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_{FRIDAY P.M.}

MILESTONE: I ain't much of a record keeper. And were it not for a mere technicality I would not even realize it. But this is the three hundred and sixty-fifth (365) edition of "Vermilion Views".

Wow!

Every Saturday morning for the last seven years I've been sitting at my trusty Macintosh (I'm on my third one) putting "VV" together. And were it not for an initial period of time when I started (and mistakenly deleted some issues) there would now be enough of them for someone (if they cared) to read one a day for an entire year.

As mentioned several times before - "VV" began as a little email thing. And when I discovered that some folks were unable to load / acquire all the pix in that email [NOTE: Computers weren't what they are today back then.] I decided that a webpage would work a little better for theat purpose.

The process is not unlike that of a weekly newspaper where the format is essentially set - or the same - each week, so all one has to do is fill in the blanks. Back then it was unusual. But today it's rather commonplace.

For me the experience has proven to be exceptionally rewarding. It's been, in short, a fun learning experience.

I hope that experience has been shared by readers. But there are always many ways of looking at the same subject. So who knows?

Milestonely,

"(Photo copies don't scan well - but what's my choice?)"

AND THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME: It's not really something most of us really want to think about. It was “kinda” like the time in our lives when many of us realised that a favorite pet wouldn’t live forever. In the back of our minds we had some vague presentiment - that a day might come when we’d have to face the awful truth. But, “gosh almighty” did it really have to be now?

Yet there it was: Bailey’s wonderful Vermilion Hardware Store closed last Saturday (1-31-2009). And things in Vermilion will never ever be the same.

Looking back one can honestly assert that Bailey’s (as some are inclined to say) “had a good long run of it”. The patriarch of the store - Henry “Hank” Bailey and his wife Edna started the business in the old Sid Simon grocery on Grand Street back in 1946. Born in Norwalk, Ohio in 1904 Mr. Bailey had worked as a fireman, and at U.S. Steel in Lorain before coming to Vermilion with his wife, daughter, Diane (Chestnut), and six year old son, Bob.

When Bailey’s enterprise began there was some local competition. “Scud” Miller operated a similar store on Division Street. In addition to selling sundry hardware items Miller’s store also doubled as the local liquor outlet store. It just faded away somewhere in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s eventually becoming the home of Winterstein Realty.

About that same time the population of the community literally exploded. Numerous families immigrated to the region from Massachusetts, New York, and Tennessee following the construction of the Lorain Ford Assembly Plant on the eastern border of what was then the Village of Vermilion. Auto workers scrambled to acquire adequate housing for their families. And local developers also scrambled to construct additional homes for the onrush of workers. Where once fields, vineyards, and woodlands stood to the south, east and western reaches of the village sturdy new homes and businesses arose in what seemed to be only a blink of an eye. Consequently the immediate demand for items both to build and maintain these homes and subsidiary businesses created by the population boom - as well as the equipment used by building and maintenance trades - substantially increased.

This circumstance combined with exceptionally good business practices (i.e. prompt and knowledgeable service) habitually exercised by Mr. and Mrs. Bailey and their son Bob easily made the store one of the most valuable assets in the entire community. If they didn’t have exactly what a customer wanted or needed they could get it - or they knew where a person could find it. The Bailey Family knew their customers, and they knew their homes. After all they had, in some part, helped build / remodel most of them.

In time the customary phrase used by Hank, Bob, and other family members / employees to greet Vermilion Hardware customers was “Hi Neighbor”. The greeting was not simply a formality. It was very sincere. For they took a real interest in their neighbors, and were prepared to help with any project / task - big or small.

When Hank passed away in the Spring 1996 the business environment surrounding the little village that had grown into a city since 1946 was already changing. In very few words, the competition in the hardware business had become fierce. Even so, son Bob, who by then had been managing the store for 30 years kept up the business until his untimely death in 2006.

American educator, David Starr Jordan, once observed that true, “Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it.” The closing of Bailey’s Vermilion Hardware Store, however sad it may be, was appropriately accomplished with a great deal of dignity. The business did not fail. It was simply the most sagacious thing to do - the right thing.

But that being said there is nonetheless a gaping hole rent in the fabric of our community by the passage of Bailey’s. And whilst that tear can never be properly mended it may be that someday it can be covered over by a patch with two simple, but sincere, words inscribed on it: “Hi Neighbor”.

_{Ref: Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 2/07/09; Written 2/3/09 @ 12:48 PM}

_{"..probably during the mid 1950's..."}

PAINTING THE TOWN: As previously mentioned this is a preview piece for a new webpage that I am currently developing. Using a new software program in conjunction with Adobe's Photoshop CS4 I am able to take some already wonderful pix of Vermilion, O. and make them (at least in my view) more "wonderfuller"

The is from a Dick Koontz photograph that was taken - probably during the mid 1950's. It is likely early spring (i.e. January or February) - and the river has over-spilled its banks washing over the low land between the steam rails to the south and the Vermilion River bridge. The Texaco gas station has taken some water. But it's not enough for the owner to close the doors completely. And here we see a very confident trucker willing to brave the high waters to get his load to the high ground on the other side of the bridge.

Beautiful.

_{"...my research uncovered several different names for him..."}

J.I. HOWELL - BLACKSMITH: Looking through some old pix the other day I came across these of J.I. Howell. Mr. Howell was a blacksmith in Vermilion in the late 19th and early 20th century in Vermilion, O. Current residents of Vermilion may be familiar with his great-grandson Larry E. Howell. In fact, these pix came from Larry.

Larry has told me several times that J.I.'s first name was Jeremus / Jerimus. And I don't altogether reject that as having been his name. But my research uncovered several different names for him - and none were "Jeremus / Jerimus". But they were close.

U.S. Civil War records have him listed as both Jariot and Jarrett. Mr. Howell enlisted in the Confederate Army (51 Georgia Infantry - 51st Regiment) on the 22 of March in 1862.

In 1880 he appears in the U.S. Census in Sandusky, Ohio as John J. Howell. In 1900 he appears in Vermilion as Jared / Jared I. Howell. And in 1910 he is listed (in Vermilion) as Jariot I. Howell.

It is the same fellow in all these records because the occupation in them is the same - as are the family members. Their names were less uncommon. But it affords those interested in geneaologies a good lesson about names. They many not always be accurate. One must keep in mind that these records were accomplished in handwritten form; and not all the writing was real legible. Even when one sees the original documents the writing can sometimes be difficult to perceive.

I also have another theory (in this particular instance). I believe that Mr. Howell may have had a particularly strong southern accent which may account for these misperceptions. Additionally (but I don't know this) he may have been illiterate. Ergo he wasn't spelling his name for the records. Others were always doing it for him.

According to what Larry has told me; though J.I. Howell served in the Confederate Army he was not, at first, aware that the slave issue was one of the reasons for the war. When he discovered this to be the case he left the army and came north.

I believe that there is likely some element of truth to that thought I think it may have been more complicated than that. But whatever the case J.I. did come north, and he did work as a smithy in Sandusky, Birmingham, and Vermilion.

The photo on the left shows Mr. Howell in his blacksmith shop in Vermilion. It was located on the west side of Main Street just south of Ferry Street. Today a tiny house occupies the same property. It's just across the street from Vermilion's French Restaurant.

The photo on the right shows Mr. Howell after he retired and went back home in the South. I don't know if he stayed there until he died or returned home to live with his son George.

George learned the smithy trade from his father. But when automobiles took over the roads, and the use of horses for transportation declined, he went to work for the railroad. Those who remember Larry's Pa, Irvy, know that he (Irvy) followed in his father's footsteps and worked for the railroad for nearly 50 years.

The Howell's are among the friendliest, and nicest, folks to ever be found in Vermilion, O.

_{nothing ever remains quite the same...}

SOMETHING OLD - SOMETHING NEW: The idea for this piece began as an idea for a coffee-table book of historical photographs of Vermilion, Ohio and, hopefully, it will (someday) be realized.

Originally the concept - as previously stated - was just a picture book. But after mentioning such a project in an issue of my weekly web page - Vermilion Views - a reader by the name of Scott Dommin suggested that it might be interesting if it featured photographs of how people, places, and / or things in the City of Vermilion, Ohio appear today along with photos showing how they appeared in the past. Ergo; the title "Now & Then".

"What a great idea." I told both myself and Scott.

[NOTE: Currently I'm weighing two proposals. Nothing's easy as it seems.]

LINWOOD

On November 20, 1883 the following telegram appeared in “Der Christliche Botshafter” (translated: The Christian Ambassador) newspaper. It was the first religious newspaper (est 1836) written in the German language in the United States of America:

“Oak Harbor, Ohio November 20, 1883. Rev Wm. Horn! Linwood Grove has been purchased for $11,000. Hallelujah. Thanks be unto the Lord! C. Gahn.”

Hallelujah indeed. By March 31, 1884 the mortgage was signed, the deed transferred, and the place known as Linwood Park in Vermilion, Ohio was “officially” born.

It might interest some to know that the committee, elected by the Ohio Conference of the Evangelical Church to locate a new site to replace their “Haley’s Farm” Campground near Huron, Ohio, had also been offered a property owned by William Kolbe of Lorain, Ohio. It was just four miles west of that city. It is currently known as Beaver Park.

The origin of the name - “Linwood” - is somewhat elusive. Karen Boas in her book “Through These Gates” (1984) suggests that the name may have been derived from an abundance of Linden trees once found in the area. But whatever the case, the name apparently existed years before the Evangelical Church purchased the property.

The tree that came to be known as the “Linwood Tree” was estimated to be five centuries old by the time park officials found it necessary to have it removed. By that time it towered at least 85 feet over the park, and had a circumference of eight feet. The great tree had to be felled because many of its upper branches had weakened, and a substantial area at its base had become hollow. In the accompanying photograph Linwood denizens Louise and Otto Goetz peer out from inside the tree whilst baby Esther Goetz (Shanks) patiently poses for this, often copied and published, Linwood family portrait.

Early in the 19th century when Almon Ruggles, the Connecticut man who surveyed the “Fire Sufferers Lands”, (this includes Erie and parts of Huron and Ottawa County) determined the position of the northeast corner of the region it is said that he carved his initials in the bark of a nearby tree to mark that location. Later, after discovering his original calculations to be in error, he repeated the survey pushing the line 2 miles further to the east of the original locale. That line would later be used to separate Erie and Lorain Counties in Vermilion. In addition it also means that the tree in which he carved his initials probably stood near the Lake Erie shore in the place known as Linwood. Legend has it that those initials were carved in the bark of the great “Linwood Tree”.

Whilst the veracity of that legend is impossible to know - it is just as impossible to refute. But fact or fiction - it is an extremely charming story. And as the “whole story” of Linwood Park unfolded the great tree quietly watched.

On Sunday August 31, 1884 when the tabernacle (pictured upper left) was dedicated 2,000 people had to stand outside because it was filled to capacity. In 1886 a three-story hotel was built with 20 furnished rooms on the first and second floors. In 1895 an addition was added after moving the original a short distance to the north and west possibly to avoid a premature felling the nearby “Linwood Tree” . The hotel was, as is obvious by the lower left inset photo, a very remarkable structure. And although the entrance to the park has changed a number of times during the last 125 years (inset upper right) it is still recognizable to passers-by familiar to the area.

To be sure, much has changed during the years. People have come, and people have passed along. The tabernacle is no more an open air facility. The hotel fell out of favor and eventually yielded to the wrecking ball. The front gate, as already mentioned, has been razed and rebuilt several times. And, of course, the “Linwood Tree” no longer watches over the ebb and flo of life in the park as time passes. But when one walks along its well worn paths - in the verdant shadows of the tall trees - time has a way of being set aside. That is perhaps the real magic of Linwood Park.

There are very few persons who have grown-up in our pretty city who are without at least one fond remembrance of Linwood in a yesteryear. It is, has always been, and will forever be, an essential part of coming of age in Vermilion, Ohio.

Hallelujah? Hallelujah indeed.

_{Ref: Special Thanks to Karen Boas; “Through These Gates” (1984) - soon to be reprinted as “Through These Gates And Down The Path: Linwood Park”; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 7/31/08; Written 7/27/08 @2:40 PM}

_{"...The same human nature sometimes shone out in the love of parents for their children...."}

PREHISTORIC FIRE-LANDS: I found the following information re: the early inhabitants of our area to be extremely informative. Methinks you will also.

I am getting better at transcribing these passages so there are fewer mistakes. But I like to read as I go - and sometimes I fill in the blanks. So tread carefully this trail through yesteryear.

INDIANS OF THE FIRE-LANDS -PART 3

Any view of Indian life and character is incomplete which fails to take in their surroundings. Before we can have vividly before us the life of the red man of the Fire-lands, we must reconstruct the Fire-lands themselves as they were a century ago. We must clear away all the marks of civilization; we must rear again the mighty woods, and let the prairie grasses grow in the rankness and luxuriance of nature; we must rescue from the overflowing waves of the destroying lake, the fertile lands on which they have encroached, and restore the marsh land along the rivers to the tillable condition of the past; we must sweep all the milldams from the streams, and let the lake muskelunge and pickerel, the lawful prey of the Indian, ascend to the farthest limits of Huron county; we must re-people the forests with screaming panthers, bears and packs of howling wolves; deer must abound and rattlesnakes must crawl in the damp and gloomy woods.

Amid such surroundings as these the Indian warrior reared his family. His daily work was hunting and trapping game, when he was not on the war trail, seeking the scalps of his enemies. According to Seneca John, the hunting grounds were, by agreement, allotted among the tribes, and, doubtless, encroachments on one another's territory, and disputes as to boundaries, were the fruitful causes of quarrels and bloodshed.

In the autumn of every year the praires were burned over, that the abundant deer might be more easily tracked and hunted over the bare and blackened soil.

While the young men were engaged in such pursuits, the other members of the tribes remained at home. The old men, doubtless, smoked and dozed away the hours; or, not unlike our pioneers, lived over their youth in tales of daring deeds when their eyes were keen and their arms strong. The half-naked children played out of doors by themselves, or importuned their grandfathers to make them bows and arrows, or, may be, ever insatiable, begged to be told innumerable stories, entirely after the manner of juvenile palefaces, for children are children the world over.

The squaws, meanwhile, tied up their little papooses in bark cradles, which they hung from the limbs of trees, to be rocked by the passing wind — a practice said to be the origin of our lullaby song, "Rockaby, baby, on the tree top" — and, then, meekly recognizing the existence of a "woman's sphere " and their wifely duties to their lordly husbands, which, as in civilized society, had been by the latter circumscribed and defined for them, they dutifully brought the water, gathered the firewood and hoed the corn, as it was the custom for even the strongest-minded squaws to do; and, while they toiled with sweating faces and aching backs, they longed for the going down of the hot sun and the sight of their returning braves, with venison-laden ponies or belts full of reeking scalps.

But shall we infer from this slavery, into which the fashion of the race forced women, that there was no affection between husband and wife? At first thought, one might almost so believe, but surely there is under all the artificial manners and customs of the world a substratum of human nature which never varies. Let it not be doubted, then, that the Indian husband and wife often loved one another with an affection not different from that of the palest-faced Caucasians.

The Moravian missionary, Heckewelder, tells a touching story illustrative of such tenderness on the part of an Indian husband toward his wife. It was in a time of famine, and a sick woman expressed a longing for some Indian corn. There was none in the region where they lived, but a trader had a small quantity at Lower Sandusky, a hundred miles away. Thither the woman's husband rode, and, having traded his horse for a small quantity of the precious grain, he returned on foot alone: the weary trail, carrying his precious purchase with him, that he might gladden the heart of his loved wife.

The same human nature sometimes shone out in the love of parents for their children. The red warrior was, on the surface, a stern and taciturn man, and perhaps the little ones oftener looked up to him with fear and awe than with any other emotion, but there must have been something besides sternness in the heart of that Wyandot of Upper Sandusky, who, while on a hunting excursion east of Milan, lost a child by death, and carried the body home in his arms, that the little one might sleep in the grave of its mother. By day and by night he carried his burden and his sorrow, alone in the lonely woods, until he reached his dreary home. He was an Indian, and would shed no tears; but every white father, who has lost the first-born son of his pride and affection, can understand the bitterness of the red man's sorrow...

_{Author: Williams, W. W. (William W.)
Subject: Huron County (Ohio) - History; Huron County (Ohio) - Biography; Erie County (Ohio) - History; Erie County (Ohio) - Biography
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio: Press of Leader Printing Company
NOT IN COPYRIGHT}

Continued Next Week...

God Bless their souls - each and every one.

" The workmen in the photo are in the process
of laying the mortar bed to prepare for the brick paving of Liberty Avenue."

LIBERTY - 1910: In 1910 the Victor Talking Machine Company of Camden, New Jersey focused their design and production efforts on an internal horn phonograph, and away from what they called their external horn models. The new Victrola models introduced in September of that year were intended to make their phonographs more affordable. The lowest priced - the Tabletop X - sold for $75.00. (In today’s money that would be nearly $1500.) That same year they also replaced the “Victor-Victrola” decal on their machines with a very simple “Victrola” decalcomania.

Inside Hart’s Drug Store (photo) in the very heart (no pun intended) of the Village of Vermilion, O. prospective Victrola buyers likely had to strain very hard to hear a demonstration of one of these “talking machines” over the clang, clatter, and roar just outside the door of the store. But in all it was - to wax poetic - merely the music of one century dying; and another being born.

The workmen in the photo are in the process of laying the mortar bed to prepare for the brick paving of Liberty Avenue. Those who watched workers preparing Liberty for repaving with asphalt last year (2008) may have seen some of that concrete base, mortar bed and bricks in the road bed when the old surface was removed.

The cement mixer is powered by steam. Just to the right of the vertical boiler is a materials chute in which workers placed wheelbarrows of sand and sacks of concrete to be mixed. Several sacks of concrete can be seen near the interurban rails that long ago ran down the middle of the main thoroughfare of the village. The cement base is the reason Liberty remained flat and didn't sink around the "streetcar" tracks over the years.

It is interesting to note that all the buildings in the background of the photo are still standing. At the time these shadows were captured the tenant atop Hart’s Drug Store was a physician. The specific identity of the doctor whose name appears on the windows above the store is, like the visage of one of the workman below, blurred beyond recognition.

The building directly adjacent to the drugstore was once the home of Vermilion’s Erie County Bank. Just a few years later the bank would purchase a property directly across the street that once housed Vermilion’s Pelton-McGraw general store. That building was razed and a new bank building was built on the site. Currently that building is the home of the Vermilion City Administrative offices.

The little room just west of the old bank building served as Vermilion Mayor - H.R. “Squire” Williams’s office. (Note: That’s a rather charming bit of Vermilion trivia.)

The next shop was, as it is today, a barbershop. Whether or not the resident barber, at that time was Vermilionite, “Jake” Abel is unknown (to this writer). However; it was about the same time as this photo when Vermilion’s “last grocer”, George Rathbun (VPJ 10/16/08), set-up shop in the building next to it selling groceries and produce to citizens of the community for the next half century or so. Mr. Abel was George’s father-in-law. Ergo; Mr. Rathbun’s choice for locating his business may have been purposeful.

As stated all the buildings in the background are still standing. And though they look much the same as they did nearly 100 years ago the ornate scroll works that once adorned their respective facades, along with the brick-paved streets, steam-powered cement mixers, and Eldridge Reeves Johnson’s “talking machine” may be gone - but they are hardly forgotten.

Ref: Special Thanks To: the Vermilion Area Archival Society; Margaret Wakefield Worcester; Georgi Tarrant; and Dennis Lamont; Published in the Vermilion Photojournal 4/12/09; Written 4/19/09 @ 11:23 AM.

10 LAWS OF COMPUTING

1. When computing, whatever happens, behave as though you meant it to happen.

2. When you get to the point where you really understand your computer, it's probably obsolete.

3. The first place to look for information is in the section of the manual where you'd least expect to find it.

4. When the going gets tough, upgrade.

5. For every action, there is an equal and opposite

6. To err is human...to blame your computer for your mistakes is even more human, its downright natural.

7. He who laughs last, probably has a back-up.

8. The number one cause of computer problems is computer solutions.

9. A complex system that doesn't work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.

10. A computer program will always do what you tell it to do, but rarely what you want it to do.

_{Podcasts - "forever under construction..."}

PODCAST #171: This week the Vermilion Views Podcast #171 zips down to Marietta, Ohio where last summer residents were rallying in support of their Campus Martius Museum. This particular museum is one of the most precious in the state.

Also note that I've mucked-upthe numbering of these podcasts. Don't ask how I accomplished that task - but I did. I will try to correct that by next time.

Persons interested in the history of the Lake Shore Electric Railway (which was the subject of a recent past podcast series) - "the greatest electaric railway system on the planet" may want to go to Amazon.com and purchase a book called "Images of Rail - Lake Shore Electric Railway". It was put together by Thomas J. Patton with the help of my friends Dennis Lamont and Albert Doane. It'd make a nice gift.

Also, please note that all the video (MP4) podcasts (when used) are done in the "Quicktime MP4" format. If you don't have "Quicktime" it's easy to find and free to download.

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'".

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}

Links to additional Vermilion Ohio pages: Vermilion Ohio Historic Pix The First 100 Years of Vermilion's First Congregational Church History of Linwood Park Vermilion Visitor's Advisory (Satire) Gore Orphanage History The Lester Pelton Story The Wreck of The Niles #152 The History of Crystal Beach Vermilion Views Archives Vermilion's Pioneer Woman; Charlotte Sturges Cloudy; Vermilion's Ferryman The History of Vermilion's Congregational Church Dedication Sermon of Jotham W. Goodell, 1843 The Last Time I Saw Charlie Hope Childrens Home Kenya A Profile of Rich Tarrant Vermilion Biographies Vermilion - Village of Lake Captains Vermilion's Youngest Minstrels Don Englebry's "Growing Up In Vermilion" "Views" Podcast Archive The Story of Vermilion's Education System Eden Valley Enterprises VHS Class of 1959

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:

"Whither goest thou, America, in thy shiny car in the night?"
-Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)

Vol.7, Issue 52, March 13, 2010

Archive Issue #365

_{Vermilion Views Search Engine}

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