AN OLD FRIEND: Last week there was a pic in "VV" of my old friend Stu White wearing a sweatshirt with the word "BUGAKU" on it. This week - as fate would have it - Stu was in Vermilion visiting his brother - and I stopped to see him.
It was an interesting visit because Stu's an interesting person. We go back to kindergarten together. And Stu has always amazed and amused me.
When we were teenagers we hung-out some in the basement of the family home on the corner of Main and Ferry Streets across from the old waterworks. Stu - as one can see from the photo (above) liked guns.
One time he shot a rifle at a door which led into a fruit cellar closet. It bounced off the walls inside the closet, came back through the door and made a groove across the concrete floor before it stopped.
Another time he had some black powder and wanted to see what would happen if he lit it. So he placed it on the floor in the basement, went outside, and threw a match through the window. And, of course, it went "POOOOOFFFF". And, of course, a cloud of black smoke issued from the window. I've no idea how (nor if) he explained it to his parents.
Then, there was the day when he attached a string to a wallet and laid it on the walk in front of the house. Watching from the basement window - string in hand - he waited from some unsuspecting person to come along. And when they did - and when they spied the wallet and reached for it - Stu would give it a yank. (Hee, hee, hee...)
And then there were the times when his mother would call down to Stu and ask him to "draw (her) a glass of water". Those were her words exactly. And they were the wrong words to use if one was asking a mischievious mind for something. For Stu proceeded to take a piece of paper and a pencil; draw a glass of water; and take it upstairs for her.
But all of that "stuff" is relatively minor. Stu is and remains a great talent - an innovator - a craftsman. One of the things both he and his brother do now is to participate in western style / quick-draw shooting competitions. (Ergo; the photograph.)
These competitions (to my understanding) are similar to those FBI training sessions where one walks down the street and pop-up targets pop up for shooting. The contestants use live ammo. But the bullets are lead pieces that flatten when they hit their target. They don't richochette.
You know - I consider myself to be real fortunate person. There are, I suppose, some folks who go through their lives without ever having had one life-long friend. I have many.
Maybe that's whey they call me "Rich".
Well-heeled-ly,
This photo of Liberty Avenue looking West was taken by Fred Wetzler in 1961.
FAMILIAR FACES (AND PLACES): Before George Wakefield died I was in the habit of sending him old photographs of Vermillion via the Internet requesting that he makes some comments about them. One time I sent them a photograph from the mid-1930s and he wrote back to tell me that he would wouldn’t comment on the pictures because it wasn’t old enough. I never sent him (one he might consider to be) a new photo again. Thus, do I doubt that he would have even considered looking at the photograph accompanying this week’s column - let alone make a comment about it. It is a relatively recent picture. Yet much has changed since was taken. Moreover, there are many, memories to be found in it.
This photo of Liberty Avenue looking West was taken by Fred Wetzler in 1961. This is a downtown Vermilion I remember quite vividly. My memory of those days is so vivid that I can tell one the history of the white spot on the sidewalk just a few feet past the mailbox on the right - which is hardly visible to the unschooled eye.
The spot is where Bill Ream (Vermilion teacher “Doc” Ream’s son) dropped a bucket of white paint after we had hitchhiked back from the Sears and Roebuck store on Broadway in Lorain where he had bought it. That’s stain was created some years earlier earlier than this picture.
Now, look at the shops along the street. Starting on the right there’s Paul Snack Shop, featuring his “famous hot dogs and the best coffee in town”. I really loved Paul’s chili dogs. He and his wife, Emily, were from Greece. He used to have a card that described his place (as best I can can’t recall) as being able to “ seat 7000 people seven at a time”.
Next was Pete and Jud’s Barber shop. It may be that Paul, our last town barber, was there at the time. But before that, it was always Pete and Jud’s; the place where I received my first haircut.
Then came George Rathbun’s store. In this picture you can just see the shelves he had in the outside of the store where he had set baskets of fresh produce during the growing season. Inside the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with all types of merchandise. On the counter to the right was always a great wheel of cheese. And in the back old George sat puffing on a pipe.
The White Inn restaurant sat just west of George’s store. This, and the Kountry Kitchen (once the Dairy Bar, now the old Prague) just west of it were workingmen diners featuring grilled burgers, steaks, chops, deep-fried chicken and perch on a regular basis. Lake Road was the main thoroughfare between major cities in northern Ohio at the time, so business was always good for these eateries.
Adjoining the Kountry Kitchen was Tony’s (Mroski's) Shoe Store. Tony was a very amiable man who always chewed (as I remember) gum. And aside of selling very good domestic leather products partnered with, Joe Turza, who repaired shoes. As times pass shoe stores and shoe repair places like this disappeared from America’s business world.
Across the street and heading back toward Erie County Bank building (now the city office offices) is / was Glenn Fulper’s gas station and auto parts business, the Liberty Theater; a veritable legend to most folks who grew up in Vermillion; Tom Williams law office; a small pizza place (which eventually moved down the street to the Okagi building evolving into Pickle Pat’s; and then Leidheiser's German restaurant. Both the Leidheiser and Okagi restaurants were more formal type restaurants than were their counterparts across the street. The Wagner Gift Shop, which separated these businesses was run by Eva Wagner (who also chewed a lot of gum - I recall that she always used to crack it). The shop sold great greeting cards and sundry knickknacks for all occasions. The store was started by my grandmother, Bessie Roscoe, and known as The News Gift Shop.
As previously mentioned, I have numerous memories of this time. It has been said that “a picture is worth 1000 words”. In this case have only expended about 742 of them. Maybe George was right; pictures like this just aren’t “old enough” to talk about.
Ref: Published in the Vermillion Photojournal on January 29, 2004; oral transcription made at the Olympic outing club on August 3, 2009.
"Twinkle on Lake Erie"
MORE FRIENDS: Speaking of George Wakefield and old friends. My friend, Frank Homitz, gave me this snap a few days back. Ink notations on it indicate that these shadows were captured in 1932 - and that it is George Wakefield sailing a boat called "Twinkle" #32.
This pic comes from Frank's father-in-law's (Herb Myers) photo collection. Mr. Myers, like Mr. Wakefield, was a sailor. From the pix that I've seen I must assume that Myers and Wakefield were friends. Myers may be the other fellow on the boat.
This pic was scanned from about a 2 ¾" by 4 ½" original snap and enlarged for "VV".
Knowing nothing about sailing I can't say anything about the boat nor what, exactly, these guys are doing. They may be racing, or they may just be sailing for the heck of it.
From what Frank tells me Mr. Myers did a great deal of sailing during his younger years - on the lakes and the ocean. Frank was describing some larger pix he has from the Myers collection that were taken (I believe he said) on an ocean sailing trip which include some views of the Hindenburg(?).
This pic, however, is cerainly a keeper.
"But the best thing of all was knowing that just down the street...Vermilion had its very own pop factory."
THE DAY THEY BURNED DOWN THE POP FACTORY: Late last week I was afforded the rare opportunity and pleasure to introduce 2 young brothers (4 and 5.75 years old) to Hostess Twinkies. There are zero words which describe the look on their faces as they bit into the “store bought” pastries for their very first time. And ignoring for the moment that the eclair-like delicacies are - to be politically correct - not considered to be good for man nor beast; the youngsters most certainly enjoyed them.
This experience took me back 50 years (or so) when I was 10 years old - a time when the Village of Vermilion, Ohio was my playground. It took me back to the amazing glass candy display case, besmudged by dozens of tiny noses, in Baumhart’s Drug Store on Division Street; to the 5 cent cherry cokes that could be had at Jim Hart’s wonderful Corner Drugstore; to icy mugs of root beer fresh from the barrel that stood at the end of the soda counter in Litman’s Newstand next door; and to colder than cold bottles of pop that could be had for only one thin dime from the chest-type coolers commonly found at numerous gas stations and garages scattered about town. How wonderful those times were.
But the best thing of all was knowing that just down the street behind St. Mary’s Church - in the middle of the lane called Columbus Street that runs between Division/Main Street to the west and Sandusky Street to the east - Vermilion had its very own pop factory. What more could anyone (let alone a young boy or girl) ask for?
The Hi-Top Beverage Company / Vermilion Bottling Company was established sometime in 1910. Precisely who established the company is presently unknown (to me). What is known is that sometime during the 1950’s a local entrepreneur, Larry Shafts, purchased the plant from the Feldcamp Family. And whilst there be a great deal of merit in the ownership and operation of any small business there are also numerous legal and financial requirements and demands that must be met in order to be successful. In America during the 50’s corporate soft drink companies had a great deal of capital at their command; a fact that, consequently, made competing for the market impossible for the small bottling companies. And, thus, did Vermilion’s pop factory fall victim to those changing times.
Were that story not gloomy enough (for any youngster) in the summer of 1954 Mr. Shafts volunteered the property to be used by the North Central (Ohio) Fireman’s Association in an exercise as “an up to date fire test on indirect application of water on interior fires”. And on a bright Sunday afternoon, August 1, 1954, a crowd of over 1500 persons watched as the Vermilion Fire Department, under the direction of then State Fire Marshal, Charles R. Scott, staged the practice session - and burned Vermilion’s pop factory to the ground.
One of Mr. Shaft’s nephews (Dale Hohler) posed for his picture outside the plant that just a few minutes later was in the process of being consigned to a yesteryear. It was an experience, like the first time a youngster tastes a “Twinkie”, that would never be completely recalled; nor entirely forgotten - that day they burned down the pop factory.
Ref: The Vermilion News, 8-12-1954; The Lorain Journal, 7-29-1954; Special Thanks to: Larry and Dale Hohler; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 1/31/08; Revised 8/08/09.
OBTAINABLE AFFIRMATIONS
1. As I let go of my feelings of guilt, I am in touch with
my inner sociopath.
2. I have the power to channel my imagination into ever-
soaring levels of suspicion and paranoia.
3. I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
4. I no longer need to punish, deceive, or compromise
myself, unless I want to stay employed.
5. In some cultures what I do would be considered normal.
6. Having control over myself is almost as good as having
control over others.
7. My intuition nearly makes up for my lack of self-
judgment.
8. I honor my personality flaws for without them I would
have no personality at all.
9. I am grateful that I am not as judgmental as all those
censorious, self-righteous people around me.
10. I am willing to make the mistakes if someone else is
willing to learn from them.
"At the Falls..."
THE ROBERTSONS:This pic came to me (electronically) from Vermilion expatriate Rell Sanderson who currently lives in San Francisco. These folks are not Vermilion people, but I found the story / information that Rell included with it to be of significant historic note:
Rich,
I'm not sure whether I shared this photo with you before. It is of my maternal grandparents, Russell Rutherford Robertson and Belle Virginia Chisholm Robertson. It's Niagara Falls and dated 1902. My grandfather was mayor of Norwalk ending in January 1946. He owned a farm and orchards on Old State Road in Norwalk. He also worked for the John Deere company and traveled to South America via steamer to open that market to farming equipment. He was a relative of President Rutherford B. Hayes and was with Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War. He was a tall man, standing 6' 6". My grandmother had an uncle who forged the Chisholm Trail which was used to heard cattle from Texas to Missouri around the time of the Civil War. She also had a cousin known as Grandma Moses a very well known painter. There was also another relative who was well known for his hand tinted photographs, but his name escapes me. She earned a Masters degree in music from Oberlin and was an accomplished pianist.
Rell
These are just little details that should never be lost. I'm happy that Rell thought enough of them to pass them along.
"For some reason work never commenced on this project until the spring of 1937..."
THE WHEELS OF PROCRASTINATION TURNED QUICKLY: On August 5, 1926 area newspapers called it “One of the most dangerous crossings in Ohio”; the “Vermillion [sic] Deathtrap”; the “Dangerous Diagonal Crossing”. Other headlines calmly advised that the “State is Taking Steps To Remove [the] Grade Crossing”; that the “Highway Department Says Diagonal Grade First on 1927 Program”; and further, that “Officials Here Get Behind Safety Plan”. To be sure, it made good copy for the local press. But that was, apparently, all it was.
The day before these headlines were writ Charles W. Yerkes, his wife Mary, and their 20 year-old daughter Lola were headed west on Ohio Route 12 (changed to Route 2 the same year) toward Vermilion in their Ford sedan. At the time it was the “heaviest traveled highway in northern Ohio.” Today we know that part of the thoroughfare as East Liberty Avenue.
Yerkes was a public school superintendent from southern Illinois. The family was returning home from a 2000 mile auto excursion through the east. They had spent the previous night at Niagara Falls, New York.
The aforementioned “diagonal crossing” referred to a place along the route where both the Nickel Plate steam railroad and the Lake Shore Electric railway crossed the highway. These crossings were about a mile or so east of what was then Vermilion Village. What made the crossings so dangerous was the fact that they were just feet apart. Although protected by warning signals, signs, and a bell the diagonal crossing was nonetheless both dangerous and confusing for unwary motorists. And it was no less than that for Mr. Yerkes.
At approximately 6 p.m. the Yerkes vehicle was struck broadside by an eastbound electric freight car operated by Motorman Charles Hamill and Conductor C. E. Bailey of Fremont, Ohio. All three motorists were thrown from their vehicle. Mary Yerkes and her daughter, Lola, were killed instantly. Mr. Yerkes briefly survived them. He took his passage the next morning at the Amherst Hospital where he had been transported after the accident. Mr. and Mrs. Yerkes were survived by five other children between the ages of 9 and 24.
And thus, came the headlines, excuses, and promises professedly aimed at correcting the problem. They came. And they went.
At the site 3 new white crosses were placed along side four that had been previously set there as testimonials to the extreme danger of the diagonal crossing. H.E. Forman, then secretary to then Ohio State Highway Commissioner, Louis Schlesinger told reporters that “The crossing is listed on the state highway department’s program for elimination.” He went on to explain that “This department has not continued plans for its elimination, however, because of insufficient funds. We will be unable to do anything before the next meeting of the legislature which will be sometime in January or February [1927].”
For some reason work never commenced on this project until the spring of 1937 - nearly eleven years after the Yerkes family lost their lives at the crossing that the former ODH Secretary Foreman had once called “one of the most dangerous in the state.”
And as a new bridge was being built to span the crossings one part of the very reason for its being constructed in the first place was in the process of being dismantled. On May 13, 1938 the interurban electric system, for all intents and purposes, ceased to exist. Fortunately, for Ohio taxpayers the other part of the impetus for the building of that which most have come to know as the Vermilion-On-The-Lake bridge remained (i.e. the Nickel Plate railroad). So it wasn’t a total loss.
Perhaps there is some comfort to be derived from understanding that political procrastination is not primarily a product of contemporary society - or perhaps not. In any case, that’s the way it was - yesteryear.
Ref: The Vermilion News, 8-5-1926; The Chronicle Telegram, 8-5-1926; Lorain Times-Herald, 8-5-1926, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Deaths, 1908-1944; U.S. Census, 1910, 1920; Special Thanks to Dennis Lamont, Birmingham, Ohio; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 11/23/06.
"Odds and Ends from '98."
"THE BIKE" MOUSEPAD"
DON'T JUST SIT THERE WITH A MOUSE IN YOUR HAND! HELP THE (MY) ECONOMIC RECOVERY!: Take a cyber visit through my on-line store.
This week I designed a mousepad. I was looking at pads at Staples last week and found them to be both boring and rather expensive (for boring). So I went home and designed my own. For the money - it beats the heck out of what I've seen.
The pad is a "Wyeth-type" photo-painting I fashioned from some of my "stuff" taken at the Olympic Outing Club in Brownhelm Township, Ohio. I'm prejudice - but I think it's nice.
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 #140: This week the Vermilion Views Podcast #140 is about watching river traffic "down by the waterworks".
Also, please 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. I suggest that you visit these sites on a regular basis to see "what's shakin'".
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.
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:
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Vol.7, Issue 21, August 8, 2009
Archive Issue #334
© 2009 Rich Tarrant