Boat Club’s South Shore Regatta in the summer of 1930."
WHEN THE PILGRIM LANDED IN VERMILION.O.: In 1925 the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio built its first helium-filled public relations airship, the "Pilgrim". Since the start of what has now become a traditional Goodyear P.R. program the company has named its blimps after the U.S. winners of the America's Cup yacht race. When the mast, called a belly mooring, was developed in 1930 it allowed cross-country operations of the airships independent of permanent hangars. And with the name of the tire company painted on the side of the ship the custom of Goodyear blimps "barnstorming" communities across these United States of America was officially begun.
The accompanying photographs were taken in (and above) the Village of Vermilion, Ohio during the Vermilion Boat Club’s South Shore Regatta in the summer of 1930. Photo (A) shows the airship about to descend on the beach near the bathhouse in the Vermilion Lagoons. [Note that there are but 2 houses in what was then a very pristine subdivision.]
Upon landing on the beach interested parties were allowed to inspect the airship’s gondola / passenger car. In addition to that some lucky folks were also allowed an opportunity to take a ride in the lighter than air vehicle.
Photograph (B) was taken by one of those aforementioned “lucky folks”. This particular view captures the eastern blocks of Ohio and South Streets looking east and a bit north over the Vermilion River and beyond. The view is breathtaking. It may well be one of the very first aerial photographs taken of Vermilion. The detail is quite amazing.
Across the upper left corner of the aerial the New York Central Railroad was then operating 3 sets of rails through the village. Above the NYC rails the path of the Lake Shore Electric Railway is also clearly defined.
Near the upper right corner of the photo we are afforded a very clear-cut idea of how the Nickel Plate tracks run to the east, and pass beneath the NYC rails just beyond the river. Without the aerial it’s hard to have a visual understanding of how those rails were (and are) situated in that part of our community.
Most of the buildings in the snapshot remain, and are fairly easy to identify. One building - a barn that can be seen on the west side of West River Road just south of the NYC underpass - (to the knowledge of this writer) no longer exists. It is mentioned here because it has a "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" advertisement painted on its western wall. This is peculiar because the sign would have only been visible to persons passing through town on an eastbound train - or by persons cruising overhead in a blimp.
The bottom photograph(C) shows the great airship after lifting off from the beach. It is turning south to pass over the crowd of Regatta spectators whose attentions have turned away from the water activities to watch. What a magnificent sight it must have been; in that yesteryear when the "Pilgrim" landed in Vermilion, O.
Ref: www.goodyearblimp.com/archive/ph_current.html; Vermilion Area Archival Society, Pearl Roscoe photo collection; Special Thanks to Vermilion resident Tom Beach.
12/9/07
12:02 PM
Krapp Market c.1900
BEFORE USDA: This is one of three Krapp (pronounced "crop") market pix that Vermilionite Jim Smith acquired from Berlin Heights historian Shatz (sp) for the Vermilion Area Archival Society.
Makes ye wonder how we all survived before USDA doesn't it?
This is, in some respects the best of the three. And I have a number of questions about these photographs. Methinks that a visit to Vermilion native Esther Krapp Jackson is in order for these are her relatives. Esther recently entered her 95th year on this planet.
The shop - to my understanding - began on Liberty Avenue and was later moved to another building on Grand Street. This may be the Grand Street building. George Krapp was the proprietor. And if I'm not mistaken the Grand Street building was once directly behind what used to be Fulper's Auto Parts and Servic Station on the southeast corner of Liberty and Grand. This building later house a plumber storage shop - and was eventually razed by Fulper when that business expanded.
A note with the pic says that it was located in the building where Pat's Trading Post Antique Store was once located - but I'm almost certain that that is an error.
I hope, someday, to identify and substantiate the locations of these buildings and what they once housed. Methinks that their were once four distinct buildings on the east side of Grand Street just north of the railroad tracks and south of Liberty Avenue.
The first once housed Rudy Moc's Sunset (Photo) Studio. The next was a 2-story building that was the original home of The Vermilion News newspaper (among other things). The third was the building once known as "the Seminary". And the third was the site of Krapp's Meatmarket.
In any case, how would ye like to have had a nice chicken for Sunday supper from this place?
DON'T JUST SIT THERE WITH A MOUSE IN YOUR HAND! HELP THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY!: Take a cyber visit through my on-line store.
I will be working on designing some new things in the weeks ahead. However: If you've not purchased something yet you're missing both the proverbial and literal boat. But, if nothing else, take a stroll through my shop. I keep the floor swept, the windows clean, and my dog don't bite.
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 #118: This week Vermilion Views Podcast #118 are two naughty videos sandwiched between a nice look at a pretty retreat site in Vermilion, O. Stay with me on these podcasts because you are about to be entertained.
Also note that all the video (MP4) podcasts (where used) are done in the "Quicktime MP4" format.
NOTE NOTE:Past podcasts are not 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 me 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.
Vermilion High School Classes of 1963, 1964 and 1965 may be interested in knowing that a reunion is planned for the weekend of June 27, 2009. Those interested can contact Ruth Bauman Tanner.
The Vermilion High School Class of 1959 may be interested in knowing that a reunion is planned for the weekend of September 18-20, 2009. Registration can be made through Roger Boughton 2205 SW 10th Ave. Austin, MN. 55912 or you can just emailRoger.
Where's Alice? I found this link interesting. You just never know what Vermilion expatriots are up to - or where their up to doing it. Alice Wakefield is one of those people. So check out his link. Methinks you'll be surprised: Talking Turkey.
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
or you can use PayPal:
"Either shush or flush - Mister Rush."
-Professor Roselyn Picher
Vol.6, Issue 51, March7, 2009
Archive Issue #312
© 2009 Rich Tarrant